The Monte Vista and Plattekloof Glen Ratepayers’ and Residents Association’s new chair says he wants to focus on the lawlessness on the roads in the area.
Tyrel Painczyk (40), who works in the telecommunications industry, was elected as new chair at a committee meeting held on Tuesday 15 February where a new executive committee was appointed.
Painczyk joined the local neighbourhood watch in 2015 as a patroller and joined the ratepayers’ committee as the neighbourhood watch representative in 2017. “I slowly got more involved within the organisation as well as the events committee which was run by my wife, Kelly, and Delmaine Viret. In the last year I got a better understanding of the inner workings of the organisation.
“When Riana de Wet (former chair) decided to step down, I discussed this with my family and decided that I would run to become the next chair and bring in some fresh ideas,” explains Painczyk.
He says one of the issues he would like to address is the major problem with traffic lawlessness within the area which has been going on for a long time. “Whilst this is a difficult one its very concerning that people within the area as well as passersby have no understanding of the meaning of a stop sign and pedestrian crossings, and this is a major concern as there are quite a number of youth in the area that utilise the same roads.”
He says he plans to work closely with the ward councillor to bring the various role-players and departments of the City of Cape Town to perform their roles.
“I will also be meeting with all the various departments to understand their constraints and how we can work together to achieve a common goal.”
Painczyk says he hopes to see more of the community getting involved in the clean-up of public places and parks. “We have one of the most spoken about and utilised parks within the northern suburbs and with the increased traffic, so comes additional cleaning. Unfortunately we cannot expect the City to maintain this solely with the current levels of traffic.
“The resolution is that we have a community who need to get involved to maintain our area and keep it clean and tidy so that we can continue to be proud of what we have achieved.”
Another goal that he would love to achieve is to educate the residents as to what the role of the organisation is within the community and what steps need to be followed when there is a fault within the area, as well as to empower the residents to improve the area even more, he says.
“We have some exciting ideas for our parks for the next financial year, as well as to incorporate some open spaces and bring these spaces to life. These are all in the pipeline and we will be releasing information on our social media page. I am incredibly grateful that I have the trust and faith of the committee and residents to take the organisation into a new chapter, however with that said, I have incredibly big shoes to fill with the amazing work done by our last two chairs who are both incredibly well respected within the community and I know that I have both of their full support,” Painczyk says.
De Wet thanked each and every one for the support that she had received over the past few years on the organisation’s social media page following her resignation. She remains a member of the committee.
