Perth Voice Interactive

Perth city council
Tuesday September 17, 2013

A HERITAGE staircase on King Street is here to stay after Perth city councillors refused to let it be pulled out for a big refurbishment. The old King Street cafe closed down at the end of 2012, and now clothing retailer Miu Miu  is moving in. Miu Miu wanted to rip out the staircase as part of the spruce up, but Perth councillors stood firm. “The bottom line is the subject property is listed on the city’s register of cultural heritage significant,” Cr Rob Butler said, concerned that if one bit of heritage was abandoned it’d be a slippery slope for the rest. He said the upgrade could still go ahead with the staircase there. The two-storey federation free classical style building was constructed in 1904, and occupied by clothing manufacturers before the King Street Cafe moved in.

THE WA music industry festival will get $50,000 from the PCC, with newer Cr Jim Adamos talking veteran Judy McEvoy into supporting the spend. Cr McEvoy, often a lone voice on council against big spends, said she’s happy to prop up events for the first couple of years but after that they should secure their own sponsors. Cr Adamos, elected in 2011, pointed out 10,000 people are expected to visit the city for the festival and spending $5 per visitor was a good investment. Cr McEvoy chuckled he’d talked her around, and backed the funding.

OKTOBERFEST will return to the supreme court gardens this year after a “low number of complaints” about last year’s event. The 2012 Bavarian booze-up saw just five complaints lodged, two for noise. Cr Rob Butler said organiser Nokturnl Events was addressing those issues. “Where would we be without an Oktoberfest in October?” Cr Butler asked. In Germany the event starts in late September and runs through to the first weekend in Oktober.