CHICKEN poo will help Coolbinia primary school kids raise funds for their new playground. The school’s P&C is selling off a load of their secret formula fertiliser Fabfert for the “interactive playground” at the school. School parent Charlie Stephens says the idea came about last year when they heard Wanneroo had a huge problem with…

“DEFERRED, not deleted” is the message from Vincent’s new CEO Len Kosova as he tries to patch up a $6.4 million budget hole left by the previous administration. Already identified for deferring is $3.6 million of capital works including footpath upgrades, the Cheriton Street cottage refurbishment, the $100,000 skate park, the Anzac Cottage spend, and…

SHOULD art and politics be mutually exclusive? Can they ever be? Friends of Palestine WA will protest outside Cinema Paradiso at the opening night of the AICE Israeli Film Festival, calling on the Abbott government to expel Israel’s ambassador and enforce an arms embargo on Israel. The Israeli embassy is partially funding the festival and…

ORIGINALLY from Edinburgh, Niall Inverarity knows a thing or two about water—in Scotland it’s either falling from the sky or in a whisky. So it is fitting he works as a hydro-geologist. Recently the 30-year-old from Highgate wanted to do something more rewarding, so he quit his lucrative day job and now helps the Red…

MORLEY MARKETS may be struggling but that didn’t stop Bayswater council staff from wanting to slug a hopeful cafe owner $30,000 in lieu of three parking bays. An incredulous Cr Michelle Sutherland said the 49sqm shop would need to sell thousands of “bowls of noodles” simply to recoup the fee. Mayor Sylvan Albert agreed, saying…

ACROSS Perth recycling rates are up six per cent, but at Stirling it’ll keep going to landfill till next July, when the council moves to a three-bin system. By then more than 150,000 tonnes of rubbish will have been dumped into landfill since August 2013, when the single-bin recycling facility shut. Waste and fleet manager…

THE wrecking ball is rolling through West Perth’s Cowle Street, with established homes demolished to make way for flats. Three ancient houses were flattended this month to make way for the 48-unit Dorrien Gardens project by developer Giorgi Group. Numbers 28 to 32, once owned by Criterion hotelier John Charles Chipper who’d sat on Perth…

THE Maylands Hawkers Market will reopen for the start of the summer season in November. Bayswater city council approved the markets to be held at the space between the RISE and Maylands Hall until March 28. It had previously completed a successful trial there. Last month, Local Arts and Community Events, the not-for-profit group behind…

PLANNER Ben Doyle says Vincent council’s design advisory committee process is “broken”. His client’s Cowle Street design was first lodged with the council 342 days ago. The DAC is supposed to improve the design before it gets to council, but he found the process to be a tangled mess. “It’s been to DAC four times…

GREENS & CO cafe owner Stuart Lofthouse has dropped his minor protest against the police state. Greens & Co is a known hangout for uniforms, with coppers and ambos frequently seen at the coffee counter where they get $2 brews. Mr Lofthouse had temporarily erected a sign saying “sorry all police coffee now $4—ambos still…