PERTH city council has written off more than $1.6 million in paving and roadworks due to shoddy workmanship. The council says a granite pedestrian crossover between Forrest Place and the railway forecourt was “defective and not suitable for service”. That resulted in a lengthy dispute with contractor Downer EDI Works, which had charged $598,095 for…

A PROSAIC car park in Mt Lawley could soon be transformed into the Left Bank in Paris—well, kind of. The Beaufort Street Network has lodged a submission with Vincent city council to hold a monthly art market in the carpark at the corner of Barlee and Beaufort Streets. “Arts on Beaufort” would have around 18…

TWO years after the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority moved 83-year-old Bob Mainstone out of his Beaufort Street shop, the place remains empty. Fed up with waiting to move back in, he’s now planning to shift into a Cleaver Street shop in West Perth, a quiet locale speckled with old light industrial shops. Mr Mainstone ran a…

ONE of the most iconically cringeworthy landmarks of Perth will be covered up, with the old Hahn Ice mural on the side of the Murray Lodge to be covered by a $200,000 LED billboard. The Murray Street building is a famous eyesore, with even the owners admitting it’s “ugly outside, beautiful within”. Perth city councillors…

COMICBOOK seller by day, bitch by night. Alison Arrowsmith will swap Wonder-Woman for a labradoodle when she dresses as a dog in the stage show Mutts. Arrowsmith works at Quality Comics in the CBD but will play “Peppa”, a posh pooch from the swanky end of town. “She’s usually calm and collected but is ready…

DRONES will effectively be banned in Perth city council airspace under broad new rules to outlaw anything bigger than a paper plane. Old rules banned model aeroplanes, gliders and rockets. With drones becoming more popular here—particularly as camera-carrying devices—the PCC will also blanket-ban ‘copters and any “other device capable of flight propelled by mechanical, hydraulic,…

Maylands markets doubts continue WEAK leadership at Bayswater city council has led to uncertainty over the future of the Maylands Hawkers Markets, says local Labor MP Lisa Baker. The MP says ever since the council voted to delay approval, pending a traffic management report, she has been inundated with calls from residents “outraged the council…

Stories by David Bell: HAVING chaired during many rowdy meetings in her time, former Vincent mayor Alannah MacTiernan says councils need powers to ban people who are consistently disruptive and abusive. The federal Perth Labor MP says criticism is welcome but councils need more authority to stop continual interjections and abusive remarks aimed at staff.…