Perth Voice Interactive

ELECTION campaign signs supporting Bayswater mayor Sylvan Albert are springing up on realtor and developer sites across Maylands.

Cr Albert has advertising on:

• a Harcourts vacant lot at the corner of Kelvin and Susan Streets;

• at the home of Acton director Paul Owen; and,

• on a lot at the corner of Guildford Road and Charles Street, where Ionic wants to build a mixed-use development of 18 homes and 10 offices.

The Ionic development has been back and forward between the council and the local development assessment panel, with council officers due to report to the DAP by November 19.

Cr Albert, who is seeking re-election to south ward, says he doesn’t know who Ionic is and didn’t know who’d put his sign on the lot.

“I know the people next door at the plumbing business, but I was unaware of the sign being put there,” he says.

“But if the Ionic development comes before council I will look into whether I need to declare some sort of interest.

“At the end of the day, these people are all residents, and if they want to support me that’s fine, it doesn’t really matter what profession they have.”

Harcourts director John Caputo says he owns the Kelvin Street lot and had granted Cr Albert permission to advertise there.

“Sylvan understands business, is a family man and has been very pro-active in taking Maylands forward,” he says.

“I think he’s the best candidate.”

Cr Albert, a Liberal party candidate at the last state election, says his signs have been regularly defaced and he has contacted police.

His rival Catherine Ehrhardt, a well-known local markets organiser, says she has not advertised on any vacant lots or development sites.

“The majority of my election advertising has been on businesses on Eighth Avenue, including This Fine Day and Leo’s Pizza,” she says.

“But I don’t have a big budget and only have around 20 signs. I have put a lot of cards on the counters of shops and businesses instead.”

Meanwhile, the Water Corporation removed one of Cr Albert’s signs from outside its Stone Street wastewater station.

“Water Corporation does not allow unauthorised signage to be placed on its land,” manager Mike Andrews says.

Cr Albert says he hadn’t put a sign there and was unaware it had been removed.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK