Perth Voice Interactive

Pedal pleasure
I HAD the pleasure of using the segregated bike lanes on Scarborough Beach Road in Mt Hawthorn for the first time on a sunny Sunday afternoon some weeks ago.
As a commuting cyclist I follow the widely accepted advice to ride at least one metre into the road lane for safety reasons when I am unable to use the shared path network. I must say that I felt much safer in the segregated section — a tangible sense of relief!
I think the construction of cycling infrastructure such as this will enable many more people who are hesitant to cycle for safety and convenience reasons to avail themselves of the economic, health and social benefits of a cycling culture.
Tim Karajas
Summers St, Perth

It wasn’t broke
THANKS Marti Hughes (Voice Mail, October 31, 2015) for responding to our letters regarding cycle lanes. I’m not one for debating such topics but if it opens up a process of public consultation and awareness then great because that’s what’s needed here.
Leonie Edwards (October 17) simply wrote in her letter that everyone she spoke with regarding the public works was not in favour of it. I believe her because the majority of people I spoke with were also against, including bike riders.
I think it’s a great idea that cyclists and motorists are separated by sole purpose bike lanes, more of them are needed, and good on Vincent council for promoting them. But in this case, my humble (and unprofessional ) view is that they need to go in the right area and on the right street, not converting a major arterial street with two lanes into one, producing bottle-neck problems for motorists, buses and more importantly, emergency vehicles.
So in answer to your rhetorical question, my “experience” that I am “drawing upon” has seen first-hand the bottle-neck traffic inconvenience whilst driving on Scarborough Beach Road on a daily basis and in that time that the cycle path has been operational I have also seen only one bike rider use it. I’m just stating the facts as I see them.
The argument that if the infrastructure is there we will use it just doesn’t stack up. Logic however suggests that more infill and more apartments being built on main roads equal more cars, hence the need for better flowing streets, especially major arterial roads.
Now, I don’t know if the “combined knowledge of the modern city planners of the world” got together in this incredible think tank to reduce Scarborough Beach Road to one lane, or if  this “combined knowledge” are the same ones responsible for the current proposal for reducing the width of Shakespeare Street down to 3.9m (still having two-way traffic mind you) and calling it a “bike boulevard “ because they apparently work in Holland. 3.9m with two-way traffic traffic and bikes? …. A recipe for disaster.
My bet is, and I’m not a gambling man, that this “combined knowledge” will all get together one day at a “modern city planners of the world” convention and one of them may say “hey guys, I think we got it wrong with the bike boulevard and Scarborough Beach Road” and one of the others of the “combined knowledge” crew will say “oh well, they can always get rid of their cars and ride their bikes instead”.
Moral of the story..don’t fix what ain’t broke.
Gene Lorenzon
Shakespeare St, Mount Hawthorn

LGBTIQ 2 PC
I AM very happy to see celebrations like Pride being covered by pieces such as “Happy Pride” (Voice, October 31, 2015).
However, I was disappointed to see you use the politically correct term, “LGBTIQ” (and I’ve even seen”LGBTOQA”.
I think this term, if it were ever useful, has passed its used-by date. As a gay person myself, I’m not even sure how it got started — self-appointed leaders and language police? — but I think that by focusing so obsessively on sexuality (identity), it creates divisions rather than breaking them down; universalism gives way to fragmentation and tribalism, and a prioritising of group identity.
I’d like to propose a much better acronym: People Like Us (PLU). The “L” used as an adjective means people who are like (the same as) us — that is to say, people who accept that sexuality is plural; so this would also include like-minded heterosexuals.
As a verb, the “L” would mean that people have positive feelings towards us. So, only like-minded people of any orientation, that is to say, PLUralism, and no need to go on adding letters ad nauseam and fighting over which letter comes first.
Sam Cook
West Perth
The Ed says: We usually prefer to use “gay” as a catch-all but get belted around the head a bit.

Lift yer game
CONGRATULATE yourselves on the interview with Stirling mayor Giovanni Italiano (Voice, October 24, 2015), which is very telling.
Lift your game councillors, and do not take for granted your position. Play fair and be respectful.
Marion Palmer, Carine
The Ed says: Edited for length.

The original Twitterers
EVERY spring I watch with sadness as the local magpie families work laboriously feeding their new babies only to have them killed on the roads.
Can’t we slow down just a tad during spring to give them a chance? The family that visits my garden for the last 15 years or so have managed to successfully rear three young in the last eight years; the rest have been hit by cars.
New housing developments completely clear the birds’ feeding grounds and fell their nesting trees. Yes, we have to have progress, but when you sit in your modern new kitchen having a cuppa, remember your house is on their feeding grounds.
Rosanna Bunting
Spearwood