BAYSWATER council is reducing the red tape to encourage the city’s restaurants to take up street-side dining. In theory local governments should roll out the red carpet for anyone wanting chairs and tables on the footpath, as it saves them from having to splash out on furniture or artworks to “activate” their streets. But for…

THERE were just two entries in the City of Perth’s heritage awards this year. The entrants in the hotly contested field were the restoration of St Georges College at 44 Mounts Bay Road and the RPH Heritage Society for its community achievements. The winner is still confidential, all we know is there was one “unsuccessful…

WARNING: This story contains the name of Aboriginal people who are now deceased. A NEW interpretive artwork installed at Weld Square has been unveiled, revealing the little-known story of the Coolbaroo League Social Club. Coolbaroo was a social club for Aboriginal people, operating at a time they’d been banned from entering the city without a…

AFTER a fractious council meeting Bayswater property owners face a rates bump of an average 3.25 per cent, more than twice CPI. It took two meetings to pass the budget and councillors were split over it, with Chris Cornish and Brent Fleeton walking out of the first meeting after an hour of debate. At the…

DRONES will not replace rangers at Bayswater council. Yet. The council poured cold water on the idea after resident Ian Walters suggested robo-rangers could monitor parking. He’s been dobbing in illegal parkers at the corner of Lawrence and Beaufort Streets near Chisholm College in Bedford but says “the parking breaches continue unabated”. He can’t get…

THE swish new $100,000 nature playground has opened at Bert Wright Park in Bayswater and chillens are flocking to it. Even before the official opening last week kids informally opened it, about 40 of them swinging by to scramble up the woodchip slopes and clamber over the log steps. On Tuesday more than 20 were…

STIRLING council has picked up a national award for promoting indigenous recognition. Last month mayor Giovanni Italiano and CEO Stuart Jardine traveled to Parliament House in Canberra to pick up the award in the national local government awards. Stirling was the only WA council to take out a category, for its Stirling Aboriginal Engagement Project.…

PERTH city council is encouraging ratepayers and visitors to get intimate with the city’s oldest public garden. As part of its Walk & Talk series, the council’s long-standing arboricultural expert Alan Dolphin will be giving a guided tour of Stirling Gardens. Mr Dolphin started in the council’s parks and gardens department as a trainee in…

TIMES Square, Tokyo Midtown, Perth? Hardly, as Perth council works on a new signage policy to remove some of the red tape surrounding advertising material and pave the way for large electronic signs – but Keeps a strict hand on where they’ll be allowed. Under the new rules it’ll be much easier to have a…

STIRLING ratepayers are facing a modest 1.75 per cent rate increase, one of the lowest in the metro area. The state’s biggest council has a budget totalling $307 million, with $95m going towards capital works ($28m on roads, paths, drains and parking, $8.2m on new parks, $10.1m improving the council’s own buildings and a $20m…