STIRLING council is lobbying the state government to take part in a one-for-one tree-planting trial on median strips and schools in the city. This month council wrote to the government requesting that they match trees planted by the city on a section of median strip on Reid Highway, and on Takari Primary School in Balcatta.…

MOST folk who know the bubbly, chuckling priest Fr Francis Mary would barely recognised him as he swapped his usual brown robes for some a tad brighter – the cherry red of Santa. He says the experience has shown him that the magic of Santa is real, for every girl and boy. BEING Santa has…

Decorations are going up on Beaufort Street ahead of Saturday night’s (December 22) inaugural Christmas parade and markets, starting 6.30pm. Pictured are festival collaborators Beaufort Street Network chair Joshua O’Keefe and Vincent mayor Emma Cole, hanging decorations at the parade’s starting line, the Mary Street Piazza.

FREE parking has been scrapped at Scitech – just in time for the school holidays. From Friday December 14, Scitech ticket holders will need to pay $5 to park for more than an hour at the City West car park, after centre management cancelled the freebie. There’s still one hour-free parking, but that leaves you…

THE new Beaufort Street Christmas Festival kicks off this Sunday (December 16), with the first Christmas Parade to follow next Saturday. The reinvigorated Beaufort Street Network has teamed up with St Alban’s Church and Vincent council to put on a week of Christmas events to get the Street back on peoples’ “to-do” list. The street’s…

CONCERNED about the urban heat island effect in Bayswater? Become a “citizen scientist” and help measure the microclimate of your city. The study – a collaboration between Bayswater council and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology – will help scientists understand and mitigate extreme heat. Participants need to be available for two hours on a…

ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 20) The Sun moves into Capricorn. You come to ground with a thump. Capricorn is host to the reality principle. With Mars sailing across the wide-open waters of Pisces, you have become prone to fantasy. Life pops your dream bubble and brings you back to the wonders of the here…

STIRLING council will continue to use the controversial weedkiller glyphosate, but only as a last resort. This month the city approved its weed management policy after five weeks of community consultation in September. The Council received 42 responses including concerns about its use of glyphosate and why it hadn’t completely phased out using herbicides and…

VINCENT residents could get a third bin for organic waste like food scraps and garden cuttings. There’s still details and a business case to be worked out before councillors decide whether to go ahead, but this week they voted to support “in principle” the three-bin FOGO system (Food Organics/Garden Organics), as about 55 per cent…

‘TIS the season for giving – except in Stirling where a donation biffo is brewing. Councillor Andrew Guilfoyle wants to stop councillors making donations to clubs and groups that are not in their ward. “Recently one councillor used their funds to donate to a club in my ward,” he told the Voice. “This then precluded…