Vincent mayor Emma Cole dropped in with the council’s new engineering director Andrew Murphy (right) and parks co-ordinator Ian Ellies (left) this week to check the ongoing work to double the size of the neighbourhood park at the end of Hyde Street. Beefing up the little reserve is a pilot project for the council’s new…

AFTER years of protests from locals and multiple applications, a contentious six-storey development in King William Street, Bayswater has been approved. On February 15 the Development Assessment Panel gave the green light to Yolk Property Group’s “Heir” development, which has won both praise and criticism from various community groups (Future Bayswater for it, Bayswater Deserves…

THE problematic rollout of the NBN continued in characteristically bumpy fashion this week, with contractors allegedly killing a mature tree at the corner of Central Ave and East Street in Bayswater. Cr Catherine Ehrhardt has reported it to the city, calling it “absolutely disgraceful”. She says a passerby was told by workers a “truck backed…

HANGING around a toilet block too long can get you in trouble, but it’s hard not to linger outside the most artistic loos in the country. Duncan Moon’s masterpiece The Nearest of the Faraway Places at Claughton Reserve is ready for its official opening and tour, and the artist will be down there to talk…

PERTH’S unusually mild summer made Hyde Park the perfect place for our photographer, Steve Grant to stop for lunch this week. In fact, it’s so mild that one pair of coots seems to have got their seasons mixed up and are already swimming around with a brood of five tiny ducklings. A lazy visit from…

A PERTH man who served Australia’s longest driving licence suspension before it was overturned on appeal has been knocked back for an ex-gratia payment, despite claims it ruined his life. David Tubbs was just 19 in 1985, when he made the fateful decision to get behind the wheel of a mate’s car after a couple…

THE big blue head sculpture in Vincent has shed his winter gear, but the hat and scarf have been remade into blankets for the kitties at Cat Haven. North Perth Knit, Natter, Crochet and Craft spent thousands of hours making the giant clothes for the Ken Sealey sculpture, formally known as “Beseech”, and dressed him…

DEAD and moribund pigeons greeted city-goers in Forrest Place on Monday morning. The Voice contacted Perth city council, the WA Health Department and Department of Parks and Wildlife, but they didn’t know if the birds have been poisoned. In a widely-shared Facebook post, city worker Eisha-Marie Stone said she was “absolutely heartbroken walking through Forrest…

EIGHTH AVENUE in Maylands is set to become greener and more pedestrian friendly. The local business association is finishing off a study on how other suburbs have spruced up their town centres, and chair Luke Dimasi says that priority items are “making it pedestrian friendly: greenery is at the top of the list, parklets and…

THERE is still no resolution on the long-running Lisa Scaffidi/State Administrative Tribunal saga as we go to print this Wednesday. The lord mayor was back at the SAT this Tuesday and Wednesday for the final penalty hearing. Ms Scaffidi was initially given an 18-month disqualification from office over 45 breaches of the local government act,…