DUST clouds, droning construction noise and a collapsed ceiling are forcing small businesses under at the Plaza Arcade, claim traders. The Hay Street mall arcade is in the middle of being renovated and traders says customers are being driven away by what the mall’s owner describes as “exciting renovations”, with problems literally reaching breaking point…

ACTING lord mayor James Limnios is bringing some light-heartedness to po-faced diplomatic functions—crooning a Mandarin lovesong to Chinese representatives recently. Cr Limnios was representing the council at an event to mark 45 years of bilateral relations between Australia and China, while lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi steps down from her duties to await her appeal over…

BAYSWATER council has ensured no private construction can take place on the environmentally-sensitive Carter Wetlands, located beside Eric Singleton Bird Sanctuary. Part of the privately-owned block was bulldozed last year to make way for a development next door, but now the city’s using $2 million of its own reserves cash and $1.5m of state government…

IT’S time for Fremantle’s most sacred cultural event – the annual Blessing of the Fleet. For 69 years the port city’s Italian community has celebrated the start of the fishing season with a festival that affirms their deep faith and strong ties to their former homeland, as well as the huge contribution they’ve made locally.…

IT’S called Little Italy by the Sea, but it’s sure getting huge. A celebration of Italian culture, this year’s Little Italy festival has grown threefold and will transform Fremantle Fishing Boat Harbour with colourful Italian piazzas full of pop-up restaurants and cafes, fashion parades, Ferraris, Ducatis, food demonstrations, wine and beer tasting, cocktails, music, dance,…

AN adorable dog has been badly poisoned in Maylands just a couple of weeks after the RSPCA reported a rise in pet poisonings. Karen and Reg Oates from Tourer Court are in their 70s and pet dogs Beer and Cooper are “children” to them. Last week the couple found Beer in their yard in terrible…

CLAISEBROOK residents and traders have formed a new “town team” to help guide the area’s future. Claisebrook Collective is the sixth town team in the City of Vincent, joining Leederville Connect, Beaufort Street Network, Mt Hawthorn Hub, North Perth Local and OnWilliam. The groups have organised events like festivals and markets and worked with council…

WHEN John Carey’s neighbours saw a car stopped outside the MPs house and someone furtively taking pictures of his property, they got suspicious. It had been a rough election campaign back in March with a few smears thrown about, and before that a couple of people unhappy with Vincent council decisions had harangued him for…

THE unsavoury and mostly hidden history of WA’s missions is laid bare in the exhibition Kerosene Tins and Love Hearts, part of Perth Heritage Days this weekend. The project came about when Robert Eggington and wife Selina from the Dumbartung Aboriginal Corporation took students from Clontarf Aboriginal College on a tour of the missions through…

MOUNT HAWTHORN locals are petitioning education minister Sue Ellery to save a 75-year-old tree due to be removed to make way for a new two-storey early childhood building at Mount Hawthorn primary school. The back of the new $3.5 million building is along Scarborough Beach Road and along with making for a closed-off and unattractive…