PERTH’S Bicycle Transport Alliance has folded. Despite the city’s bike network being riddled with gaps and blackspots, there will no longer be a lobby group to put pressure on the state government to fix them. The alliance wasn’t about lycra warriors or circuit racers, but ordinary bike riders heading to work or school. Chief executive…

STIRLING councillor David Michael will contest the seat of Balcatta at the state election for Labor. The seat is held by Liberal MP Chris Hatton on a 7.3 per cent margin. Cr Michael sought Labor pre-selection for the seat in 2013 but was defeated by Janet Pettigrew. This time, his was the only nomination. “Janet…

ONE year after Devilles Pad closed the venue was revived for a one-night only secret gig on Tuesday March 15. Arizona-based Tex-Mex indy rockers Calexico took the stage in what was billed as a warm-up for a new outfit operating out of the Aberdeen Street joint. It will be called the Badlands Bar. Industry website…

CHARLES STREET will become a busy six-lane highway in what locals are calling “an urban design disaster”. The WA government’s plans for the street include a bus bridge and busway. Geraldine Box and Andrew Main are getting the word out to locals by dropping hundreds of flyers around the area, much of it still residential…

STIRLING council looks set to join neighboring Vincent in calling for development assessment panels to be abolished. A motion put up by Stirling councillor Elizabeth Re to “advocate for the abolition of DAPs” will soon go to a vote by colleagues, expected late May following a workshop, mirroring a motion unanimously passed at Vincent the week before.…

INSTEAD of answering questions about more allegedly undeclared travel, Perth lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi has mocked a veteran journalist for “bad breath and botox”. For the past couple weeks Ms Scaffidi has been repeatedly doorstopped by TV journo Liam Bartlett, who’s been asking her about more undeclared trips, saying he knows of four she’s failed…

THE verge poo bandit has been fined $200 after Vincent city council staff met with him to hand over the infringement. The Swan Taxis driver, who’d pooed on a Leederville verge mid-morning (having come prepared with his own toilet roll) has 28 days to pay the fine. Vincent CEO Len Kosova says his staff formally…

HOBBY historian Dallas Robertson’s grand Minecraft reimagining of Perth’s historical cityscape has inspired at least one youngster to follow in his foosteps, with 7-year-old Alex Giovenco reconstructing Viking House in the 3D Lego-like game. Mr Robertson spent countless hours recreating what Perth was like in 1870, going to great pains to craft as accurately as…

IT’S happened again: yet another historic balls-up has been uncovered by Vincent council, with money illegally withdrawn from the Leederville Gardens reserve. The mess looks set to cost ratepayers at least $63,000, while the Leederville Gardens retirement village could end up $212,000 out of pocket. Leederville Gardens is a retirement village set up as a…

NEW powers granted to unelected state government planning bureaucrats have elected councils up in arms. Councils say the changes — quietly introduced by the Barnett government in November — mean they no longer have any control over the density of new developments. That authority has been handed to unelected bureaucrats in the WA planning commission,…