PERTH lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi is the co-owner of a development site fined by Vincent city council over mounds of dumped rubbish. The land at 285 Vincent Street is owned by a company called 285 Vincent Pty Ltd. More than two-thirds of the shares in that company are owned by LisaJoe Investments Pty Ltd, which…

PLIE, en pointe, and repeat — seven hours a day, five days a week. That’s life right now for 16-year-old Bronte Pike. The ballerina spends 40 hours a week practising her craft at Osborne Park’s Perth School of Ballet, co-directed by her mother Simone Jackson-Pike. When not dancing and training, Bronte’s nose is in books:…

AT least one Northbridge landowner will lose property to accommodate a bus layover for the new underground busport. Despite the $209 million project starting two years ago, the first mention of the layover was in last month’s mid-year budget review. The proposed layover site is just south of Graham Farmer Freeway, with James and John…

THE WA government has rejected the Mt Hawthorn community’s concerted campaign to ban flats in their back streets. Ninety per cent of surveyed residents supported the Vincent city council’s proposed amendment to its town planning scheme to ban multiple dwellings in residential streets, restricting them to main perimeter roads. But WA planning minister John Day…

OVERSEAS trips at ratepayers’ expense will be banned if Bayswater councillor Brent Fleeton gets his way. Fresh from convincing colleagues late last year to slash clothing expenses the new councillor — elected in October — now has council-funded trips in his sights. In the two years to July 2015, former councillor Mike Anderton and Cr…

WHY did Perth city council cover up this artwork by famous street artist Anthony Lister? We have no idea and Perth city council media man Michael Holland says he’s simply far too busy to answer questions. Last Thursday a worker was spotted in Shafto Lane painting over the mural. We asked why, wondering if it…

ALONG with the lamb chops and oi! oi! oi! flag capes, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures will be marked this Australia Day down at Ozone Reserve. The Survival Perth event is at Ozone this year because the usual spot at supreme court gardens is undergoing extensive upgrades to make it nice and shiny for…

THE bike boulevard battle continues along Mount Hawthorn’s Shakespeare Street, with a local dobbing in pro-bike Christmas decorations on verge trees as rubbish. A Vincent city council ranger visited the street and has told locals that Christmas decorations do constitute littering under local laws and require removal. Locals had hung the “all I want for…

LOCALS want to get their hands dirty — literally — to make Bayswater better. Community group the Baysie Rollers is offering to chip in “in any way” as part of a $100,000 redevelopment of the Bert Wright Park playground. The offer comes as the council this week posted an online survey asking for ideas for…

THE developer of an apartment complex proposed for Bayswater’s King William Road is sticking to seven storeys despite the council’s five-storey limit. Yolk Property Group reckons it can win approval for its 27-apartment complex after making design changes. The stance follows the metro central development assessment panel’s October rejection of Yolk’s application over ”bulk and…