MORE than 400 locals are opposing plans to install new floodlights and upgrade De Lacey reserve in Maylands. The site is used by cricket and soccer clubs and includes changing rooms and a children’s playground. Gareth Davies says locals are concerned about increased traffic and parking on Richard Street, which runs along the side of…

BUSINESSES suffering at Barrack Square may get rent relief from the WA government, as traders struggle to make a buck amidst the dust, noise and hostile terrain of the Elizabeth Quay works. Back in April the Voice revealed Annalakshmi restaurant was suffering because of the works. That’s led to a flurry of other local traders…

OVER six months, the Leederville Employment Law Centre received 10,000 calls from people worried about their rights at work. It could only handle 2000, and deep funding cuts from the federal and state governments means it’ll be even harder this year.” Young gun city lawyer Nicholas van Hattem reckons he has a solution to the…

THE dodgy tree-loppers are back. An outfit that fleeced a 90-year-old Coolbinia man out of $1000 have letterboxed his house again, looking for repeat business. Talbot Bashall is keen to get the word out: he wouldn’t touch WA Tree Services with a barge pole. Late last year he’d answered a knock on the door and…

REVISED plans for a concrete batching plant on Collier Road have been rejected by Bayswater city council. WA Limestone’s original application was booted in June 2011, with residents and councillors concerned about the impact of dust and noise. The applicant appealed to the state administrative tribunal, which issued conditional approval in July last year. However,…

AN aspiring franchise owner stormed out of Vincent’s council meeting this week, furious with the rejection of his plans to open a Guzman y Gomez food store in the heart of Leederville. The council’s 5/4 vote to knock it back blindsided both the applicant and staff who’d recommended approval. “Disgraceful!” the man exclaimed. “You could…

THE winter chill is doing Perth’s poetry scene a favour. Icy winds whistle through windows—a cosy nook inside a warm cafe, a likely saviour. Perth Poetry Club member Elio Novello says about a dozen more people turn up to its events in the cooler months. “People aren’t doing outdoor activities,” the local poet says. “Instead,…

THE newly formed Stirling Urban Tree Network is hosting a community forum on why we need trees in the suburbs if we want to avoid urban heat, increase property prices and keep people sane. Based on the Bayswater Urban Tree Network driven by the Voice’s regular dendrophile correspondent Greg Smith, organiser Leisha Jack says the…

IT’S au revoir to Vincent councillor James Peart as he prepares to resign and move to France. Wife Rebecca is an interpreter and teaches English, and they’re saying adieu to Australia for a work opportunity. Cr Peart will be working in remote consultancy, doing urban planning from afar. Elected early last year to fill the…

A RAMMY over a swimming pool has gone off the deep end, with a resident and Stirling council bringing in the lawyers. The council wants Ajdin Dzemailoski to cough up $200,000 to buy a supposed laneway next to his Wiluna Street property, or demolish eaves and a pool illegally built on it. Trouble is, Mr…