MT HAWTHORN residents have joined forces to oppose a block of flats being built in their “character street”. The department of housing plans to build a 10-unit, two-storey building in East Street. Local Voices of Mt Hawthorn says a multiple dwelling will ruin the street’s ambience of federation houses on individual lots. “We’re not against…

STIRLING mayor Giovanni Italiano has blasted Western Power for whacking councils with a new fee that adds 13.9 per cent to their energy bill. He says ratepayers will inevitably end up wearing the cost of the utility’s “double dipping”. Western Power has decided its customers should wear the costs arising from its capital contributions and…

THE old Sinbad’s takeaway in Inglewood has become an eyesore and needs to be cleaned up, says David Lagan. The Stirling city councillor says in the months since the business shut it’s become a target for vandals and a home for squatters. “It’s not a good look for the area,” he says. “The building has…

FIRE damaged four cars at City Motors Holden yard in West Perth around 2am Monday. Two HSV sports cars were destroyed, two sedans damaged and building fascia was melted, bringing the damage bill to around $500,000. The dealership remained smoky but open and the arson squad is on the case. Fire sale soon? A GROWING…

NAILS hammered into a tree at Bayswater’s Halliday Park could have seriously injured contractors employed to cut it down  says council CEO Francesca Lefante. In a letter to pro-trees activist Greg Smith dismissing his claim that a contractor had driven threateningly at him while he protested the century-old trees’ axing, Ms Lefante said the presence…

ARE jokes about rape acceptable? American comedian Adrienne Truscott puts the question to the test in Asking For It. Wearing a pair of anything-but-sensible shoes, a jacket and nothing in between, her one-woman show debunks the lamentably still-fashionable notion that women who are raped are “asking for it”, whether it’s because of what they wear…

A VANDAL has severely damaged the royal coat of arms above the Perth GPO, decapitating its unicorn and pulling bits off. Perth city councillor Reece Harley tipped us off to the damage, having just returned from Paris where he’d proposed to partner Rebekah ‘neath the glow of the Eiffel Tower, making all other Perth men…

POLICE reckon they’ve caught the pair who started a small bushfire in Coolbinia on January 4, but won’t lay charges as they’re two boys, aged eight and nine. While too young to face prosecution the pair will be referred to a juvenile program run by the Department of Fire and Emergency Services. The fire started…

$26,000 commission for new Maylands bar MICHIEL DE RUYTER is looking for a local artist to design a public artwork for his multi-million dollar bar and live music venue in Maylands. The Guildford Road venue is scheduled to open next spring and, under Bayswater council’s per cent per art scheme, Mr de Ruyter must spend…

CRIME concerns have prompted Bayswater police to organise a community forum in Bedford. The date for the event is yet to be determined. “The cricket club was broken into recently, the self-cleaning toilet block was vandalised again last week, and there are drug dealers running product in and out of the area,” says Stirling city…