AFTER nearly a year away from work following a heart attack, Vincent city council’s community services boss Rob Boardman is back on the job. Mr Boardman is in charge of the rangers and health compliance, and his absence during recovery marked a troubled year amongst Vincent’s top echelon. For most of the year there was…

NORTHBRIDGE’S iconic live music venue The Bakery will close forever on May 9. For more than a year there’ve been whispers about when the venue run by Artrage would close but now it’s set in stone. The property was sold last August and a mysterious major development is planned. The Bakery opened 13 years ago…

LIVING in the city doesn’t mean you can’t have chooks says Mt Hawthorn’s Irma Lachmund. She’s had hens at her place ever since her neighbour went on holiday for three months and asked her to chicken-sit. When the neighbour returned she had to hand back her new friends, enduring just two cluck-free days before heading…

THE Morley Action Group plans to cram into the City of Swan’s council chamber this week to protest Colin Barnett’s council amalgamations. Under merger plans, the northern section of Morley will be carved out of Bayswater and become part of Swan. MAG chair Eric Davies says around 500 locals have signed a petition opposing the…

REMEMBER the days of thumbing through sallow pictures in photo albums and having slide nights with riveted neighbours? Emily Hornum’s exhibition The Substance of Memory explores how new media has altered the family archive and the way we relate to our past. Ms Hornum, a 28-year-old visual arts student, has laid bare her own past…

ALL meetings between councillors and big developers must be declared on a register says Vincent mayor John Carey. Meanwhile, CEO Len Kosova is moving to end the stream of gifts and hospitality freebies that have traditionally flowed to council staff. Mr Carey says the moves demonstrate his council’s commitment to transparency and have not been…

THE role of Jewish soldiers in World War I will be recognised in a touring exhibition in the making. Keith Shilkin from the Centenary of Anzac Jewish Program has been helping dig into the history and says the Jewish role in the war is largely a story of integration. He says there was anti-semitism—common at…

A MOUNT LAWLEY pet shop is considering legal action against an animal rights group after being targeted in a pre-Christmas “puppy farm” protest. About 30 people attended the December 21 protest outside Mount Lawley Pets and Puppies after the group Oscar’s Law claimed it had flown in litters of puppies, sourced from “factories”, to sell…

THE virtual world is leaking into real life again, with the Internet Cat Video Festival making its way to the Northbridge Piazza. Internet videos of cats doing awesome things like jumping into fishbowls and attacking their reflections had their genesis in a cat called Fatso playing a keyboard, whose video was uploaded to YouTube in…

PERTH city council is helping Kurb Gallery find a new home. The popular Northbridge gallery, located on William Street for more than 30 years, was decided to close at Christmas when the new landlord nearly tripled the rent to $60,000 (Voice, December 20, 2014).  Lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi says the PCC’s policy of filling under-utilised…