HOW did this bike rack end up out the back of a cafe owned by a guy dead against the Oxford Street bike lane plan? At first we wondered if Greens & Co owner Stuart Lofthouse had nicked it to protest the bike lane, which he opposed, going down Oxford Street. But it was hard…

BAYSWATER local Greg Smith bore solemn witness as the Halliday Park trees he’d fought to protect were cut down and fed to a woodchipper this week. The town planner had argued with the council that the park’s heritage listing also protected its trees, ranging from 80 to 120 years old. But mayor Sylan Albert says…

THIS year’s Beaufort Street festival was a huge success—almost too huge, with an estimated 160,000 people packing out the street. Now in its fifth year it’s skyrocketed from the 50,000 at the inaugural festival. This year the crowd was too tightly packed to go ahead with a planned Mexican wave. Festival director Paul Fletcher from…

A $32.5 million 10-storey apartment complex is set to be built in the heart of Morley. Bayswater mayor Sylvan Albert describes the Boag Place development as “something special” and says it will kickstart revitalisation of the area. The development will feature 128 multiple dwellings, 400sqm of offices and 164 car bays. It is located just…

AN Inglewood man is hoping to kickstart a rational debate about refugee policy, based on fact not fears. WA Humanist Society president Stevie Modern hopes his group’s event, Reclaiming a Welcome Australia, will also get people talking again about what sort of country they want Australia to be. He says refugee policy is an ideal…

COLIN NUGENT has lost a supreme court appeal against a child pornography charge, after being caught with magazines from the 1980s depicting drawings and text of paedophilia. Nugent, AKA Harry Holland AKA Emu Nugent, was fined $3000. He’d argued the copies of Rockspider magazine should be exempt from child porn laws as they represent an…

INSPIRATION is just about everywhere for Mount Lawley artist Clay Bradbury (pictured). From the curious Lincoln Street sewage gas ventilation stack to the foreboding frontage of the brutalist monstrosity Fesa house, local landmarks find their way to his unusual canvas scavenged from bits of wood during roadside collection. Bradbury says his affinity for industrial spaces…

THE Origin NYE event at Wellington Square has been knocked back by a divided Perth city council, despite promises the DJs would keep the bass down. Lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi and councillors Jim Adamos, Janet Davidson and Judy McEvoy lodged no votes, outnumbering Origin-supporters Rob Butler and Reece Harley. The vote comes despite the city…

REHABILITATED offenders and a local artist have joined forces to create a giant mural at a seniors centre in Maylands. Artist John Cox, 69, and four young men from Outcare, a not-for-profit group that helps young offenders re-enter society, spent eight weeks on the mural. “It’s very rewarding and for most of these kids it’s…

BAYSWATER city council has voted down issuing ratepayers a $5.66 carbon tax refund. The council had netted $169,050 by charging ratepayers extra because of the tax, which was then abolished in July. “Whilst it is believed that the city is not legally required to refund these monies, there may be an expectation that ratepayers are…