THE quest to pack Perth with parked cars rolls on with another CBD development winning approval to install more bays than the rules usually allow. The Perth Parking Policy, a joint manual by the state government and Perth city council birthed in 1999, has tried to limit the number of car bays in new buildings…

FORMER Bayswater mayor Dan Bull wants to bring back the infant immunisation service which was cut in 2022 as part of a hotly contested money-saving measure. For more than 30 years the council funded free immunisation days for infants at local clinics covering diseases like whooping cough, polio, measles and diphtheria.  It immunised about 750…

FOUR new short docos delving into local stories are in the works as the City of Vincent Film Project reprises its sixth year.  Usually three film ideas are chosen every year for the festival, a collaboration between the council and Revelation Film Festival, but 2023’s bounty of quality entries has seen a fourth commissioned.  This…

A PRESERVATION project for an important part of Perth’s plumbing past kicks off soon. Officially titled the “Low-Level Sewage Pumping Station No 2”, the Langley Park Pumping Station was designed by architect RL Wright and built in 1914, incorporating a since-defunct public toilet in its elaborately-decorated masonry. With a cottage-like design, it commonly provokes “what is…

A DO-LITTLE council report on improving safety for kids walking to school has been slammed by parents at Maylands Peninsula Primary School. In mid-2022 Bayswater council’s  Safe Routes to School pilot project surveyed Maylands residents to identify the problems deterring kids from walking to school. It raised issues such as intersections which prioritised cars over…

WEST PERTH’S ageing but tidy Murray Hotel has been bought by the state government to house around 30 homeless people. The purchase comes as the timeframe for completing the government’s flagship “Common Ground” long-term supported-living facility in East Perth has been pushed back another year to 2025 and other homeless facilities remain at high levels of…

TWO HUNDRED flood risk hotspots have been identified around Vincent, with works underway to address the most urgent. Lynton Street in Mount Hawthorn was turned into a canoeable river in 2021, and nearby Menzies Park was a lake for a day. In recent year’s Vincent’s copped a heavy downpour of criticism from residents who feel…

A WEE win in Vincent’s war on water was marked last weekend when residents gathered to celebrate a new floodwall at Beatty Park. It’s been a long campaign by residents to get a wall to prevent run-off from the park, starting shortly after homes on Emmerson Street were flooded in the great storm of 2010. …

AUTHOR Shirley Eldridge was better placed than many to deal with revisiting past trauma, but still found reliving the events of a 1967 murder “horrific”.  Eldridge’s background is in counselling psychology. She’s worked at Lifeline, trained counsellors, and run suicide prevention courses overseas before settling in Perth and turning to writing. But even decades later,…

TWO sculptures by WA artist Addam have been unveiled in Hamer Park and Inglewood Oval as the capstone on the park’s $6.3 million redevelopment. Addam’s work melds sculpture and jewellery and this is her first public art commission. Addam was selected by Stirling council to team up with veteran public artist Rick Vermey as a…