Perth Voice Interactive

SECURITY patrols have been called into Mercury Place after a decision to remove a verge tree led to protestors driving around the Morley cul de sac.

Last month a split Bayswater council voted 6 to 5 to remove one of only two verge trees on the street, at the request of the nearest homeowner who said it was a pain due to leaf drop and interfering with their lawn. 

A petition showed they had the whole street’s support, but it’s drawn fury from other residents who’ve been vocal online and in person.

Bayswater deputy mayor Catherine Ehrhardt said at this week’s meeting: “I feel like the last four weeks have really shown us the gross side of human nature.

“Entitlement, hate, belittlement, harassment, bullying and the list goes on. 

“We have had to organise security patrols for a whole street because some people feel it is their right to drive up and down a peaceful cul de sac, pull up in people’s driveways, take photos of them and their homes, abuse them, and that is just what is happening in person.

“When I get sent screenshots of residents posting things like ‘They’re killing the tree, so they should be killed too,’ it makes me absolutely sick. 

“When did we as humans start caring so little for each other? When did we not start not even respecting that some people have different points of view?

“I, along with other councillors, have also been threatened – in person and online. Apparently we have 

to not only expect it, but also take it, because we are public people.”

Cr Ehrhardt was speaking as the council was hit by another petition from Mercury Place residents at this week’s meeting, this one stemming from a house just down the street that hosts the only other verge tree out front.

The owners wanted that one removed too. They were angry after being threatened with a fine for pruning the tree themselves ‘for aesthetic purposes’ according to a council report.

But their petition didn’t contain any reasons for removing the tree and councillors turned down this second request. They’ll instead allow it to be pruned, and review their pruning policy yet again. The policy was only just loosened in December 2022 to make it easier for residents to get verge trees trimmed (“Tree Protection Pruned”, Voice, January 15, 2022).

by DAVID BELL

DRONES are using teamwork to fight mosquitos and disease in a trial around Bayswater’s infested Berringa and Baigup wetlands.

Bayswater council brought in the big bots from OmniDrone and they’re the first local government to trial the new drone team technology to wipe out mozzies in hard-to-target spots.

In January they undertook detailed site mapping with pilots controlling baby drones under two kilos to gather detailed topography data. 

The mapping data then gets programmed into whopper commercial drones that can weigh up to 67kg, and it needs to be precise because the big drones fly themselves just five metres above the vegetation to make sure the spraying is targeted.

The bots are usually used for agriculture, autonomously flying over fields and spraying crops with an accuracy perfect to a square inch, but this time they’ll be carrying a payload of mosquito larvicide.

Bayswater mayor Filomena Piffaretti said in the trial announcement this week: “To protect the important ecosystem within the area, we only use 

a biological larvicide, which is a naturally occurring soil bacterium that specifically targets mosquito larvae only, without harming any other aquatic, local wildlife or surrounding vegetation. 

“This is the most environmentally friendly way to eradicate the mosquitoes before they can breed into adults.”

Mozzies are thriving in Bayswater, Bassendean and Belmont foreshores in pools of stagnant water surrounded by bush and mushy ground that can’t be reached by sprayers on foot or amphibious ride-ons.

The salt marsh mozzies are being wiped out over concerns they can carry Ross River Virus and Barmah Virus. It’s more common up north and sometimes in the South West, but it can reach Perth in years when it’s the right mix of warm and wet for the virus to thrive.

Bayswater’s only had a couple of RRV cases in recent years, but the viruses have no vaccine or cure and in some cases can cause long-term exhaustion and pain. 

Peak mosquito time is December to April, but last year as the warm weather lingered there was an  unseasonably late second spike in the metro area.

If this trial works out Bayswater will likely bring the bots back for another bots versus bugs mission next summer.

by DAVID BELL

AFTER a lengthy delay and two months from a federal election, a sudden splurge of Commonwealth cash has been pledged for the Perth City Deal.

The Deal is a three-way $1.7 billion agreement between federal, state, and local governments to co-fund big infrastructure.

Cash has trickled since negotiations started in April 2018, when the deal was priced at $1b.

But with prime minister Scott Morrison campaigning in Perth last week the commitments are coming rapid fire and the cost has blown out to $1.7b.

Under the deal Perth gets:

• A pedestrian and cyclist bridge 90m downstream of the East Perth Causeway, with separated lanes for riders and walkers that’ll replace the cramped one which runs under the current bridge;

• The $52m redevelopment of Perth Concert Hall announced last week;

•  A revamp of Roe Street to reclaim it from cars, stripping parking lanes to add in separated bike lanes, wider footpaths, alfresco dining and a central nature strip;

• The previously-announced overhaul of the WACA in East Perth and a new pool there. Perth city council’s reluctance to be stuck with a massive ongoing maintenance delayed this one a bit but they eventually agreed to a one-off contribution of $25m; and,

• ECU’s new city campus, now getting an extra $50m each from state and federal governments and an extra $60m from the uni to bring the total cost to $853m.

Mr Morrison met with WA premier Mark McGowan last week to announce the extra cash for the bridge and city campus projects. The construction market’s tricky right now with materials and labour in demand, and the extra cash will go towards a faster start date and to pay for more of the manufacturing to be done locally. 

Mr Morrison then went on to Queensland to finalise the Brisbane City Deal, and when quizzed about whether the announcement timing was due to the upcoming election, the Brisbane Times reported he denied that and said “these things take time to get right… and as soon as we’ve been able to complete the deal we’ve made the announcement”.

THE value of a uni campus in Perth’s CBD was questionable even before the price tag went up by $160 million, according to Infrastructure Australia.

This week prime minister Scott Morrison was talking up the proposed ECU campus as “reinvigorating” the city centre with 10,000 students and staff to fill up bars, restaurants and hotels and bring more people to local shops and businesses.

The PM also stopped by Council House to meet lord mayor Basil Zempilas, who described a city campus as “a gamechanger”.

Yagan Square has been pretty empty since opening, with food vendors baling out and police now garrisoned to keep a lid on unrest.

A lot’s resting on 10,000 students, who aren’t traditionally big spenders. The independent advice body Infrastructure Australia looked over the Perth City Campus proposal in August last year, back when the cost was estimated at $695m.

IA’s report warned of “limited” benefits to the city’s economy.

ECU’s business case estimated a benefit of $2.5 for every dollar spent, which the uni described as a conservative amount.

IA’s report said given Covid-19, “we cannot be confident that the benefits of the project will exceed its costs”.

It did note the project’s “place-making and city-shaping benefits” might be worthwhile.

In Fremantle Notre Dame uni filled some empty buildings and brought some life to the town, but the student spend on local businesses dries up when holidays, study weeks and exams hit. Unis don’t pay council rates, either. Notre Dame pays Freo council $75,000, but mayor Hannah Fitzhardinge last year said “while this contribution is of course welcome, it unfortunately falls far short of the cost to the city for many years”.

She said it’d be better if student housing was closer so students didn’t disappear outside semester.

EIGHT years after Stirling council committed to increase its tree canopy, the level of greenery has fallen below where it started.

The poor result forced the council to ask developers for suggestions on how to address the issue, given the industry is behind a lot of the felling while clearing blocks for new homes, but they’ve also come up empty handed.

Back in 2014 Stirling vowed to push its 12.9 per cent canopy cover up to 18 per cent by 2030, but three years later it watered down the target date to 2040.

The latest stats show even that’s fast becoming unachievable, with the canopy dropping to 12.2 per cent. 

Stirling’s tried to plant new trees but they can’t keep up with the rate of clearing. A “Tree-Friendly mentoring program” that last year invited developers to take classes in how to retain trees didn’t stemmed the losses either. 

Stirling also sought “engagement with the development industry”, sending letters to anyone who’d put in three or more building applications asking why they weren’t keeping trees and what incentives might change their minds.

Ten responded out of 137 letters, with comments grouped into themes like “trees cause damage or are not worthy of retention” or “trees impact on the development design”.

Respondents said there was no real incentive for them to keep trees.

A report on the latest canopy figures and the industry feedback will go to councillors next week noting “few suitable incentives were identified”.

Incentives

Staff have instead suggested reviewing the Tree and Development Policy in the next financial year. 

Stirling doesn’t have rules requiring trees be retained during development, and requires just one tree per 500m2 at new developments.

Leisha Jack from the Stirling Urban Tree Network has spent years urging the council to get serious about tree retention.

Two-thirds of tree loss in recent years has been from new residential properties alone, and Ms Jack says letting developers remove trees is like letting them build on dangerous land.

“It is negligent planning; worse than the poor planning that has allowed developers to sell houses on flood planes over east,” Ms Jack says. 

“The difference with urban heat is that it kills large numbers of people.”

“Most trees are being removed from privately owned land. The City of Stirling could introduce an effective tree protection law for trees on private land, but the law would have to be approved by the WA Department of Planning.” 

The report on the latest drop in canopy goes to a full council meeting on March 22, but Ms Jack isn’t optimistic that proper action will be taken given the council’s historically proven reluctant to impose rules and has preferred to wait for the state to step in. 

“When does inaction become negligence?” Ms Jack asks. “If they wait for the Department of Planning to act we will all fry.”

Mandates

In 2018 the council decided against any sort of mandates on tree retention, instead adopting an aspirational “Urban Forest Plan” that said mandates “may seem like the most effective option available, but it could result in unintended consequences such as preventing landowners from managing their gardens as they wish.” 

“Regulation introduced only in the City of Stirling may result in resistance from the building and development industry and could devalue properties with trees.”

by DAVID BELL

AFTER retirement Chris O’Connor was looking for something to keep him busy, and decided to set out on a quest to visit every single library in the metro area. 

It took him a year and a half but the West Perth resident has now visited all 68. 

Mr O’Connor says good libraries aren’t just book depositories, but hubs for people. 

He cites WA state librarian Margaret Allen who retired this month and reflected on the changing role of the librarian, who once focused on books and now focuses on people: “As libraries have changed, and tried to be much more connected with the community, that people’s skills, the ability to work with people, and engage people around what we do, has really changed.”

CAN’T travel? Think again. 

No passport required, simply buy a ticket for the train or bus and upon arrival, the world can open up even further, as far as you want to go.

How can that be? 

Using your imagination and quest for knowledge, anything is possible. Read on!

One of humankind’s great minds Albert Einstein stated: “The only thing that you absolutely have to know, is the location of the library.”

How fortunate are we, within Perth and its suburbs, there are 68 Libraries, including the State Library.

All accessible by public transport and listed on the website attached: http://www.slwa. wa.gov.au/our-services/other-libraries/public-library-directory

How many of these 68 libraries have I visited? All of them, and not as a competition, simply because I love libraries.

The sense of community, the staff who are invariably fellow travellers and the access to local knowledge and activities is special and you can also explore suburbs that you have not visited before.

Sounds a bit nerdy, then give it a new name – Library Surfing – and have fun.

And my favourite library?The next one I am going to.

by CHRIS O’CONNOR

PLANS to turn an old Bayswater landfill site into a new forest got a $200,000 election pledge from Labor’s federal Perth MP Patrick Gorman this week.

For a couple years now Bayswater council’s been hoping to get some federal funding to transform the old riverfront site, which was used as a tip from 1957 to 1972; a western section has already been rehabilitated to create Riverside Gardens.

The council hasn’t had much luck getting government funding for its big projects in recent years but Mr Gorman’s pledging the forest cash if Labor wins the next election, still unscheduled but due by no later than May 21 this year.

Bayswater council had hoped to kick off the project earlier and this funding announcement is a second attempt after a similar Labor pledge at the last election, but they didn’t win government in 2019. 

Mr Gorman visited the riverfront site this week and said “Bayswater is sort of the garden city of Perth. 

“It is an important part of the inner east, but we don’t have enough trees. 

“This makes our houses hotter, it means that we don’t have as many beautiful places for people to play, and it means that we don’t put as good a quality water back into our riverways as we otherwise could have.”

He says along with being good for people’s health “the forest will also grow a future tourism site in Perth’s inner east, with opportunities for tourists to view wildlife in a natural habitat”.

In 2020 the Bayswater area was found to have the lowest canopy cover among Australia’s 131 urban councils, at 10.9 per cent, and it’s been trying to get it up to 20 per cent by 2025. 

Tree planting efforts hadn’t been able to match the rate of private land development clearing out blocks and state government works like the Forrestfield-Airport link.

by DAVID BELL