Perth Voice Interactive

FOUR years after being told it was too expensive and too hard, Crib Lane cafe owner Michael Ivanoff finally has a seated parklet.

The Hay Street trader says a changing of the guard at the City of Perth helped make it happen; in 2016 he applied to convert one car bay into footpath so he could have outdoor seating, thinking it’d benefit his business and add some life to the streetscape. 

Despite Vincent, Bayswater, Fremantle and other councils embracing the idea, Perth staff knocked him back over the cost.

“People at the old management at the City of Perth used the excuse of saying it was going to cost $50,000 to convert one car bay, to fill it up and repave it,” Mr Ivanoff said. 

Reece Harley, a councillor at the time, asked the staff for a breakdown of costs but says he was told to butt out.

“When I started questioning their figures the director came in over the top and shut it all down,” he says.

“They just seemed to pull figures out of the air. If they didn’t like the idea of something, they’d just make it so extraordinarily expensive that it wouldn’t be justifiable.”  

“It was an abrupt ending,” Mr Ivanoff says. “It was pretty brutal the way Reece was told to stay out of it.

“I was flat. I thought: ‘Why bother reapplying?’”

But with Perth’s commissioners putting in some parklets of their own and scrapping charges for alfresco dining, Mr Ivanoff recently had another stab at his parklet idea.

Encouraged

“They let me know everything had been approved to apply for the alfresco, and they encouraged me to apply for a business grant,” he said.

That was to help cover the cost of putting in street furniture. He said his eyes glazed over at the thought of the paperwork and he told them “that’s not my forte” but they encouraged him and he ended up with a $5,000 grant.

“I wouldn’t have been able to furnish it with what I’ve been through in the last three months with Covid. We were down for most of the period, down 70 per cent.”

Mr Harley says Mr Ivanoff’s win rectified a lost opportunity: “This would have had such a positive impact on his business back then. It really has been four years of wasted opportunities right across the city. 

“In terms of the outcome for the city, alfresco areas add street life … in summer you’ve got shade, in winter you’ve got respite from the rain, and you’ve got support for a local small business. It’s a no-brainer.”

Mr Ivanoff says it’s come in the nick of time given corona impacts but “it would have been a big benefit back then”.

With current restrictions, business is still down a third, and he says having the open seating out in the fresh air has made a big difference in getting people to stop for a coffee.

“Straight away. The first week we put it out we had a couple of 25 degree days, it was pretty full out there. A lot of people are wanting, even in winter, to sit outside.”

But he says the cafe trade will continue to be a struggle unless the city returns to its pre-corona foot-traffic levels. 

“Still scared, mate, a lot of us are saying we won’t get back to where we were.”

By DAVID BELL

THE WA Planning Commission has scrawled all over Bayswater council’s structure plan for the Baysie town centre.

The WAPC says the council’s modest height limits of four to six storeys aren’t ambitious enough and won’t lead to a vibrant strip.

The council submitted its plan two years ago, but the McGowan government has since announced planning control for the area will be handed over to its development arm DevelopmentWA as part of the Metronet upgrade of the train station.

DevelopmentWA will set new limits to “maximise development opportunities” when it takes over later this year.

Pro-development lobby group Future Bayswater has welcomed the state stepping in. FB chair Paul Shanahan has lived in the area for 25 years and says “the Bayswater townsite has been allowed to decline and decay over decades, and it’s time residents had the opportunity to live, work, play and spend their money right there, rather than travel to other town centres for the services they need.

“With the Metronet project, Bayswater will be a major transport hub for Perth and the first town centre people will see when they get off the plane and catch the train. 

“This structure plan paves the way for the kinds of investment that will create a vibrant and dynamic first impression.”

Bayswater planning staff had told the WAPC committee ahead of its decision on the structure plan that they’d already accounted for the new station, following a “significant engagement process” which had community support. 

The WAPC now “requires” Bayswater council to make its modifications and re-submit it for approval. 

Bayswater mayor Dan Bull sounded optimistic the council would be able to work with DevelopmentWA to get some progress happening while preserving the town centre’s important heritage character. 

He said DevelopmentWA’s feedback on the structure plan “referred to it as high quality, and they agree that the northern side of the railway line has the greatest potential for increased density. We take comfort from this”.

The Metronet upgrades will make Bayswater a junction for the Midland line and the new Morley Ellenbrook line and airport line. 

By DAVID BELL

THE 2021 Skyworks looks likely to go ahead provided WA’s Covid-19 rate stays flatlined.

Commissioners will decide at this week’s council meeting whether to press the start button on planning the big Australia Day show following premier Mark McGowan’s urging to go ahead. The decision will also affect Christmas and New Year’s festivities.

Staff had previously recommended a quick cancellation over fears they could spend thousands only to pull the pin if new Covid-19 cases threw WA’s recovery roadmap into disarray, but chair commissioner Andrew Hammond told this week’s council briefing he didn’t think it was his place to cancel.

“I don’t believe it’s the role of the commissioners to make such a huge policy decision about taking Skyworks off the annual event calendar, because that really is a decision for the council and lord mayor when they return,” he said.

The longer the city waits to cancel the more it costs. 

A last-minute cancellation would wipe out the entire $2.7m budget and leave the council with 45 tonnes of fireworks to be cautiously shipped back to the manufacturer.

Cmmr Hammond said planning should go ahead, but if strict social distancing rules were back in January 2021 it would have to be cancelled. 

He said there wasn’t unanimous support for the Skyworks, with local traders saying they didn’t benefit much from an event down on the foreshore.

Cmmr Hammond has also asked staff to investigate moving the Christmas nativity from the Supreme Court Gardens. He’s after a “very, very Christmassy family Christmas event in Forrest Place simply because our retailers need that activation”.

 

By DAVID BELL

LORD mayoral candidate Di Bain says City of Perth ratepayers should get to vote in a plebiscite about whether the council keeps funding the lion’s share of Skyworks.

The event costs $2.7m a year and the council pays the vast majority, but businesses funding it through their rates don’t see much benefit in people sitting on the foreshore then hightailing it right after. 

“Businesses in the city aren’t feeling the economic positives of Skyworks,” Ms Bain says.

“If it’s so important to the state, then they should be funding the lion’s share of it. It’s fine for the city to contribute to a big event in the city, but not to be paying for the majority of it.”

Only a smidgeon gets spent on actual fireworks; a big part of the price tag goes to state government entities for road closures and emergency services.

Ms Bain said a plebiscite asking if voters wanted to continue funding the majority of the Skyworks could be done in parallel with October’s election, so the new council would be able to make an informed call. 

Council staff recently summarised community sentiment for commissioners: A resident and ratepayer survey showed a pretty even split for and against. An ABC subscriber poll showed 70 per cent voted against the 2021 Skyworks going ahead.

The staff summary of the 

“reputational risk” says there’s no pleasing everyone: Any changes to the three big events “has resulted in significant public outcry and negative state level media coverage”.

And even when the Skyworks does run as planned, “there is also traditionally some level of outcry due to cultural and environmental concerns associated with the history of 26 January and large-scale fireworks during bush fire season respectively. 

“In summary, whatever decision is made in relation to these events will likely result in some level of negative media coverage and public sentiment, particularly from residents and ratepayers.”

AFTER eight years in the making the “Stop Puppy Farming” bill made it to WA Parliament this week; but it could be a short visit.

Maylands Labor MP Lisa Baker, who chaired the Stop Puppy Farming implementation working group, told Parliament on Tuesday the bill would reduce animal cruelty and the number of dogs being surrendered to councils, where more than half are killed.

But the Opposition, which has the numbers in the Upper House, has said it won’t support the legislation, particularly because of its impact on legitimate pet stores.

Cruel

Ms Baker said in recent years cruel breeding operations had been uncovered in WA, with some dogs found in dimly-lit underground bunkers with little ventilation. 

Cottesloe Liberal MP David Honey said those cases led to charges being laid against the breeders,  showing current animal welfare laws were working. 

But Ms Baker said other operations fly under the radar, and the weakness in the current law is that pet shops can source their pups from bad breeders.

“Some WA pet shops have admitted they sell puppies sourced from large commercial puppy-farming establishments in New South Wales and other states, some of which have been investigated for various breaches of local laws and allegations of cruelty. Other pet shops have admitted to purchasing puppies bred in unacceptable conditions in small back yards,” Ms Bakers said.

“By the time puppies are released into the market, they have poor traceability and we cannot find out where they were bred or in what conditions. This makes investigation and identification of cases almost impossible. There is no transparency and no public scrutiny.”

The new bill proposes dog breeding and selling would require approval from a local government. Except for a few exemptions (working dogs or health reasons), all puppies would have to be sterilised.

The legislation creates a “centralised registration system” for every dog in WA so their origins can be traced. 

The eight or so pet shops dealing in dogs will be forced to transition to “dog adoption centres” if they want to keep selling dogs. They’ll only be able to source them from a rescue or shelter organisation accredited by the state government. Dogs won’t live their whole puppy lives in shop windows, but will instead be brought in for an “adoption day”.

Spoodle

Some Liberal members balked at the idea of interfering with “good pet shops”.

Riverton MP Mike Nahan said he got his spoodle from a pet shop.

“It is a legitimate business,” he said, adding the greater problem was overproduction of dogs leading to them being in pounds. 

But not all Liberals are in lockstep: Dawesville MP Zak Kirkup said he hates pet shops selling animals “I find the practice of pet shops selling puppies to be out of step with modern societal expectation,” Mr Kiy said.

by DAVID BELL

CITY property owners are stuck with their big annual parking bay fees.

Activate Perth had petitioned the McGowan government to delay this year’s levy and spend some of the $130 million accruing in the levy account to benefit city businesses which have been hammered by Covid-19.

But premier Mark McGowan says the government can’t legally suspend, waive or refund the levy; even if it’s to help struggling businesses.

“However, I can advise that the government has agreed that there will be no increase to the Perth Parking Levy in 2020-21 given the current economic challenges facing WA businesses,” Mr McGowan wrote to Activate Perth.

The problem is it’s a zero per cent increase on a figure that skyrocketed in previous years: Rather than inching upwards by CPI, some years the PPL has more than doubled. It started as $70 per bay in 1999, and has increased by 1570 per cent since then to average around $1170. 

Activate Perth chair Di Bain says she’s “hugely disappointed”, saying it was “more evidence that the state government is not familiar with the specific issues affecting businesses in the city”.

Ms Bain, who’s planning to run for lord mayor in October, says the state-appointed commissioners currently running the City of Perth have been too quiet on the issue. 

She says if elected; “I’ll lobby for the state government to rework how it charges this levy, why it charges it, and why it keeps increasing the levy. 

“I will be demanding to know where every single dollar of the levy is spent.”

Mr McGowan’s letter said the Department of Transport had pushed back the due date for fee bays by three months to the end of September “to assist businesses and land owners with cash flow”. 

By DAVID BELL

MANY folk have been missing live music, but the itch for something acoustic has been particularly strong for Mount Lawley jazz muso Mace Francis.

Dr Francis, a gigging muso, teacher and director of the Perth International Arts Festival, 

says within a week of Covid-19 restrictions he’d lost all his work and was restricted to practicing at home by himself.

But he’s recently started holding free fortnightly shows outside his local cafe Standby Espresso and says he’s now getting his live music fix.

The two Saturday morning shows so far have gone down a treat with cafe patrons and people just wandering by.

“It creates a really great vibe in the neighbourhood, especially since live music has not happened in many months,” Dr Francis said.

A small upside to the restrictions was getting to bed at unjazzily early hours, but not doing shows has “been really weird, especially realising that it is such an important part of my life”, he said.

He’s done some livestream shows but the feel is off: “You’re just playing to an empty room. 

“You really realise that you get as much from the audience as you’re giving to the audience.” 

Dr Francis says the alfresco shows have been such a nice way to get music back into the community he’ll probably keep them going when all the restrictions are removed.

The shows are every fortnight (with gigs booked in for July 4, July 18, August 1 so far) at Standby Espresso, corner Walcott Street and Raglan Road, 9.30am to 11.30am. 

By DAVID BELL

HOLLYWOOD, Venice, and now Northbridge: A giant sign reminding people which suburb they’re in is planned to hang across William Street.

The proposal’s come from Happy Heart, the company set up by Adrian Fini and Marcus Canning to re-launch The Rechabite as a multi-level arts and hospitality hub.

It’s hoped the sign made up of individually suspended 3D letters will be an “instagram-worthy” location, and is inspired by the Venice sign in that Californian neighbourhood. 

It’s part of Happy Heart’s $1 million multi-pronged effort to revitalise the suburb as part of the city’s Covid-19 recovery, and Hook Lane and Lock Lane will also be redeveloped. 

Happy Heart has asked Perth city council for a $35,000 grant to help fund the sign, and commissioners sounded pretty keen. 

“I think it’s a great idea,” Cmmr Len Kosova said at this week’s council briefing, describing the proposal as “exceptional” 

Cmmr Gaye McMath said she loved the sign but queried whether it would be cheaper for the city to put the sign up itself. Staff responded its was value for money as there’ll be additional costs and maintenance which will be Happy Heart’s responsibility.

They vote June 30 on whether to give the $35,000.

The sign would still need planning approval from the state’s DevelopmentWA because William Street is a state-listed heritage precinct.

By DAVID BELL

ASKING someone’s favourite movie line usually yields a bunch of half-remembered “are you feeling lucky, punk?” or “Luke, I’m your father” misquotes. 

For the new mural out front of his Leederville microcinema, The Backlot owner Ian Hale went to the experts and asked a bunch of Perth film figures for their favourites (he had a healthy rolodex after decades in the film industry working for Paramount and United International Pictures).

There are some classics – Hannibal Lecter’s “fava beans” line made it in there along with a healthy Jack Nicholson showing and the actually correct Dirty Harry line instead of the misquote everyone remembers.

And asking local figures meant he got some Australian flavour: “Tell him he’s dreaming” and Chopper’s line about Keithy having “done himself a mischief” are in there among the Oscar winners.

Female character

Artist Steve Browne designed and painted the mural. Mr Hale had wanted a strong female character to balance the Backlot’s iconic Heath Ledger mural, and Mr Browne said Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) from The Matrix jumped straight to mind for the centrepiece.

“This moment was a game changer in filmmaking,” Mr Browne says, depicting her mid-leap during her first encounter with the mysterious machine’s authorities. 

He still puts on the movie to rewatch it some 21 years later.

The Backlot’s just starting to open up again after a Covid-closure, and Mr Hale says already people are stopping to pore over the lines and remember some movie moments. 

By DAVID BELL