Perth Voice Interactive

HERITAGE PERTH will be history at the end of this month when its funding from Perth council runs out.

The independent advocacy group runs the award-winning Perth Heritage Weekends, but a council review estimated it could save almost half the $300,000 it funds the organisation each year by doing the work itself.

Commissioners will next week vote on a recommendation by council staff to not renew Heritage Perth’s funding past June 30, and to embark on a “transition plan” so it can be “voluntarily cancelled”.

This year’s Heritage Perth Weekend has been cancelled, although the council has scheduled one for 2020.

Funding

The city’s report states there’s “limited evidence of Heritage Perth Inc’s ability to raise funds or matched funding” outside of what they get from the city, but there’s no mention of the large sums the body has received from Lotterywest, including $50,000 last year.

The Heritage Perth board, which includes city commissioners Gaye McMath and Andrew Hammond, has “resolved not to continue” in the face of the budget cut.

City staff say a voluntary “handover plan” is “an indication of [Heritage Perth’s] faith in the city’s ability to continue the good work of Heritage Perth”.

The Voice asked Heritage Perth director Leigh Barrett if she was happy with the situation, but we didn’t hear back.

From 2006-2017 it was run by Richard Offen – an irrepressible heritage buff with an encyclopaedic knowledge of Perth – and critics are sceptical if the organisation will have the same joie de vivre if it loses its independence.

Councillors Jemma Green and Reece Harley were on the Heritage Perth board before Perth council was suspended.

Cr Harley says while the council might keep some form of the heritage weekends going, ultimately the city would lose out.

“It won’t offer advocacy because that’s not the role of council officers. It might continue to offer events related to heritage themes but there are absolutely no guarantees.

“The difference with an independent incorporated association established for the sole purpose of celebrating the city’s heritage is stark.

“The city’s reputation on heritage matters has improved vastly thanks to the work of Heritage Perth and Richard Offen over the last 10 years. I hope heritage issues don’t fall by the wayside with the dissolution of Heritage Perth”.

Commissioners had voted to stop funding Heritage Perth in June last year, but granted it a stay of execution by doling out funding for another year while it completed a “heritage strategy” for council.

by DAVID BELL

BAYSWATER council is in the process of installing new exercise equipment at 13 parks across the city.

“Earlier this year we asked our community what they’d like to see in their parks and reserves, and this has been part of the outcome of that community feedback,” Bayswater mayor Dan Bull says.

“With all kinds of different equipment and easy-to-use electronic instructions on our newer pieces, these additions are the perfect place to start your fitness journey.

“We’ve placed the equipment in spots that make it easy to work out without being far from playgrounds, or open parks for kids to play while you exercise.

“There’s even areas where the equipment is spaced apart for users to run or walk between different kinds of workouts in some of our bigger reserves.”

The free “mini-gyms” are located in:

• Maylands: Margaret Reserve, Maylands foreshore and Tranby Reserve

• Morley: Abinger Reserve, Allan Hill Park, Arbor Park, Clarkson Reserve, Crimea Park and Russell Street Park

• Noranda: Bohemia Park and Logan Reserve

• Bayswater: Hinds Reserve and Riverside Gardens

A PRIVATE school which bussed in students to hand out snacks to homeless people in Weld Square could be banned from doing it in the future.

Perth Labor MP John Carey wants to crack down on  unsanctioned charities that he believes are doing more bad than good.

The Voice recently received a call from a homeless woman who’d said she and others had been given blankets that stank of petrol fumes.

She told us she suspected the blankets had sat in a pile by an exhaust pipe, while a car engine was running, as a well-intending good samaritan loaded up their boot.

Mr Carey chairs the City Homeless Working Group with City of Perth commissioner Gaye McMath.

The group is trying to set up an accreditation system for homeless services providers so only bonafide organisations can operate.

“Some people say ‘this is red tape’ and we’re stopping people from helping,” he says, but notes “we desperately need more coherence, more coordination of services in the city and a focus on ending homelessness and not just managing homelessness”.

Fly-by-night

He says the inconsistency is unfair on homeless people when these fly-by-night operations swoop in, hand out a few supplies and then disappear.

“We don’t need more groups popping up with volunteers who aren’t trained to deal with mental health, alcoholism or other issues, and who aren’t focused on the main game.”

He says it’s hampering the good work of well-researched, well-trained providers like Ruah, Uniting Care and St Barts.

The accreditation system will also involve setting out different precincts, so actually-competent operators can properly focus their efforts and not double up.

Vincent council is also on board with the working group, and next week councillors will vote on being part of the accreditation trial starting in August next year.

A staff report to councillors says they’ve had many problems with pop-ups at Weld Square, where Manna Inc is the only approved operator but many others swing by: “The city’s rangers have moved-on a number of unapproved service providers although many simply reappear whereas others have simply refused to discontinue their efforts given the current extent of people experiencing homelessness.”

Mr Carey says the working group’s next goal is to have a 24/7 facility to help homeless people get into stable housing.

The working group is focused on short-term priorities as a stop-gap, while it awaits the state government’s 10-year strategy to end homelessness by 2028.

by DAVID BELL

PERTH lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi has weighed into the debate about surveillance cameras with facial recognition technology being installed throughout the city.

Ms Scaffidi, who is currently suspended with the rest of the council, recently woke to find a CCTV camera had been installed directly in front of her Claisebrook Cove home and she’s not happy about its “24/7” coverage.

A year-long trial starts this month with 30 cameras installed around Optus Stadium and East Perth, but Ms Scaffidi said there was no notification for residents.

It’s rare for her to comment on political issues, but she Tweeted there were some “very concerning” aspects to the plan.

She said there was “not one letterdrop about it advising relevant info or giving a number to call with [questions]. One camera is directly [in] front of my house (24/7)”.

At any time three cameras can be activated to identify faces and cross-check them against images provided to the city by a “lawful authority” like Australian Federal Police.

Privacy advocates and legal experts say they are concerned about the trial, which is being match-funded with $1.3 million from the federal government’s “Smart Cities” program.

Shrouded in mystery

THE surveillance program is shrouded in mystery as the city has released little official information on how it will operate.

In one statement to the ABC, one of the city’s acting directors Daniel High was quoted as saying people had been made aware of the rollout via “signs throughout the precinct, highlighting that people are in a CCTV area, and through the publicity et cetera that the trial has generated, people will be aware that we have that capacity”.

The Voice contacted the city to ask what pre-trial consultation had been undertaken and commissioner Gaye McMath said they had “consulted with the community regarding the trial of facial recognition in East Perth”.

She said there were media releases and a press conference in December last year, as well as media interviews.

But the city’s official missives mention nothing of facial recognition technology.

A press release in December last year calls it a “Smart Precinct trial” that “will use CCTV-based sensors and analytics to measure vehicle and pedestrian activity around the new Matagarup Bridge and Optus Stadium”. Roughly a third of the “Smart City” press release is devoted to talking about a new irrigation system that’ll automatically take into account weather forecasts and soil moisture readings to not over-water on wet days.

After the media went public with the facial recognition component, Ms McMath was quoted in a May 13 federal government press release stating the facial recognition would only be used on request from a “lawful authority”, and no database would be kept or linked to by the city.

Stories by DAVID BELL

The EAST Perth Community Group believes consultation over facial recognition cameras in the city was adequate, says chair Anne-Maree Ferguson.

Ms Ferguson said she had “no expectation on being consulted on the project before the trial commenced”.

She wants a council that’s pro-active: “If you consult on everything before a trial then you don’t ever do anything…we want stuff happening in the city.”

Ms Ferguson says she found out about the trial via media reports about a year ago.

In recent weeks the group, formerly the East Perth Community Safety Group, surveyed its members via email and Ms Ferguson says “70 per cent support the trial and believe it will assist with improved security in the area”.

Ms Ferguson said the group had tried to run a Facebook poll, but it got hijacked by civil liberties advocates from out of town.

She says she’s satisfied the city will continue to consult with them throughout the trial, and that ongoing consultation is a better way to get feedback than a one-off forum.

“We’re not alarmed by this trial, and we’re comfortable that we’ll have our say on the technology in our midst moving forwards.”

The technology is intended to bolster security for Optus Stadium events.

Ms Ferguson, a former managing director of Perth Convention Bureau, has a long history in events management and says a best-practice security system is needed to attract international performers and events to Optus Stadium.

by DAVID BELL

PLANS for a cigar lounge opposite the Inglewood Civic Hotel are hanging in the balance with Stirling council’s planners concerned smoke could billow into a neighbouring house.

Michael Dryka Architects have applied to redevelop the disused car yard on the corner of Nelson and Beaufort Streets into a restaurant/cafe, a cigar lounge for up to 50 customers open 4pm-12am, and a shop.

The lounge is connected to a rear courtyard, and city staff are concerned the smoke could drift onto the house next door, which is only 1.5m away.

“The Cigar Lounge proposes to have an open style smoking area which is external to the lounge, located to the rear of the site and abuts a residential property,” city staff reported.

“The smoking area is considered to have a detrimental impact on the existing residential

amenity of adjoining properties due to an increase in noise and odours which would emanate from the smoking area which will be located 1.5m away from the adjoining residential boundary of House Number 3, Nelson Street.”

The city received 17 submissions during its 35-day public consultation period, with three supporting the proposed development and 14 against.

The majority of opposition was about the cigar lounge, with people concerned about smoke and that the lounge wasn’t “family friendly”, only appealing to a small number of stogy-lovers.

The single-storey development would also include an alfresco dining area, five on-site parking bays and four mature trees.

City officers recommended the change of use application be refused, stating the proposed design didn’t comply with the city’s Beaufort Street Local Development Plan, and there was a two-bay parking shortfall.

The site is located within Stirling’s Heritage Protection Area Special Control area.

Councillors will have the final say on the proposed development at the July 2 council meeting.   

SWALLOW BAR in Maylands has won the People’s Choice award at this year’s WA Small Bar Association awards.

The Whatley Crescent bar was opened in 2012 by Meredith Bastian and Zoe Roy, two Melbourne chefs who met while working at Stephanie Alexander’s iconic Cafe & Larder in Richmond Hill.

They hatched a plan to open their own place and moved to Perth to follow their dream.

“Maylands has an amazing community and the locals have been an incredible support to us from even before we opened,” Ms Roy says.

“We are a neighbourhood bar and a lot of our patrons have become like family.

“They love how welcomed they are into our cosy space, they love the intimacy and warmth, they love the food and carefully selected wines. Oh, and the free and fabulous local live music three times a week.”

The awards were held last week at The Standard in Northbridge, and hosted by Mondo butcher Vince “The Prince of Flesh” Garreffa.

Other winners included Varnish on King, which took home the Critic’s Choice award, and  Bar Lafayette in Brookfield Place, which won the “Smells like a small bar” gong.