Perth Voice Interactive

FREE parking has been scrapped at Scitech – just in time for the school holidays.

From Friday December 14, Scitech ticket holders will need to pay $5 to park for more than an hour at the City West car park, after centre management cancelled the freebie.

There’s still one hour-free parking, but that leaves you about 37.5 seconds for each of their 160 odd exhibits exhibit, assuming you can break the speed of light and travel instantly between them.

Scitech, who have no control over the parking fees, announced the hike on their Facebook page, and angry reactions followed.

Parents said it ate into the value of their $35 yearly pass, which has unlimited visits for children.

One commenter said, “I recently renewed my annual membership. If I had known about the parking changes I wouldn’t have renewed it”.

Scitech responded: “We understand your concerns and frustration with the new parking changes at the centre.

“However, the decision to implement the $5 all-day parking charge was made by City West Management who own the complex. The decision was out of Scitech’s control. Thanks for understanding.”

Scitech has about 300,000 visitors per year. It’s right beside a train station, but a $12.80 family train ticket is dearer than parking.

The Scitech $5 special is still much cheaper than the standard $25 all-day rate at the City West car park.

by DAVID BELL

THE new Beaufort Street Christmas Festival kicks off this Sunday (December 16), with the first Christmas Parade to follow next Saturday.

The reinvigorated Beaufort Street Network has teamed up with St Alban’s Church and Vincent council to put on a week of Christmas events to get the Street back on peoples’ “to-do” list.

The street’s had its ups and downs and for a while it was a victim of its own success, with punters flocking there for entertainment at night but neglecting retail during the day.

BSN Chair Joshua O’Keefe says this year’s been promising for Beaufort.

Iconic

“Beaufort Street has opened four iconic new venues over the past few months, just in time for the busy holiday and summer season,” he says.

“We are now home to the latest progressive dinner – [a food tour] between Sixty Grams, Meet and Bun and Measure – showing business collaboration is strong and getting stronger.

“A new art gallery space – a collaboration between Mt Lawley Art Framers and Assembly Dept – is another example that Beaufort Street is not just a food-and-beverage destination.”

To showcase local traders they’re running a week-long advent calendar-style reveal, with one storefront opening its Christmas trappings each night at 6.30pm, starting Sunday December 16.

The advent week leads up to the Christmas Parade and Twilight Markets on Saturday December 22 at 6.30pm, starting at the Mary Street Piazza, with camels, donkeys, school kids and the Salvation Army Band marching to St Alban’s Church.

CONCERNED about the urban heat island effect in Bayswater?

Become a “citizen scientist” and help measure the microclimate of your city.

The study – a collaboration between Bayswater council and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology – will help scientists understand and mitigate extreme heat.

Participants need to be available for two hours on a February afternoon to help record temperatures.

Register at http://www.citizenscienceproject.org.au/participant-registration/western-australia/

ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 20)
The Sun moves into Capricorn. You come to ground with a thump. Capricorn is host to the reality principle. With Mars sailing across the wide-open waters of Pisces, you have become prone to fantasy. Life pops your dream bubble and brings you back to the wonders of the here and now.

TAURUS (Apr 21 – May 20)
As the Sun shifts from Sagittarius to Capricorn, you breathe a sigh of relief. The world just became a sensible place again. Hair-raising adventures that rattle the psyche for no apparent good reason, take a back seat. The sheer joy of life’s small pleasures presents itself again in all its glory.

GEMINI (May 21 – June 21)
The Moon is fattening up; growing as full as a boot for the Christmas, New Year break. She will add depth and feeling to your festivities. What’s more, she begins her week in Gemini. Surf your emotions with dexterity and joy. Make a thousand wishes. Make sure they all come true.

CANCER (June 22 – July 22)
The Christmas full Moon is coming. She is all yours. She’ll be shining plumply, with the constellation of the Crab shining right behind her. Expect to be filled with a sense of unimagined possibility. The Sun moves into Capricorn, bringing stability. You can be a wild creative river.

LEO (July 23 – Aug 22)
As the Sun moves into Capricorn, you are presented with what can only be described as an unusual set of influences. You aren’t exactly confronted and opposed; rather you are invited to walk into unfamiliar territory. Big cats can climb like goats. Ask any snow leopard. Dare to be different.

VIRGO (Aug 23 – Sept 22)
Life is proving to be quite complex. You have the overview, and a certain amount of authority. Each move you make triggers both approval and disapproval in equal measure. You will need to be centred in your belly to stay on top of it all. The Capricorn Sun grounds you just in time.

LIBRA (Sept 23 – Oct 23)
Though you are well and truly immersed in the social whirl, you aren’t doing it in a light and fluffy manner. The Christmas full Moon in Cancer has you engaged in your feelings in ways that surprises everybody. The fact that Venus is in Scorpio adds a major dash of spice to your holiday cake.

SCORPIO (Oct 24 – Nov 21)
With Venus dancing her way through Scorpio, you can’t keep the smile off your face. Delight keeps slipping through and dismantling your normally slightly confronting Scorpionic guise. It’s beginning to look like the appearance of danger you like to project, is all bluff and bluster.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22 – Dec 21)
The Sun is leaving Sagittarius. You are herewith presented with a month in which to reflect. The fact that the Moon is full, adds gravitas to the occasion. As you take a break from your routine, so you begin to digest those adventures that have been and gone and ponder those just up ahead.

CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 19)
The Sun is moving into your sign. It is the time of the Saturnalia, otherwise known as Christmas. You will have some awkward emotions to navigate but that’s ok. Traversed with courage and honesty, you will come out a reborn goat. The Moon is full. Celebrate newborn sensitivity.

AQUARIUS (Jan 20 – Feb 18)
The Moon is as plump as a pear, in Gemini, at the beginning of the week. This will fire up your dance with ideas no end. She moves into Cancer a day later. Your emotions will follow her. Prepare to be totally emotionally engaged with the ones you adore. Take on the challenge of love.

PISCES (Feb 19 – Mar 20)
There is a lot of watery emotion around. You have Mars, Neptune and Chiron, swimming in your pond. The full Moon will be in Cancer in a day. She will fill your heart with the desire to love and be loved. Fortunately, the Sun moves into Capricorn, providing you with ballast and a keel.

STIRLING council will continue to use the controversial weedkiller glyphosate, but only as a last resort.

This month the city approved its weed management policy after five weeks of community consultation in September.

The Council received 42 responses including concerns about its use of glyphosate and why it hadn’t completely phased out using herbicides and pesticides.

Stirling’s parks manager Ian Hunter said they “only use pesticides and herbicides when all other feasible and reasonable options are explored, such as hand pulling, mechanical cutting, mulching, steaming and the use of organic herbicides and trial environmentally sustainable herbicide and pesticide alternatives.”

Other councils like Cockburn have researched using organic alternatives to glyphosate, but found that were not as effective and generally more expensive, with steam at least twice as dear as spraying.

However, Armadale council reported they had enjoyed good results when using highly concentrated vinegar on some broadleaf weeds in sedges and rushes.

Stirling mayor Mark Irwin said the new policy aimed to reduce the city’s use of chemical-based herbicides and pesticides, but it also needed to effectively control pests and weeds in the biggest council in Perth.

Parks

“The city manages thousands of city-owned parks, reserves and open spaces, as well as more than 3000 kilometres of kerb-lines and footpaths and 13 hectares of traffic islands, so we need to make sure that we are able to control weeds and pests as responsibly and effectively as possible,” he said.

“The intent of this policy is to make sure that this happens in a manner that is as environmentally, socially and economically responsible as possible.”

Since 2014 Stirling has used steam to control weeds on “hard infrastructure” like kerbs and footpaths on Beaufort Street, and this year it extended the treatment to road reserves beside sensitive sites including aged care facilities, schools, child care centres and hospitals.

The city also has a “no spray” list for residents who can maintain their verge in a weed-free condition, and it provides notification of planned spraying.

Cockburn council reported that 16 councils confirmed they were using glyphosate, with some using a mix of the herbicide and organic treatments:

• Peppermint Grove is trialling “eco-organic” with mixed results

• Fremantle uses steam on roads/kerb lines/footpaths with glyphosate used in parks an reserves

• Bassendean banned glyphosate on hard surfaces but still using it in parks

VINCENT residents could get a third bin for organic waste like food scraps and garden cuttings.

There’s still details and a business case to be worked out before councillors decide whether to go ahead, but this week they voted to support “in principle” the three-bin FOGO system (Food Organics/Garden Organics), as about 55 per cent of a typical Vincent rubbish bin is organic waste.

Currently it gets mixed in with other garbage and winds up at the Mindarie Regional Council tip, where it rots and produces methane gas. Under the FOGO system the organic waste will be separated and used as compost and mulch.

Cuttings

Some councils like Stirling and Bayswater already have a three-bin system, but the third bin only collects garden cuttings, and not foodstuffs which go into the regular bin.

This year Vincent council adopted a new strategy which aims to divert all waste from landfill by 2028.

The city currently diverts around 42 per cent from landfill, and FOGO will let them steer the organic waste away, boosting diversion rates to an estimated 62 per cent.

Melville council was among the first to try out the FOGO system, with a trial of 7000 households in 2017.

Their target was 65 per cent diversion by 2020; the trial area reached 66.5 per cent in the first six months and it was approved for full roll-out.

Under the proposed three-bin system, your regular sulo could only be collected every fortnight since there’ll be less stinky stuff in it.

Some councils collect the FOGO every week, some every fortnight.

Since you can’t put plastic bags in the FOGO, councils provide houses with a “kitchen caddy”; a little bin with compostable liners to collect the waste.

The three-bin system will cost Vincent about $1.1 million and increase annual costs by $44,000, but it’s currently spending $6.5 million a year, so its an increase of just 0.06 per cent.

Fremantle council had to increase its rates by two per cent to cover the conversion, and funding from the state government’s Better Bins program could offset Vincent’s costs.

Bayswater’s also investigating the FOGO system at the request of Cr Lorna Clarke. There’s some obstacles: They’ve got a contract requiring them to deliver all their garbage to the Red Hill facility, owned by the East Metro Regional Council. The EMRC hasn’t yet decided if they’ll update that facility to take FOGO waste.

by DAVID BELL

‘TIS the season for giving – except in Stirling where a donation biffo is brewing.

Councillor Andrew Guilfoyle wants to stop councillors making donations to clubs and groups that are not in their ward.

“Recently one councillor used their funds to donate to a club in my ward,” he told the Voice.

“This then precluded me and my co-ward councillor Karlo Perkov from donating the full amount to our ward club.

“It also meant that the councillor had less funds to support clubs/groups in their ward – a bit odd really.”

Councillors are given about a $1600 allowance each year for networking, gifts and financial donations.

The maximum donation a councillor can make to one group, charitable organisation or not-for-profit is $200 per year.

Dinner

“I don’t attend dinners; I prefer to support the club directly via the small cheques so they can use it for a Christmas get-together or whatever they need,” said Cr Guilfoyle

“This year I sent $50 cheques to about 20 small clubs: Riding for Disabled, Parkrun, Scouts, Rotary, Community Garden, sports clubs, etc and $100 cheques to two clubs.”

At the December 4 council meeting, Cr Guilfoyle tabled a motion that councillors can only give financial donations to groups that are based in their own ward.

“I can’t see a reason to donate to clubs/groups outside of the ward,” he told the Voice.

The issue will be debated when council resumes in February next year.