Perth Voice Interactive

A HOUSING department tenant staying in the “West Perth Bronx” says he’s surrounded by violence and flagrant drug use and it’s too unsafe for his son or nephews to visit.

Damien Hume has been living at the complex at 122 Charles Street for about seven years, and has been anxiously awaiting a transfer for six months.

“I get people shooting up on my steps and leaving bloody swabs and needles around,” he says.

“It’s beyond a joke.”

Mr Hume says at least one unit is home to a drug dealer, and two others units have a rotating cast of dubious characters, some recently out of prison, dropping by for drug binges.

Another unit is so full of garbage it could be right out of an episode of Hoarders, and as the weather warms up the rubbish mountain is starting to reek.

He says problems at the complex have escalated over the last year or so.

“I have a son I want to see, and I don’t think it’s safe for him here,” Mr Hume says.

“I’ve told my brother, ‘Don’t bring the nephews around here’.”

He says there are about five or six troublemakers living at the complex, and the rest are decent folk.

“There’s a lot of people on the [housing department waiting] list, who’d appreciate a house”, more than the delinquents living in some of the units, he says.

Dealers

If a housing department tenant gets three strikes for proven cases of “disruptive behaviour”, they can be evicted, but Greg Cash, assistant director general of housing, says no one’s facing the boot at the moment.

“There are no current strikes against any tenancies in the complex,” he says.

“When a complaint is made against a tenancy, the authority will investigate the matter and take appropriate action where the complaint can be substantiated.

“A number of court actions over the past five years have been unsuccessful due to a lack of witnesses willing to testify.

“The department of communities is aware of problems caused by a small number of tenancies in the complex at 122 Charles Street and is working with the WA Police and support agencies to deal with a range of issues, including rubbish dumping, property standards, disruptive behaviour and allegations of illegal activity.”

But Mr Hume says he and other tenants have previously lodged complaints, even rocking up to the housing department office in person, but they weren’t acted on.

“We’ve tried,” he says. “We’ve all tried. We don’t get anywhere.”

Mr Cash says “The area office is meeting with WA Police to discuss the complex and the allegations of drug dealing and is arranging a letter drop to all tenants to remind them of their tenancy obligations.”

Just before going to print, The Voice called Mr Hume for an update on the situation. “I’m actually at the police station now,” he told us, alleging he was punched in the head by one of the usual wastrels at the complex on Wednesday.

by DAVID BELL

BAYSWATER council bureaucrats have recommended selling the Maylands Autumn Centre, irking the Lions Club and Cr Catherine Ehrhardt.

City officers say the seniors centre is too close to The RISE, which opened in 2011, and there is an oversupply of local facilities.

They have recommended having one city-run seniors organisation operating out of existing centres in Morley and Bayswater, which will be upgraded.

Lions Club president Alex Raymond says they hold meetings in the Autumn Centre and don’t want to move.

“We don’t feel happy about it,” he says.

We have all the elderly pensioners who use the building and now they will have to move to the Senior Citizen’s Club in Bayswater or Morley.

“They are elderly people and they’ll have to travel by bus or by train to get to the centre.

“The Autumn Centre was much more available and much more feasible.”

Cr Ehrhardt says there is no oversupply of facilities and The RISE and the Autumn Centre cater for different groups.

“The RISE is a sporting centre and it’s a function centre; it’s not a community centre,” Cr Ehrhardt says.

“When I say community I mean grass roots level, small groups, centrally located, two-minute walk to the train station, the cafes, the chemist, the post office…. at the Maylands Autumn Centre it’s all right there on the doorstep. It’s a lot better located for public transport because of mobility issues as well.”

Cr Ehrhardt added that the Autumn Centre was the only asset that Bayswater council owned on that side of town.

The Maylands Autumn Club dissolved earlier this year, after the committee stepped down and no one wanted to run it.

“Many people were happy to keep using the club but no one wanted to form a leadership committee,” says Cr Ehrhardt.

“But many people say they weren’t even aware dissolution was on the table, and if they were, they would have stepped up for the committee.”

Officers have recommended that future community facilities should be located at the RISE, but Cr Erhardt’s prepared an alternative motion to keep the autumn centre and look for other groups who want to use it.

The vote will be held Wednesday night, when we go to print, so check perthvoiceinteractive.com for an update.

by MOLLY SCHMIDT

BAYSWATER’S Claughton Reserve has one of the most architecturally stunning dunnies in the world, with artist Duncan Moon adding the final touches to the toilet block this week.

It’s been just over a year since the local council committed $64,000 to the loo makeover, and the artist says it should be commended for taking a risk and doing something arty, rather than just slapping a new coat of paint on the 1960s dunny.

Kevin Mack from the Friends of Claughton Reserve says “we’ve got to enormously thank the council. It’s extraordinary. It’s almost like it’s a toilet second and an artwork first”.

Mr Moon says he wanted to make a sculpture that reflected the setting. “The riverine location is referenced firstly in the dome, which is a reference to the western swamp tortoise which is Australia’s most endangered reptile. Then on the corner are the egrets…the building is held up by the wingbeats of four birds.”

Golden ratio

He explains there’s a lot of maths and carefully-chosen aesthetic design in the building: the golden ratio (the visually pleasing ratio of 1:1.618 observed throughout nature and art) is featured in many of the sizes throughout the building, the egret wings expand outwards enlarging according to the rule of the “square root of two” (with the bigger squares sides matching the diagonal length of the smaller one), and the dome is made up of 19 irregular hexagons, each one made up of seven pentagons with alternating patterns.

Inside, a shell-shaped entry with a psychedelic paint job and stained glass windows, has a pink colour scheme on one side and blue on the other.

He says the psychedelic interior is a nod to the era when the block was built.

Bayswater mayor Dan Bull says the original brick structure “didn’t really add anything to its location” but the new one could be a tourist attraction.

“Around the world there are hundreds of imaginatively-styled toilet blocks and we decided to make the one at Claughton Reserve more of a drawcard for the public. The Friends of Claughton Reserve group were a driving force behind this idea from the very beginning.

“We’re putting the reserve on the toilet tourism map with this art work.

“Public art is very important in the city: works of art add to our sense of place and community and can help turn mundane buildings into something just a little more magical.”

The new sculpture/toilet block, entitled “The Nearest of the Faraway Places”, is now open for viewing (etcetera).

by DAVID BELL

The Christmas lights are starting to go up and some homeowners are going the extra mile for Santa. We spotted this ripper on the corner of Albert Street and Tay Place in North Perth.

FORMER Voice editor Brian Mitchell, now the federal Labor MP for Lyons in Tasmania, got stuck into an ABC reporter telling him to “go and do your research, maggot”.

As a journo, Brian “Brain” Mitchell was known for his fiery manner when grilling pollies (and junior journalists who forgot to ask critical questions).

On Wednesday he was on the other side as ABC reporter Matt Wordsworth was quizzing Labor MP Justine Keay over her former dual citizenship.

She was a UK dual citizen but says her citizenship was properly renounced.

Mr Wordsworth started to ask “what’s your excuse that you…”, but Mr Mitchell took exception to the loaded word “excuse” and cut him off.

“Ask the right questions, don’t be prejudicial, don’t use prejudicial language,” Mr Mitchell told him, sounding like he was back in our Freo office talking to a cadet.

Ms Keay said she had a legal opinion that her nomination was valid, and Mr Mitchell added “go and do your research maggot, there’s 22 pages of research on this”.

He then made a statement in parliament saying “earlier today I saw some vision on ABC TV which included some heated words from myself towards a gallery journalist. I have spoken to Matt Wordsworth from the ABC and apologised for the encounter. I deeply respect the work that Mr Wordsworth and all his colleagues in the press gallery do, and they should be free to do it without fear or favour”.

by DAVID BELL

THE Virtual Busker is coming, playing tunes for a virtual penny. It’s an interactive audio-visual artwork by Roly Skender, co-produced by Revelation Perth International Film Festival, and it’ll feature violin performances by Elisa Siipola.

The free installation will be projected onto the wall of the Murray Street Mall Commonwealth Bank from 7pm to 9pm through December.