Perth Voice Interactive

WEST Perth has been overrun by an infestation of “giant” rats which locals say are running wild and wreaking havoc.

In January Vincent council issued a notice warning residents about a rodent “epidemic” plaguing the areas surrounding Carr Place, Leederville and Kingston Avenue, West Perth.

The flyer urged people to bait their premises and to keep them “clean, tidy and free from overgrown vegetation or any accumulated items”.

However, four months on locals are saying the swarm of rodents has got worse.

“It’s that horrific squeaking that creeps me out,” says Newcastle Street resident Priya Kapoor.

“I will often hear it when I take my rubbish out to the bins and I just know there’s a rat lurking around.

“One time I saw this giant one feasting on someone’s scraps that had fallen out from the bin — it was disgusting.”

Kingston Avenue’s Carl Moretti says the “large” rats seemed to have made the area “their new home”.

“I park my car on the curb and I always see at least one or two rats running around on the street.

“It seems to be getting worse and I reckon there are a lot more hanging around now than ever before.”

James Lowrie, owner of Pest Co. WA, says the rat population is “steadily growing” in West Perth and other inner-city suburbs.

“Businesses and residents not placing rubbish in bins or leaving lids open are an easy food source and vacant and neglected properties are good nesting areas,” he says.

“With the right conditions a female rat can mate about 15 times per year.

“A pair of brown rats can produce as many as 2000 descendants a year if left to breed unchecked.

“It doesn’t take long for numbers to explode.”

Vincent Council CEO Len Kosova says rats are “opportunistic critters” that will “make the most of any food, water and shelter they find”.

“Eliminating those things is often key to tackling the problem,” he says.

“We can provide residents with a one-off portion of rat baits free of charge.

“The city plays its part by making sure our public places like streets, parks and laneways are cleaned and maintained to not harbor or attract rats.”

Free rat baits can be obtained from Vincent council offices in Leederville (remember to bring proof of residency).

By JASMINE KAZLAUSKAS 

PERTH councillor Reece Harley has requested CEO Martin Mileham investigate why the city has instigated a lengthy media blackout against the Perth Voice and Post Newspapers.

The city has a well-funded PR department, but senior media officer Michael Holland stopped answering questions from the Voice around 18 months ago.

The final communication in January last year was to tell us he was too busy to answer queries about the Grand Central backpackers — owned by lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi — because he was dealing with the mayor’s bushfire relief fund.

We alerted Mr Mileham and council communications manager Annaleise Battista about the lengthy silence last year, but got no response.

They’ve since offered to meet up on May 2 to discuss the issue.

Cr Harley’s motion “requests the CEO to investigate why journalists from the Voice and Post have not been receiving responses to media enquiries for more than 12 months”.

He’s moved “the council requests that all media enquiries submitted to the city be responded to in a timely and professional manner, and that no particular organisations or publications be refused access to answers from the city’s media liaison staff”.

The Voice and Post are both independently owned and renowned for their scrutiny of local government, but Perth council has even refused to answer emails on innocuous issues.

A recent snub included trying to inform our readers about the old Perth library closing and the new one opening up.

by DAVID BELL

PREMIER Mark McGowan has written to Lisa Scaffidi urging the embattled lord mayor to stand down, but she is refusing to quit and has branded the move “extremely unprofessional”.

Mr McGowan has pledged to sack Mrs Scaffidi, but it’s a lengthy process under the Local Government Act and he’d have to form a three-member enquiry panel, and could only dismiss her if the panel recommended it.

In the meantime he’s written to Mrs Scaffidi and asked her to resign.

“The City of Perth has lost the confidence of the state government, and in my view, will continue to lose the confidence of ratepayers and the wider WA community if the situation is not resolved,” the letter read.

“I urge you to consider the best interests of the City of Perth and make an honourable decision.”

Mrs Scaffidi said Mr McGowan’s letter was inappropriate.

“I am continuing to abide by the processes specified by the department of local government, yet the political interference at play by the premier yesterday and today by the minister show they don’t (abide by their own processes) and this must send a concerning message to any person that find[s] themselves in a similar legal situation,” she posted on her Facebook page.

Sad situation

“If politics can interrupt due process before it’s completed where is procedural fairness for a citizen?

“This is a very sad situation. Given how tirelessly and passionately I have committed to the role. But I have participated at all times according to the Local Government Act.

“I have and continue to maintain a busy schedule, and the city is operating very well. “The government are indicating they can’t work with the City of Perth (not vice versa) so the situation is an indictment on them and of their own creation.”

Following 18 months of Perth council not answering media inquiries from The Voice, its journo David Bell recently discovered he had been been blocked from Mrs Scaffidi’s Facebook page.

Meanwhile, City of Perth staff are demoralised and have lost confidence in Lisa Scaffidi, says Cr Jemma Green.

“I call on the lord mayor to stand down,” said Cr Green in a statement on Friday.

“There are more than 700 staff at the City of Perth who are doing so much good work and they cannot get their message out.

“This situation is having an enormous impact on staff morale. The ratepayers and residents deserve better.”

On Saturday, Cr Reece Harley also reiterated his call for Mrs Scaffidi to resign.

“It has been my consistent view since October 2015 that it is in the best interests of the city, our residents and ratepayers for the lord mayor to stand aside,” read his statement.

Mrs Scaffidi has responded saying “those calling for my resignation are the very ones (same three) perpetuating and creating unrest and I hear today a further suggestion by them that it’s causing cultural or brand damage to the city.”

“In fact it is their doing”.

THE developers of a troubled Leederville apartment block — including lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi’s husband — are contesting charges over excessive noise.

Last year, neighbours living beside 275 Vincent Street complained to council about work being done outside approved hours (7am to 7pm, Mondays to Saturdays) and the council issued a $250 fine for excessive noise caused by dewatering equipment, threatening a $25,000 fine if the din continued.

Joe Scaffidi, Gareth Lindegger, the company they’re shareholders in PBS Build Pty Ltd, and Mr Predrag Jedinko Turibaka were in court Friday (April 7), all charged with using “equipment which emits unreasonable noise”.

Mr Scaffidi, Mr Lindegger and PBS Build were also charged with failing “without reasonable excuse to comply with noise abatement”.

Mr Scaffidi and Mr Lindegger pleaded not guilty and Mr Turibaka requested more time from the court to seek legal advice.

Magistrate Edward De Vries ordered that Vincent council disclose “documents” to Mr Scaffidi and his associates.

The court has scheduled a trial allocation date—a pre-trial hearing—for July 11.

by DAVID COHEN and DAVID BELL

A 43-YEAR-OLD North Perth man has been swept up in a police operation that resulted in a $12.7 million drug seizure.

On Monday last week, WA Police and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission raided three properties, including one in North Perth where an unlicensed firearm and $60,000 cash was seized. A property in Alexander Heights coughed up about 18kg of ecstasy worth $2.7m, while a property south of Gingin had 10kg of meth, worth $10m.

The North Perth man was charged with four counts of possessing an unlicensed firearm and one count of unlawful possession of cash.

A 25-year-old Landsdale man and a 26-year-old Noranda man were charged with intending to sell or supply methylamphetamine.

SURESH RAJAN was not the first president of the Ethnic Communities Council as we recently claimed on a Speaker’s Corner contribution. He was the ninth pres, with Sam Piantadosi taking honours as the first.

No harmony in massacre

A NEW microbrewery is on the cards for East Perth but several locals, a homeless shelter and the Housing Authority are all opposed to the development.

Perth council on Tuesday approved Bright Tank Brewing’s plan for a microbrewery at 98-100 Brown Street, to be run by husband and wife team Gemma Sampson and Matthew Moore.

The microwbrewery would cater for 130 patrons, employ 10 staff, and also sell packaged craft beer.

The plans have not gone down well with locals, with 22 of the 23 submissions submitted to Perth council opposing the development.

Concerns include the brewery impacting the area’s “residential character”, traffic congestion, customers parking in neighbouring streets, and “the lack of security measures and potential for increased antisocial behaviour in the area including drunkenness, vandalism … and public urination and defecation.”

Resident David Horner says the city has “pretty much dismissed our concerns over parking, smoking, anti-social behaviour … what the council isn’t taking into account is the human side of this: the impact it will have on local residents.”

The Housing Authority has properties nearby and has written to council on behalf of its tenants.

“We are reluctant to publicly support activities on adjacent properties that would encourage or exacerbate the potential disruption to our tenants or the wider community,” says HA general manager Greg Cash.

St Bart’s has two homeless shelters nearby — one on Kensington Street and the soon-to-be reactivated Brown Street site — but it was not included in the community consultation.

St Bart’s acting CEO Nina Ulyett wrote to the East Perth Community Safety Group outlining her concerns.

“The main concern we have is around the appropriateness of a drinking establishment in the quiet residential neighbourhood,” she wrote.

At risk 

“Our property at Kensington Street is currently used to provide accommodation for older women at risk of homelessness.

“The introduction of the venue in close proximity we see poses a risk to the safe, quiet environment for this group of women.

A council report says the microbrewery lines up with the “statement of intent for the Boans Precinct which supports a mixed use function in the area,” and because of the public transport options (yellow CAT, Claisebrook train station) it doesn’t need to provide carbays.

“It is considered that the issued raised by the neighbouring property owners in relation to waste management, noise, odours, antisocial behaviour, smoking and operating hours have been satisfactorily addressed by the applicant and can be managed on an ongoing basis through appropriate conditions of the approval.”

CEO Martin Mileham said many of the concerns about safety should go to liquor licensing when an application is submitted.

Councillor Judy McEvoy said some of the residents’ concerns were valid, but she voted for the microbrewery on the basis conditions would protect residents.

Her colleague Reece Harley agreed, but said the council had to get better at responding when residents reported breaches of those conditions.

But some residents feel let down.

“They’re not looking after people like myself who’ve lived there for 15 years,” neighbour Vicki Lee says.

“We’re not allowed to have a say.”

If Perth council approves the plan, BTB still need to apply to the state government for a liquor license.

Perth Labor MP John Carey supports the residents, saying the site is surrounded by apartments and he says conflict on the horizon. He criticised the council’s consultation, saying not enough neighbours were notified.

“This is stating the bloody obvious; if you’re going to squeeze a tavern between two residential buildings obviously there is going to be conflict and concerns,” Mr Carey said.

by DAVID BELL

PERTH councillor Jemma Green wants Perth council to help fund a plan to rejuvenate the “Historic Heart” of the east end CBD.

On August 12, 1829, a tree was felled next to where the town hall now sits, marking the beginning of the colony’s history.

“The city first grew out of this area, between Barrack Street in the west and the Perth Mint … in 2017, this part of our city has become extremely run down, tired and in urgent need of our help,” reads Cr Green’s motion.

“In this area there are numerous hotels, with thousands of people visiting our city and walking through the east end, getting a very poor impression of the City of Perth. With the new Perth stadium, on event days 14,000 people will use the Swan River pedestrian bridge.

“Many will walk through the east end with all its tiredness and rundown-ness on full display.”

Late last year a group led by Western Australian of the Year Adrian Fini launched a not-for-profit group to refurbish the east end, calling it “Historic Heart of Perth Inc”.

They’ve had discussions with about 60 interested groups including the Perth Mint, Catholic Archdiocese, Tourism WA and the National Trust to work out low-cost ways to rejuvenate the area.

The project will cost between $1.6m and $2m and the majority will be raised by landowners, with the state government already having committed $250,000 for improved signs, laneway lighting, CCTV, planter boxes, alfresco areas and bikeracks.

“The Historic Heart project is not an infrastructure project,” Cr Green says.

“It is not even an expensive project.

“It is a low-cost tactical intervention to beautify the streets of the eastern part of Perth … this kind of interventionist approach to rundown parts of cities has worked with amazing success in many cities around the world.

“It’s acted as a catalyst to attract private investment into tired and lifeless areas.

“Interventions like this happened in east London where I lived for 11 years. It was a dangerous and unpleasant area, and by the end, it was vibrant.

“It has happened in parts of New York, Barcelona, and many other cities that have undertaken such interventions.”

by DAVID BELL