Perth Voice Interactive

FOR years the Scarborough Beach Road and Green Street intersection in Mt Hawthorn has been a confusing tangle of odd angles that results in countless prangs and dire congestion.

It’s a known blackspot which made the latest RAC top 10 worst intersections for Perth because of a “poor overall intersection design causing confusion and risk-taking by drivers turning right onto Scarborough Beach Road.”

Adding to the mix is the multitude of crossovers and merging lanes as drivers approach the intersection.

The Voice has been running stories about long-gone Vincent councillors wanting to fix the place up for near-on a decade, but nothing has ever eventuated.

Labor’s federal candidate for Perth Tim Hammond reckons he can get it done, having convinced federal Labor transport shadow Anthony Albanese to promise $3 million to fix up the intersection following a visit there last Sunday.

Dangerous

“My own experience told me that it was a dangerous intersection,” Mr Hammond told the Voice.

“It became very clear doorknocking that area, [voters were saying] ‘if there’s one thing that you can get done in this part of the world, please fix up that intersection’”.

He says the feds have to defer to traffic management experts (and it all has to be done in conjunction with Vincent council and Main Roads) but one idea floated was a roundabout at the Green Street/Main Street intersection instead of the risky crossover there now.

People responding to the RAC survey of hair-raising intersections also suggested closing the right turn median from Green Street onto Scarborough Beach Road and diverting traffic via Merredin Street.

by DAVID BELL

JACOB’S LADDER looks like it’s heading for a 7pm to 7am curfew.

Early morning exercisers who routinely hit the West Perth steps at the crack of dawn look likely to find themselves facing padlocked gates, with the council siding with nearby residents who claim the early morning crew create too many problems.

Built in 1909 as a wooden structure, it was closed 50 years later and Perth city council rebuilt it in the current sturdier form, but even that had to be temporarily closed this year for repairs.

It’s reopened but the 5am commandos have done their dash, with nearby residents saying they’re tired of the screech of drill-sergeant wannabes urging their huffing and puffing boot campers up the steps, and joggers’ cars clogging the streets.

One resident at the Perth city council meeting this week told the Voice she’d even spotted an exerciser spewing on the verge after pushing themselves a little hard up and down the 242 steps.

She reckons it wasn’t a one-off.

Perth council faces an upstairs battle getting the place closed off, though.

A long-forgotten vestigial rule counts Jacob’s Ladder as a road, and that means appealing to WA lands minister Terry Redman to approve a 12-hour shutdown, and half-day shutdowns for roads are just not the done thing.

Instead they’ll look at rezoning the staircase a pedestrian mall, giving it power to control opening times.

They’ll still need the lands minister’s sign off, but staff reckon prospects are better for the rezoning plan.

by DAVID BELL

STIRLING city council is taken by Malcolm Turnbull’s Smart Cities Plan.

Following a visit by assistant cities minister Angus Taylor last week (“Bayswater ‘prime’ for Turnbull cash‚“ Voice, June 4, 2016), the council is preparing a submission which in draft forms praises the PM’s commitment to infrastructure spending.

57,000 jobs

The submission warns that unless Stirling gets its share of federal funding, the development of the Stirling City Centre and Osborne Park into commercial precincts supporting nearly 57,000 jobs will be compromised.

“There will be inadequate infrastructure to support the increased population and economic activities in the area,” the draft report says.

A staff report with the plan got pretty huffy about public transport spending, saying the Barnett government should be dobbed in for not have a decent plan or sufficient funding, but that didn’t quite make it into the submission.

The submission does, however, tackle Mr Turnbull’s plan for a “simplistic” aim of making travel times to work no more than 30 minutes.

“There is no discussion on the various transport modes that facilitate this 30-minute accessibility.

“Given it is a clearly understood urban planning principle that not all transport modes should be treated equally, this appears to be a key oversight of the 30-minute city concept of the Smart Cities Plan,” the submission says.

The council will also try to have some of its projects assessed by a $50m infrastructure financing unit, which Mr Turnbull wants to use to ensure the federal government gets a return on its grants.

“The Smart Cities Plan places considerable emphasis on value capture.

“This would place the city’s infrastructure proposals (for example the light rail planned to run from the Stirling activity centre through the Herdsman Glendalough project area) in a good position to qualify for such investment,” the report said.

THE newly revamped Beaufort Street Artisan Markets has broadened its horizons from fine arts to more artisanal wares so local crafty sorts can sell their craft, food, ceramics, fashion and jewellery too.

Originally a narrower “art market” for paintings and sculpture, Beaufort Street Network chair Pam Herron explains they’ve also shifted the day to the second Sunday of the month since so many other groups whack their events on the first. The next one’s on June 12 at the Barlee Street carpark 9am to 1pm and they’re bringing along their new mascot, a gigantic inflatable kitty named Tiny (best pic with him and a kid wins a prize).

UPDATED June 13: THE team of street hockey youngsters credited with keeping the Bayswater Bowling and Recreation Club alive has been shut down unless it can tone down the noise.

The Street Roller Hockey League joined BBRC and set up a rink next to the bowling grounds at 58 Murray Street last year, with members raising $50,000 through quiz nights and donation drives. Mayor Barry McKenna considers the hockey kids have saved the cash-strapped club from closing.

Despite this a neighbour’s noise complaints saw Bayswater council passing a resolution at last week’s meeting telling BBRC to “cease roller hockey activities at the site… until such time as the club can ensure compliance of these activities with the environmental protection (noise) regulation”.

Because it’s a state law the council’s hands are tied, and Crs McKenna, Stephanie Coates, Michelle Sutherland, John Rifici, Sally Palmer and Brent Fleeton all voted to stop the noisy hockey.

Terry Kenyon was the only one to dissent, while crs Dan Bull, Chris Cornish and Catherine Ehrhardt declared an interest and didn’t vote since they were social members of the club.

Games are played from 5 – 7pm week nights and 10am to 7pm on weekends. The Voice understands there were four instances of the games breaching noise limits during monitoring (the League’s Facebook page claimed because they were very short periods, it was more likely stick slaps rather than cheering).

In March when the complaint first popped up, bowling club president Steve Lay said the normal youthful exuberance had been blown out of proportion by people with an axe to grind.

“These are unsubstantiated accusations. I was there on the night and it wasn’t as big and bad as it’s been blown out to be.”

The club’s already tried some noise mitigation and if they can do further work and keep it under the limit they’ll be allowed to stay. If not, the council voted to consult with them on a new spot.

by DAVID BELL

VINCENT council went a little more democratic than usual in putting this year’s budget together, asking for ratepayers to suggest where the money should go.

Technically every budget is subject to community consultation, but it’s usually done after months of internal budget workshop have pretty much set the spending in stone, and only attracts comment from a hardcore few who keep a close eye on council.

Vincent’s new approach has increased participation 15-fold.

This time round the council opened submissions in early May and got 50 people weighing in on more than 30 proposals (some proposals got support from several people), compared to a meagre three submissions last year.

Underground power

Some suggestions were toilet upgrades in parks, pedestrian crossings, reviewing the city’s multicultural services plan and more funding for local service providers.

Underground power was a biggie: Lots of people have wanted it for years but the state government has progressively shifted the costs onto councils and ratepayers, making it difficult to achieve.

CEO Len Kosova says because it’s such a whopper of an undertaking, Vincent would have to give that suggestion a further review and consultation before doing anything, which makes it unlikely to make this year’s round of funds.

Mayor John Carey says in previous years the budget was “a fait accompli”.

“The old process was ‘we’ve just finished the final draft budget, it’s out for comment, but your ideas are probably too late because we’ve done our rate setting, we’ve worked out our expenditure’.

“I was just really pleased that we got so many [submissions]. All the feedback from the community has been really positive. The point is it got a lot more people interested, and it involved a lot more people.”

Vincent will set its rates for this year’s budget in the next couple of weeks.

by DAVID BELL

VINCENT is no longer home to the youngest councillors in WA; local school kids have been heading along to Bayswater council chambers to play mayor as part of their learning about government and citizenship.

Year 4, 5 and 6 students from Morley and Hillcrest primaries have been dropping by to hold mock meetings where they learn about decision-making and what local government does.

Elections are held at school to pick students who play the role of councillors, and young Trent Mitchell from Morley was given the mayoral chains by real mayor Barry McKenna.

Cr McKenna hopes it inspires a couple of the kids to sign up for council duty one day: “I remember being a young student and visiting local government council chambers and thinking that’s what I want to do when I grow older. It obviously influenced me as here I stand today as the mayor of Bayswater.”

AN Osborne Park advocacy group is so enamoured with Beaufort Street they want to turn their Main Street into “the new Beaufort”.

The Main Street Co-op has been organising murals on the street and want to start working with businesses, locals and Stirling council to liven up the joint.

Car yards

The co-op’s co-chair says they’re co-opting Beaufort Street’s style: “I remember Beaufort Street a few years ago—there used to be car yards and not many pedestrians at all and it just changed. It felt like overnight but it took a couple of years,” she told the Stirling Times.

“I think if we make it a safer place and nicer to look at we’d probably attract some small bars, cafes, wine bars and a bit more night life would be great because there isn’t much of that there at the moment. Eventually we’d love to have a festival down here; We’ve got the room.”

The Beaufort Street Network has put their festival on hold for now to work on multiple smaller projects across the year (the big one day event was taking nearly all of their time and efforts to organise), but when they wrapped it up network chair Pam Herron said the festival had done its job in putting the strip on the map.

And while the street had historically struggled with having enough pedestrians during the day (only coming alive for the bar and food scene at night), a ride through the street shows the situation’s improving.

The Mary Street Piazza almost always has people lounging in the outdoor space and mayor John Carey’s reported he’s been happy to see skateboarders adapting the giant Beaufort Street letters platform for their slides and ollies and adding a bit of life to the street.

A 70 square metre electronic sign has been deemed “inappropriate” for the tasteful St Georges precinct.

The corporate conglomerate that owns 189 and 191 St Georges Terrace wanted to erect the lucrative sign on its building to rent out to advertisers.

Perth city council staff reckon “the third party advertising content of the sign will be detrimental to the prestigious business character of the St Georges Precinct and the visual quality and amenity of the locality”.

The council’s historically been pretty friendly to these proposals but this double whopper was just too big. Judy McEvoy told Lisa Scaffidi “lord mayor we know you love these signs, but this one’s extremely big. We just felt this one wasn’t in keeping with St Georges Terrace”.

Ms Scaffidi said it wasn’t about her and voted along with the rest of council against the application.

STIRLING city council is considering a memorandum of understanding with WA’s housing authority to increase affordable housing options.

Both the council and the authority are major land owners within the city’s boundaries, and the non-binding MOU is a pledge to work together to develop those holdings to increase housing diversity.

One of the major objectives is to identify and progress potential development sites, which could mean purchasing more land in key sites.

The council would also get access to information on how the authority engages private developers. However, that information would be kept confidential – the only binding part of the MOU.

Both organisations would also look for and support pilot projects that deliver innovative housing.

The MOU was drafted by Housing, and if the city agrees, they will establish a working group which must meet at least quarterly.