Perth Voice Interactive

PERTH city council staff have taken to confiscating signs from homeless people.

On Monday the Voice spotted three men, including a uniformed Perth council ranger, approaching a teenage girl holding a begging sign outside the central train station bookstore.

“This is the thanks I get,” a burly member of the trio said, leaning down to snatch the girl’s sign. After a short exchange they moved on, leaving her in tears.

The girl, who didn’t want to be identified, said it was a regular occurrence despite the fact she sits quietly out of the way.

Another young homeless woman who arrived to console her confirmed the account. They both claimed council staff had told them begging was illegal.

In 2014 the council asked the Barnett government to revive an old law banning begging but was rebuffed.

Council staff have the authority to confiscate handheld signs, but media staffer Michael Holland continued a months-long freeze on responding to Voice questions so we don’t know why they’d be claiming begging is illegal.

Conrad Liveris is a founder of the homeless advocacy group Street Smugglers and says council staff shouldn’t be telling vulnerable young people they’re breaking the law.

“In no way is begging illegal in Perth,” Mr Liveris said.

“Everyone has the right to public spaces and the city, and this extends to begging.

“The state government ruled out making begging illegal last year and I have been assured by the ministers that this will not be happening before the election.

“There are increased reports of homeless people and beggars being confused about the state of the law and whether begging is illegal”, he says, and they’re being misinformed by some authorities.

”This is a fear-based tool being used to move people on and keep people out of sight.”

by DAVID BELL

THE Museum of Perth is on the lookout for locals to share personal histories of the city.

Museum chair Reece Harley says they’re “aiming to curate a contemporary oral history of the city, so that in 100 years’ time these videos and transcripts will be fascinating for future historians.

“Part of the purpose is to remind people that they’re surrounded by the future’s history”.

Trevor Hancock is one of the early volunteers for the project. He’s run Trinity Antiques in the CBD for 15 years (it’s been running 35 years), and he’ll be sharing tales about his times in the city and the rarities he comes across in his job.

“I come from Victoria, but I have spotted a real need in this state for what is left of the history to be preserved, and that goes back to simple things like family jewellery that was made in WA,” he says.

“So much of it is sold off at those charlatan gold buyers at shopping centres.”

He says the gold buyers simply send jewellery off to be melted down for the gold value, unaware the history and craftsmanship could mean they’re worth five times as much.

And every little piece has a story behind it. Mr Hancock owns a small silver item called a vinaigrette, about the size of a box of matches.

“You open the lid and it’s got a little grill, and under the grill you put a sea sponge with vinegar and spices.”

The little box tells a story of a time when Perth and Kalgoorlie had open sewers. As the gentry passed the distasteful sewers, they’d hold the vinaigrette to their noses so they wouldn’t have to suffer the smell.

They were more common in England to fend off the stench of the Thames, but here only a few people could ever afford them and very few were made.

“It was made in Fremantle in silver. To our knowledge there are only three surviving Australian ones, and this is the only surviving one from WA.”

He calls items like his 1914 Doig and Horn ring, crafted in Fremantle, “the states’ crown jewels” and hopes to get the message about their historic value out there before more are melted down.

He says “there’s a constant loss of history in this state” and an attitude of throw it away and send it off, and then they bring in new stuff”.

Mr Hancock says future generations will be furious with us.

Mr Harley says people with a cracking story about Perth (and it can be from any era) can get in touch with the museum through http://www.museumofperth.com.au/oralhistories and they’re doing the recordings on June 18, 19, 23 and 24.

by DAVID BELL

FUTURE BAYSWATER has welcomed a council decision to delay a structure plan for the area around the Bayswater train station.

The group is made up of business owners and community members, who are concerned Bayswater city council might waste $120,000 on an “underscoped and underbudgeted” structure plan.

Structure plans guide the zoning of development areas but need a planning scheme amendment to give them teeth. A document produced by the council indicated the amendment wouldn’t be sought, which had Future Bayswater members scratching their heads.

After local lobbying, councillors deferred issuing a tender for the job, and Future Bayswater hopes that means a more robust process is being considered.

Fork in the road

The Bayswater town centre is at a fork in the road, with competing community groups holding different visions.

Future Bayswater’s Michelle Hogan says she hopes the structure plan will bring more people to live in the town centre, providing customers and economic security to the 30-odd businesses in the area.

The groups says multiple dwellings will give young people and older downsizers affordable options.

Meanwhile, residents group Bayswater Deserves Better has opposed a seven-storey development at 9-11 King William Street and fear that sets the wrong precedent for the suburb. The group says a big concern is parking and traffic, as well as the loss of trees.

Bayswater councillor Chris Cornish wrote on his blog the development has “divided the community”

“Some people are desperate to see any development occur in an area which has been starved of development, others want a more controlled development, others want the Jacaranda tree preserved and others want the heritage buildings preserved in their entirety,” Cr Cornish said.

Ms Hogan says Future Bayswater wants “Quimby, not nimby: Quality in my backyard”.

The group wants a broad structure plan covering more than building heights, including greenery, pedestrian access, and environmental technology.

Bayswater council will now go back to the drawing board, figuring out a grander (and likely more expensive) scope for the structure plan before tendering it out.

Bayswater Deserves Better group have asked planning minister Donna Faragher to use her discretionary powers to overturn the development assessment panel’s approval of 9-11 King William Street. It’s been near two months and they’re still waiting.

by DAVID BELL

THE Liberal candidate for the federal seat of Perth, Jeremy Quinn, took assistant minister for cities Angus Taylor on a tour round Bayswater this week.

Local interest groups have been crying out for some federal attention in the quiet village centre, and the train station provided a good example why for Mr Taylor’s visit on Monday; as he stood on the platform a wild-eyed bloke huffed spraypaint at the station entrance, while the “self-cleaning” toilet had merely smeared excrement across the seat.

The station splits the Bayswater town centre in half and it felt as though the pollies were the first suits ever to grace its asphalt platform.

Mr Taylor’s role is a bone of contention, as the original portfolio was axed by prime minister Malcolm Turnbull just six months after he’d created it. Mr Taylor now reports directly to Mr Turnbull which the PM says is a promotion, but Labor claims he’s little more than a parliamentary secretary.

The aim is to get federal control over areas that have traditionally been handled by local and state governments. They will now have to prove the economic benefits of their projects before receiving any cash.

The centrepiece is Mr Turnbull’s “smart cities”, which aims to cut down commutes to a gold standard 30 minutes.

Bayswater’s in the crosshairs because the new Forrestfield-Airport Link will bring rail from the airport to the brink of the city, with murmurs about future plans to sink the station and bring both sides of the township together.

Mr Quinn says fixing up the area and connectivity are issues voters are often bringing up on the campaign trail.

“In my doorknocking residents have said they’re keen to see development in the area, sympathetic development that keeps the character, and obviously Bayswater trainstation has been neglected over time”.

After having a gander around the town Mr Taylor told the Voice Bayswater was a prime spot for smart cities attention.

“These urban renewal opportunities, there’s not that many of them that are as good and interesting as this one,” Mr Taylor said.

“You’ve got a station near the city, and not much has happened in this area for some time.”

Paul Shanahan is one of the locals who started up Future Bayswater; he seems won over by the plan: “Absolutely. Basically what we’re about is we want to see the potential in this townsite harnessed. “

by DAVID BELL

VINCENT city council has decided to stick with the WA Local Government Association.

Mayor John Carey has been fuming since WALGA brass rejected his plan to introduce stricter transparency measures at last year’s state conference, but his CEO Len Kosova has looked into withdrawing and says it’ll be too costly.

Mr Kosova says the $50,000 annual subscription fee gets Vincent access to WALGA staff and councillor training, as well as big group buying power.

Despite his low opinion of the WALGA leadership Mr Carey says he won’t abandon those savings just to prove a point: “I’m not going to cut off our nose to spite our face,” he says, and councillors unanimously voted to remain a member.

“But I have no faith or confidence in the WALGA leadership. I will not be attending the WALGA conference or wasting ratepayers money attending their workshops or dinners.”

Mr Carey had been pushing mandatory online gift and travel registers, but was roundly shot down by a huge majority of councillors from other local governments.

Some of his ideas have subsequently been imposed by the state government anyway.

Mr Carey says the conferences are “more about celebrating longevity in local government and patting themselves on the back and saying ‘these are all the things we’re doing well’ instead of looking at the state of the sector and seeing what needs to be reformed”.

Current WALGA head Lynne Craigie, the shire president for East Pilbara council, has long maintained they already promote “best practice” in transparency and governance.

by DAVID BELL

A PROPOSAL to triple patron numbers at a Coogee Street cafe has divided the Mount Hawthorn community.

It was standing room only at this week’s Vincent council meeting as about 20 residents rose to speak for and against Jazz Cellar boss Roy Burton’s application to increase the cafe’s size from 15 to 40 patrons.

Councillors rejected the application eight to one, citing parking troubles, unrest and noise in a residential area. Ros Harley was the only councillor in support.

Mr Burton has owned the building for 30 years and already has approval for a 15-patron cafe. He says without the extra customers, the business won’t be viable.

Nearby video shop owner Mel Pisani-McInerney was all for the cafe.

“The thing that the cafe will bring is the possibility of jobs, employment to the area,” Ms Pisani-McInerney said.

“I have six employees, all local, all walk to and from the Mezz, who don’t use their car. Now, I have a dying business, technology’s overtaking me. I will eventually close my doors in years to come and have to say no to more jobs in the area.

“In a slowing economy I’m actually thankful that I’m walking past activity in the area, I love to see something up and coming like a cafe.”

Ms Pisani-McInerney says she’s turning away jobseekers every week and implored the council to approve the expansion.

Others said a bit of liveliness was exactly why they lived in Mt Hawthorn, while noise and parking troubles headlined the complaints against.

by DAVID BELL

BAYSWATER city councillors will no longer be able to kick off ambitious projects days before leaving office.

This week the council enacted a long-called for caretaker period by unanimous vote.

Resident Adam Parsonage led the push for caretaker periods and made it an election issue last year, saying councillors were tabling eleventh hour motions to promote themselves, and approving half-cocked projects.

Vincent, Perth, Stirling already have caretaker conventions.

Last year, with the council elections less than a week away, Baysy councillors committed $50,000 in a future budget to the design of the Lightning Swamp Sustainability Centre. It would could cost up to $4 million to build and $50,000 a year to run.

The caretaker period covers 37 days before an election and the new rules include;

• no decisions about the employment of a CEO. This was an issue at Vincent when an outgoing council renewed John Giorgi’s contract for five years just days before most were voted out or left office;

• no sponsorship arrangements worth more than $10,000;

• no commitments to high-cost projects;

• councillors can’t publish material that looks like it was authorised by the city; and,

• councillors can’t get media advice about election issues from staff.

by DAVID BELL

THE new Third Avenue Bridge is up and running, easing a major traffic snag in Maylands.

After $9.1million and eight months of construction the raggedy 105-year-old timber bridge has been replaced with a new steel and concrete number with a capacity to handle about 10,000 cars a day.

CASH intended for art around Bayswater could be diverted towards more trees under a plan by councillor Brent Fleeton.

Under Bayswater council’s per cent for art program, developers have to set aside one per cent of the cost of big projects for public artworks; a little trade-off to beautify the city while they block out the skyline.

It’s new to Bayswater, but one of the most prominent pieces will be the harp-like design slated for the Ross’s Salvage site in Maylands. It’s a $72m development so $720,000 has been set aside for the art.

With locals calling for more street trees, Cr Fleeton wants half the money to be spent on greenery.

Developer contribution

“The Bayswater town centre has very few trees, and with a couple of applications for development there I thought in addition to any public investment for street trees that council’s going to consider in the future, why not alter the planning policy to split developer contribution between art and trees,” Cr Fleeton told the Voice.

“For me, trees are higher on the community priority list than public art.”

He says the policy has to be flexible so developers don’t have to stick all the trees outside one site.

Cr Fleeton’s idea was approved six votes to four and staff will now figure out the details before bringing it back to councillors.

by DAVID BELL

UBER is denting traditional taxis’ customer numbers so much it might see the taxi rank in Leederville removed.

A Vincent council report says “the taxi industry is currently in a state of flux” with services like Uber and now Shofer chomping into the market.

They’re not allowed to use the taxi bay and with so many people Ubering (especially young app-happy Leederville types) the taxi rank might be obsolete, the report finds.

“It is now very difficult to obtain a unified industry view of the need and location of the Leederville Taxi Rank,” the report says.

The Taxi Industry Forum WA is dead against any removal of the rank, and the whole problem will be considered when Vincent draws up its Leederville Town Centre place plan.

by DAVID BELL