Perth Voice Interactive

IT’S the eternal bugbear of Beaufort Street: the notoriously clogged and unsafe intersection with Walcott Street remains stagnant despite years of back and forth.

Labor’s candidate for the federal seat of Perth hit the streets last week, collecting signatures for a petition to get things fixed.

Essentially a state and mainly local government issue, the crossroad is bedevilled by the fact the streets fall under the jurisdiction of both Stirling and Vincent councils.

Tim Hammond says the intersection “feels like an accident waiting to happen” and it’s time to call in the big guns: his petition to the federal parliament calls on infrastructure minister Darren Chester to make “the upgrade of the Beaufort Street and Walcott Street intersection a priority for immediate attention with relevant state and federal agencies”.

The intersection is about as confusing as you could possibly get: right turns are allowed in some directions but not others depending on the time of day, so motorists rat-run through nearby streets when banned, and form long queues turning right one at a time when allowed.

Traffic regularly backs up a few hundred metres in any direction, and drivers routinely careen around right-turns into green pedestrian crossings.

In 2014 the RAC listed the intersection its eighth riskiest. Agreement on how to fix the mess — and pay for it — is hard to come by.

In his work as a lawyer, Mr Hammond says he’s often had to sit two sides down in a room and not leave until there’s a resolution.

Exasperated Mount Lawley Liberal state MP Michael Sutherland says he’s recently revived efforts to get things sorted but sighs, “I’ve hit the Berlin Wall again”.

“The Stirling council will agree to certain things and then the Vincent council won’t agree to them.”

Mr Sutherland says his file on this one is as big as a phone book: “You’ll never resolve this until Stirling and Vincent decide to work together,” he groans.

Mr Hammond says, “I just don’t accept that this is a situation that’s in the too-hard basket”.

“This requires all levels of government to get into a room, and to not come out until we come up with a solution which is acceptable across local, state and federal governments.”

by DAVID BELL

PERTH lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi is flying to Sydney to talk about “rebuilding public confidence”. The trip to the National Infrastructure Summit will cost Perth ratepayers $7475.

Ms Scaffidi’s been invited to be key speaker at the Australian Financial Review-run conference on June 15 and 16.

In justifying the outlay, city staff point out it’s her role under the state government’s new City of Perth Act for her to “develop and maintain inter-governmental relationships”. They also hint it’s worth showing a face to “enhance Perth’s capital city status in a federal election year” when plenty of promises are being splashed about.

Ms Scaffidi is invited to what’s billed as a “lord mayors’ roundtable”, talking about rebuilding public confidence in infrastructure, but the agenda lists the only other lord mayors are Sydney’s Clover Moore and Adelaide’s Martin Haese

Despite Ms Scaffidi being key speaker, the AFR is charging Perth a $3075 registration fee. The flight costs $4000, so we’re assuming the lord mayor is electing not to take the $571.90 return Qantas fare we found online (and no, it’s not even a red eye).

Councillors also approved Ms Scaffidi’s trip to the Property Council Leaders Conference in Bunker Bay in May, costing a little over $2000.

Councillor Jemma Green was lukewarm about the spend on the trips, saying she could support it if the lord mayor would bring back a report and have a Q&A session with councillors to demonstrate how it’s valuable to ratepayers: “By not reporting back we perpetuate the perception that there’s nothing in it for them, that it’s just another junket. We can’t continue to ignore the perception many ratepayers have of their councils.” Crs Reece Harley, Lily Chen and James Limnios all vocally agreed, and a report will now be standard practice.

by DAVID BELL

THE annual hunt for historic photos and stories of the Vincent area is on again, and the local history centre is hoping people have photographic gold hiding in dusty old boxes and forgotten drawers.

The local history awards have helped populate the history centre’s collection over the years and the whole inventory is now online letting people search a topic, suburb and decade to see if there are any pics in the database: we found this 1909 image of two-year-old Leonard (Len) Brennan with Bruce the guard dog by searching animals of the 1900s.

Turns out Bruce was the guard dog at the Golden West Aerated Drinks Factory on Carr Street, and he’d watch over the safe when money was in it (and there’s an oral history with Mr Brennan kept in the library with the whole tale).

There are three categories for the local history awards (and $1800 in prizes): A written history about life in Vincent, an open award on any topic relevant to the suburbs (the history of your own house is a good starting point), and the photographic memories section for photos more than 30 years old taken within Vincent. It’s open now until June 27 and there’s more info on 9273 6534 or local.history@vincent.wa.gov.au, and if you want to check out that nifty photo database and look up cats of Mount Hawthorn in the 1950s, just head to the Vincent library at http://www.vincent.wa.gov.au/local_history_centre

by DAVID BELL

FEARS Northbridge could lose its soul due to whingy residents moving in have spurred Perth city council to develop some flexibility on noise rules.

Already, complaints from people living in apartment towers built close to live music venues are being lodged.

The city’s taken to making people sign waivers before moving into a block near a live venue, stating they know what they’re getting into, and making sure new places are built with solid soundproofing.

In the past five years the residential population is up 21 per cent and complaints have gone up 30 per cent.

A PCC staff report states the effect of complaining residents moving in is “an ongoing and unresolved concern for the city and entertainment businesses in the area”.

The council will meet with industry and lobby groups to hash out what they need to go ahead with precinct-specific sound rules just for Northbridge, expecting to have a new framework ready around June 2017.

by DAVID BELL

———————–

PERTH city council has donated $6800 to the Reconciliation Week and Sorry Day event at Wellington Square on May 26. In recognition of the Bringing them Home report which outlined the effects on Aboriginal people when their children were stolen, Reconciliation Week aims to build “mutually respectful relationships between Indigenous and other Australians”. The vote to provide the money came on Tuesday night, about six hours after PCC staffers again raided Heirisson Island/Matagarup to confiscate tents from the homeless (many of them Aboriginal), just as the first heavy autumn rains started to fall.

THE North Perth man accused of sexually assaulting two children he’d allegedly lured from a school holiday care program faced court this week, with magistrate Joe Cicchini suppressing his name and image. He wasn’t required to enter a plea to three counts of sexual penetration of a child under 13 and two counts of deprivation of liberty. Currently held in Hakea prison, he’s due back in court on May 4. Acting community services minister Albert Jacobs said the childcare centre would be investigated.

LOCAL walking enthusiasts will roll out this week in memory of a tradition inspired by urban activist and writer Jane Jacobs.

“Jane’s Walks” have been held worldwide annually since Jacobs’ death in 2006. Last year the event took place in 189 cities, and walkability enthusiast Tina Askam has been organising events in Perth.

Jacobs believed the only real way to understand a city was to walk it. In previous years, walkers have ambled through Maylands observing how the area’s changed over the years from its origins as housing for factory workers building pipes for CY O’Connor’s Goldfields water supply scheme.

This year, heritage advocate Richard Offen will lead a stroll through the city looking at the heritage we’ve lost and imploring us: “don’t let it happen again”.

Another walk is a little less urban, with Dudley Maier and Sally Lake leading a tour through Perth’s lost and hidden wetlands, from Hamilton Lakes nestled amidst ribbons of freeway to the remnants of Perth’s Great Lakes that once stretched from Lake Monger to the Swan River before being filled in for farming and building across 1830 to 1880.

A  Jane’s Walk principle is a “just turn up” approach, so if you’re keen on going, just head along on the day: the “Don’t let it happen again” heritage walk starts May 6 at 10am at Council House. The Beautiful Bayswater Walk is May 7 at 10am at Bayswater Railway Station, and the Lost Wetlands wander is May 7, 2pm at the corner of Stuart and Palmerston Streets.

You can check out all the details at the Jane’s Walk Perth Facebook page.

by DAVID BELL

JOHN CAREY (right) has released a 25-page manifesto, Raising the Bar, which challenges councils across WA to get real about transparency.

The Vincent mayor’s report is damning of local government, saying councils often “do not demonstrate or show any interest in improving the public’s access to information”.

Neighbouring Perth city council, for example, had to be forced by a change in state government law into allowing ratepayers to see an online register of gifts to elected members.

Mr Carey, who is Labor’s candidate for the state seat of Perth, wants recordings of council meetings made available online, without fuss.

Perth city council wouldn’t allow the Voice access to its recordings, while for a period Bayswater simply stopped recording at all at the peak of council infighting.

Mr Carey’s paper notes the appointment of powerful CEOs is often a murky process.

Mr Carey reckons CEO contracts shouldn’t be dealt with less than six months out from an election, and senior executive staff ought to have their salaries posted online to keep salary growth and size of the public sector accountable.

The mayor’s transparency push isn’t popular across the sector: many of his recommendations were shot down at a WA local government conference meeting (172 to 46 votes), with WALGA boss Lynne Craigie speaking against moves such as mandatory training for councillors.

Likewise, Perth lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi reckons current rules are solid and online gift lists and registers noting when councillors meet developers are unnecessary, since they’re located in annual returns and her own diary (the PCC won’t let us see either, and Ms Scaffidi’s now been found to not have properly declared her gifts and travel contributions anyway).

But Mr Carey still has plans to spread these ideas to other councils, providing ready-made motions that like-minded councillors can present to colleagues.

Meanwhile, about 45 councillors from nearly every urban council attended a talk that Mr Carey hosted last Friday, where Melbourne councillor and Crikey! founder Stephen Mayne stopped by to talk transparency and how to get measures through, despite opposition.

Raising the Bar’s on the front page at http://www.vincent.wa.gov.au

by DAVID BELL