Perth Voice Interactive

IT’S meant to be a living wall but Perth council’s horizontal garden at the Northbridge Piazza looks more like the living dead.

Formerly known as the “green wall” it’s been redubbed a “screening wall” in all recent council documentation, maybe because the predominant colours are now various shades of brown.

Installed in 2009, many plants have died and been replaced a couple of times over, and a few years after installation it was in dire straits with the westerly-facing wall exposed to extreme summer heat.

The shrubs near the ground were vandalised and given Perth’s approaching Mad Max-like water shortages Water Corp will only let the sprinklers on twice a week.

Running out of options, Perth councillors have approved a $60,000 ”modular vertical garden system”, a water-wise screen of droopy native plants to create a curtain of greenery.

Cr Jim Adamos was the only councillor to vote against the system, saying he wasn’t willing to spend more money when the walls have had limited success.

Council staff say a vertical garden provides valuable research in an “industry technology in its infancy”.

by DAVID BELL

ANGST over plans to redevelop Charles Street is a storm in a teacup, Mt Lawley MP Michael Sutherland says.

The Barnett government says its $31 million widening and bus lane project will cut an average of six minutes off a daily bus trip for about 16,000 passengers.

It’s been dubbed an “urban design disaster” by locals Geraldine Box and Andrew Main who’ve distributed hundreds of flyers around the neighbourhood,.

Mr Sutherland says he hasn’t heard a single complaint, despite his name and number being on the flyer as a contact: “I never got a single person contact me, — Eleni [Evangel, Perth MP] hasn’t either. It might be another problem that’s not a problem,” Mr Sutherland told the Voice. “Is it another first world problem? It’s another one of these things, — you live in the inner city, you want all the inner city facilities, but you don’t want any change.”

by DAVID BELL

SACRED HEART primary school kids got up close with the turtles this week in a class excursion to Hyde Park.

The year 2 kids met UWA researchers Blaine Hodgson and associate professor Roberta Bencini who showed them some of the park’s oblong turtles.

The pair are in the midst of a joint project with the Claise Brook Catchment Group and Vincent city council to examine why there are fewer sightings of turtles these days.

In other lakes in Claremont and Jualbup females stopped producing eggs after a dry summer, while in Booragoon foxes and dogs were affecting the population, while hatchlings are getting squashed by cars wherever they’re near a road. The researchers will capture, weigh, measure, microchip and ultrascan Hyde Park’s female turtles to see if they have eggs.

by DAVID BELL

BUNGANA and Brearley Lakes in Maylands are in such poor condition the wildlife is disappearing, say residents.

Councillor Christine Ehrhardt says locals have brought their concerns to her about the recent loss of turtles, fish and birds, and she wants action pronto.

The lakes were artificially created on clay pits filled from the Swan River, mainly as a stop-over for the red-necked stint, which migrates from Siberia.

Bayswater council started monitoring water quality about a year ago after complaints from residents. Results showed high levels of toxic algae and nitrogen.

Fertilisers and other pollutants – even chlorinated swimming pool water – are making their way into drains and straight into the lakes (“Maylands water woes,” Voice, February 27, 2016).

Cr Ehrhardt will be holding a public meeting on April 10 to raise awareness of the issue.

She wants to form a Friends of the Maylands Lakes to look after the lakes and pressure the council into action.

Cr Ehrhardt says the council is working on a long-term solution including bio-filters to treat the storm water, planting floating wetlands to attract birds and dredging the lakes to remove the nutrient build-up within the clay sediment.

“The good news is that the water quality testing has also been showing a good amount of aquatic macroinvertebrates which live in the water and included creatures like insects in their larval or nymph form, worms, snails and crustaceans.

“These creatures have an important role in ensuring our ecosystem is healthy, and are also a wonderful food source for other animals including frogs and birds,” Cr Ehrhardt says.

by MARTA PASCUAL JUANOLA

PERTH’S Bicycle Transport Alliance has folded.

Despite the city’s bike network being riddled with gaps and blackspots, there will no longer be a lobby group to put pressure on the state government to fix them.

The alliance wasn’t about lycra warriors or circuit racers, but ordinary bike riders heading to work or school.

Chief executive Heinrich Benz, said the main reason for folding was that the state’s peak cycling body WestCycle wouldn’t support it financially.

Sad news

“This is sad news for the members and supporters of the Bicycle Transport Alliance, but more importantly it’s an even greater loss for the people of WA who support the kind of places where ordinary people, mums and dads, senior citizens and school children can safely pedal about their communities,” Mr Benz said.

Matt Fulton from WestCycle says while the alliance had made significant contributions to bike riding throughout WA, it had never been directly funded by his organisation.

“We offered them a significant funding package for the 15/16 financial year, which included paying a full-time salary, free office rent and marketing support to strengthen their business model—which they declined when their CEO resigned.”

Mr Benz quit in August last year and the organisation limped along until this week.

“I must say it’s an incredibly disappointing statement from an organisation we offered to support so strongly,” Mr Fulton said.

Former BTA board member Peter Bartlett said paying a full-timer wasn’t nearly as flexible as getting direct funding to spend on programs, and being under WestCycle’s umbrella could’ve dampened their ability to speak out.

“The conditions didn’t really suit [Mr Benz] and he decided not to take up that offer,” Mr Bartlett says.

“The BTA didn’t have enough funds to employ a new CEO, our income stream isn’t that good, and we’d been winding down for some years. We knew we would reach that point at some stage.

“It comes down to the issue that if you operate independently, but your main advocate is employed by a third party, there’s always some constraint on how outspoken you can be, and we really valued the ability to be critical about things that needed criticising.”

by DAVID BELL

 

STIRLING councillor David Michael will contest the seat of Balcatta at the state election for Labor.

The seat is held by Liberal MP Chris Hatton on a 7.3 per cent margin.

Cr Michael sought Labor pre-selection for the seat in 2013 but was defeated by Janet Pettigrew. This time, his was the only nomination.

“Janet was a very good candidate, she had a good campaign, gave it a go and beat me,” he told the Voice.

“This time it was a little different because I was the only person nominated.

Cr Michael was born and bred in Tuart Hill: he has lived in the same house since infancy, attended primary school within walking distance of his house and plays numerous club sports.

He is still a player in the local cricket club and a patron for the local bowling and swimming club.

Eleven years ago he became Stirling’s youngest ever councillor.

“Over the years the city and I have promised and delivered new local community facilities, upgrades to parks, footpaths and a modern recycling system, all while keeping the City debt free and our rates low. I am proud of my record,” he says.

“Now it’s the state electorate of Balcatta on the end of the raw deal from the Barnett Liberal Government.”

If elected, a key focus will be public transport and addressing peak hour gridlock: “In Balcatta during peak time the traffic is really bad,” he says.

“Labor will stick with its metro net policy to cut out cars and provide better public transport. The government hasn’t currently have a plan on public transport. No one knows anything about it. We need a proper plan.”

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CORRECTION: STIRLING city council hasn’t yet joined other councils in calling for development assessment panels to be axed, as we’d reported last week. While councillor Elizabeth Re moved that councillors advocate for the DAPs’ abolition, the council will hold a workshop before making a final decision.

ONE year after Devilles Pad closed the venue was revived for a one-night only secret gig on Tuesday March 15.

Arizona-based Tex-Mex indy rockers Calexico took the stage in what was billed as a warm-up for a new outfit operating out of the Aberdeen Street joint. It will be called the Badlands Bar. Industry website Towards Music reports the new organisers are promising a focus on live music at the 400-seat bar. The news has been welcomed by music-loving punters after the Bakery and Ya-Ya’s followed Devilles’ lead and closed last year.