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VOICE photographer Matthew Dwyer was out looking for some Christmas cheer when he came across the students and teachers from Kingston International College celebrating an Aussie picnic Christmas party in Hyde Park. They tried to share their food with the affable Mr Dwyer but, as a hobbit fond of too many breakfasts, he politely declined.
BAYSWATER council is going back to the drawing board to better develop a short-term accommodation policy.
The rethink follows concerns its current draft policy may be too harsh on residents wanting to hire out spare rooms and properties via websites such as Airbnb (Voice, December 12, 2015).
Under the draft, a failure to gain council approval before advertising could result in fines up to $200,000.
Some councillors are sympathetic to the argument citizens deserve more control over their property.
“Do we have a right to regulate this, and put these onerous requirements on people sub-letting a room?” asks Cr Brent Fleeton.
He says he’d “raised so many doubts” about the draft and is unsurprised it fell at the first hurdle.
The draft policy tabled this week restricts guest numbers and allows council staff to act against troublesome tenants.
To win approval as a short-stay accommodation provider under the draft policy, property owners must supply a “management plan” outlining house rules, such as banning anti-social behavious and evidence of a plan to deal with complaints.
by EMMIE DOWLING
KIDDIES expecting a few jaunty singalongs about Santa and Rudolf got a bit of a surprise at Hyde Park’s Carols by Candlelight the other night — a full-on “fire and brimstone” sermon, according to unhappy Voice reader Donelle Phillips.
Run by Youth with a Mission for more than a decade without complaint, the event this year featured a dramatisation of the Christmas story using Bible verses.
“What transpired was most unexpected and offensive,” Mt Lawley’s Ms Phillips told the Voice. “The choir was wonderful but the songs were more like hymns, not carols, and then on came this preacher, ranting and raving, fire and brimstone, angel Gabriel, barren women, miracles, etc.
“He went on for 20 to 30 minutes — may as well have been at an evangelistic convention.” Ms Phillips says she and her friends had sauntered down to the Vincent council-sponsored event, “looking forward to a joyous, happy performance of beautiful Christmas carols”.
“We weren’t there to listen to him, and all the Christmas carols tell you all you need to know about the birth of Jesus.
“We and others around us were not impressed and, like us, packed up and left.”
Peter Brownhill from Youth with a Mission appeared to acknowledge it may not have gone down as hoped.
”Last Friday night was quite typical of previous carols except for one difference; this year we had an ex-Broadway actor dramatisation of the Christmas story using a sequence of Bible passages. The presentation went for 15 minutes.
“We are sorry this was a problem and will take that into account for next year’s carols. This is the first complaint we have had in the many years we have been presenting the carols in Hyde Park and do appreciate the feedback.
“Our program was longer than previous years with more carols presented. The difference was the dramatisation of the Christmas story by the international guest.”
by DAVID BELL
WA doesn’t have enough organic meat to go around this Christmas, says a local butchering veteran.
Mondo Meat’s Vincenzo Garreffa says he hasn’t been promoting his organic meats because he doesn’t want to “create a rush that can’t be met”.
“There’s an Australia-wide shortage,” Mr Garreffa says. “There’s a demand for it now that is bigger than the supply.”
His organic poultry comes in from the eastern states, and he’s got a “small supplier” for pork that he didn’t have last year.
Another trend, which he suspects has been caused by job losses and the long-disappeared mining boom, is shoppers being more cautious with their money.
More people are also opting for easier dishes, such as boneless turkey rolls, instead of the traditional bird.
Whopping $140,000
However, he’s still confident he’ll sell all 500 of his “quintets” ($280 each) before Christmas, fo a whopping $140,000 all up.
“There’s no way in the world they’ll be left behind,” the 50-year veteran says.
“This Christmas has been very Americanised, too,” he notes. “Briskets, pulled pork and spare ribs have been very popular.”
Over at Northbridge’s Re Store, manager Lorenzo Berti (grandson of founder John Re) says many young people are buying ingredients to make their own cheese and bread, and equipment for slow-cooking.
“It’s hard to quantify, but I’ve seen about 20 per cent more younger people coming in getting those things to make dishes from scratch,” he says.
His suggestion for getting a traditional Italian Christmas off to a good start is to enjoy a glass of prosecco with panettone sweet bread first thing in the morning.
Geoff Hodder, who opened the Little Cheese Shop in Baywater in August last year, suggests pairing a foreign cheese with a local drop.
He stocks a wash-rind white cheese, washed in pinot noir from Tasmania’s Bruny Island, which he says could go well with a Swan Valley red.
He has plenty of serving suggestions for beer, too, and urges cheese lovers to seek him out for advice.
Evan Kakulas from Kakulas Brothers has bumped into a unprecedented number of vegans and vegetarians this year. Many are asking for nutritional yeast so they can make their own breads.
He’s stocking his shop with more healthier options, such as organic super foods.
by EMMIE DOWLING
DEVELOPERS can’t be trusted to commission public art, it seems.
At least that’s the view of Vincent mayor John Carey who is keen to tighten up his council’s “per cent for art scheme”, following the emergence of a number of works he regards as below par.
Under the scheme, developers must spend at least one per cent of their project’s cost on public art.
They can either give the cash to the council, where it is reserved for public art, or they can commission their own. A $5 million development means a $50,000 commission: a $50 million project means a $500,000 work, so we’re talking big biccies for artists who get the work.
Mr Carey says the work outside 448 Fitzgerald Street in North Perth resembled a “cherub [that] looked like it was knocked off from Mitre 10”. We can’t publish a photo because the piece is no longer there.
“They are shocker barry crockers,” Mr Carey said of it and a nearby work that could either be “art” or debris that simply fell off the building.
The new policy will state the work must be original art, not a garden sculpture from Bunnings concreted onto a plinth.
It must be created by a “professional artist”, who can’t be family members of anyone with a financial interest in the development.
Mr Carey says the policy “is about stopping some of the dodgy and appalling works that crept into the City of Vincent.
“We’re not going to accept your mate’s ‘art’ or something from Bunnings,” he says.
The per cent for art scheme’s been in place since 1998 — it’s believed to be the first in WA, and other councils have started their own since — and has resulted in at least 60 developer-funded artworks around the city.
by DAVID BELL
SELLING WA government land in Bayswater has been suggested as a means to fund the undergrounding of the local train station.
Mayor Barry McKenna says WA transport minister Dean Nalder was open to his suggestion to sell land just upstream of Riverside Garden during a “very productive” private meeting on Tuesday.
Cr McKenna says the land, under the auspices of the public transport authority, is “very valuable” and its sale could fund the $300-million undergrounding project.
The pair’s meeting follows community concerns over Bayswater station being shortchanged on the $2 billion Forrestfield-Airport Link project: all it’s slated for is a new disability access ramp.
Publicly, Mr Nalder is sticking to the government’s line that Bayswater council missed the boat for a station upgrade because it failed to submit a properly developed vision for its town centre.
But Cr McKenna left Mr Nalder’s office with high hopes, as well as a promise to reconvene in February or March to discuss feasibility options.
“It was a very productive meeting with the minister,” Cr McKenna told the Voice. “He even had two advisers there with him and he was asking for reports into what the government can do with our town centre. There are no guarantees or concrete plans, but I’m pleased with the minister’s approach.” Cr McKenna was accompanied by deputy mayor Stephanie Coates and CEO Francesca Lefante.
by EMMIE DOWLING
RATEPAYERS will no longer pay to clothe Bayswater councillors.
Following last week’s story (“Self-paid suits Fleeton,” Voice, December 12, 2015) the council voted to dump its clothing allowance, worth up to $1000 each per year (that’s $11,000 for all elected members).
Only mayor Barry McKenna and Crs Alan Radford and John Rifici wanted to keep the allowance. Cr Radford says the allowance should stay as not all elected members have nice threads: “The only suit I had when I was elected was the one I used at my wedding,” he told colleagues. “So I did buy a suit. It’s like a uniform, and you do have to try to look neat.”
Deputy mayor Stephanie Coates admitted to not owning what is considered proper attire for meetings when first elected.
But she says she never once slapped ratepayers with her shopping bills. In fact, she’d prefer the council “relax dress standards because it’s not what you wear, but what you say”.
Cr Chris Cornish said he’d now ask the council to also get rid of the allowance for phones, tablets, shredding machines and filing cabinets. He says councillors already receive $2400 to spend on those things as part of their “telecommunications” allowance.
Despite being given more than a week to respond to last week’s questions, the council has failed to supply details to Voice readers about councillors’ clothing claims covering the past two years.
by EMMIE DOWLING
AUSSIE kids from Inglewood are managing to do something that appears beyond many adults — make refugees feel welcome in Australia.
After meeting two refugees this year, and inspired by the book My Two Blankets, about a little girl arriving in a new country and finding a safe place under an old blanket made of memories from home, the Inglewood primary school year sixes set out to make two quilts to donate to refugee families.
Indonesian language teacher Gabi Hollands helped, but stresses the kids did a huge amount of work themselves, coming up with four-letter words of hope to stitch into the quilt, and she simply added a few final touches to put it together.
Chelsea Borg says “for some of us it was our first time sewing”, and she says once they had the squares complete “Ibu Gabi” as they call Ms Hollands, “brought it back to school and it looked like she touched it with a magic wand”.
This week the group presented their finished works to Red Cross members Claire Collery and Ashraff Mohammad, who is a refugee from Afghanistan.
“I come from a refugee background as well, I was about your age when we fled Afghanistan,” he told the children. “We went to Pakistan, it was around midnight that we packed everything.”
Mr Mohammad eventually had to flee Pakistan too as the security situation there deteriorated, arriving in Australia in 2011 and spending a year in detention.
“For someone who has come through this journey the best thing for them is they get a welcome, like you guys did today. For a refugee who has become homeless, this is the best thing for them,” he said.
“They’re not coming here for money, they’re running for their lives and they’re coming here to start a new life and to get a warm welcome and for someone to say we care about you, that’s the best thing and I really thank you for that.
“This will go to two families, one family of five from Sri Lanka and the other a family of three, an Afghani family, and they’ll be delighted.”
by DAVID BELL
FOR more than 60 years the aroma of fresh bread from Vastese Bakery has wafted across its North Perth neighbourhood, but it all ends this Christmas.
Owners Tony and Lou Saraceni were out of town when we called but staff confirmed they’re closing.
Freelance foodie writer Max Veenhuyzen broke the news and he reports, “it’s no longer feasible to bake bread their old way and maintain the bakery, so they’re calling it a day after almost six decades of service”.
The bakery was started by Saraceni patriarch Giuseppe, who arrived from Vasto in 1951. He delivered Italian bread for a short time but grew disatisfied with the quality, so started his own bakery in 1958.
He started on Newcastle Street before moving to Alma Road in 1961.
The bakery was old-fashioned, selling handmade bread to restaurants and boutique retailers, but locals could also stop by the front door and buy their daily loaf.
Lou and Tony Saraceni also have an ongoing business venture with developer cousin Luke Saraceni, in the Rose on Angove Street project to build apartments on the corner of Angove and Fitzgerald Street.
In August, Business News reported the project was going great guns with nearly half the apartments sold in the first six days of marketing.
by DAVID BELL
A CHURCH established by African-Australian Christians in a warehouse in one of Dianella’s “neglected” industrial zones has received a belated but conditional blessing from Stirling council.
Messianic Ministries, consisting largely of parishioners hailing from Congo and Burundi, moved into the Harold Street warehouse early this year to set up its first WA altar.
But it never asked for permission to use the site as a “place of worship”, and there has been at least one complaint about noise.
Last week the council voted to allow the church to stay, with conditions: approval is for two years only, no more than 50 people are allowed on site at any one time and the space requires sound cushioning.
“The unauthorised use at the site was brought to the city’s attention as a result of a complaint alleging unreasonable noise from music being played at the place of worship,” a council report states.
The ministries’ Sifi Idrissa says the limitations are “disappointing” and she’s unsure whether Christmas plans will be cramped by the 50-person limit.
She concedes she’s not completely on top of what’s required, and will request a meeting with council staff.
A council report states the conditions are in place because of a shortfall of 97 parking bays, and potential future zoning changes.
However, two years ago the Inglewood Community Church on nearby Cleveland Street was given no restrictions on numbers, despite a 176-bay shortfall. Pastor Mark Edward concedes he’ll get “far more than 50” people coming through at any one time.
Landlords Steven and Debbie Milianku are seeking advice regarding the fairness of the council’s decision.
Mr Milianku, who ran as an independent candidate for state parliament in 2005 and as a Subiaco council candidate in 2003, says the area has been neglected for years.
“They think we’re professionals trying to fuck them over with the parking,” he says. “But they’re fucking us over. If we lose these guys, it’ll be empty for a very long time.”
The council had in 2010 wanted to rezone the area from industrial to mixed use but was blocked by the WA planning commission, which ordered further investigation.
“The council has dragged its feet since then because it was just put in the too-hard basket,” Mr Milianku says.
“We’re lucky to have these guys in here because you can’t rent these places out. I’ve had six or seven tenants go broke in the past 20-odd years. It’s hard to have a viable business here.”
Mrs Milianku adds: ”It was our dream to build high-rise apartments here and have our retirement home at the top. There would be an amazing view of the city from there.”
Councillors Giovanni Italiano, Mark Irwin and David Michael voted against approval, citing parking woes.
“I have no issue with the change of use,” Cr Irwin told the Voice. “It’s because of the parking shortfall.”
Council officers state Harold Street is “considered able to accommodate traffic generated by the place of worship”.
“The worship use will not have a negative impact by reduced parking bays and increased traffic through the street,” the report reads.
by EMMIE DOWLING
Perth Voice Interactive 