Perth Voice Interactive

COLES will tidy up a vacant property it owns in Maylands before selling it, following community complaints about the town’s “eyesore”.

Dead weeds, a rusted fence, rubbish and an abandoned car park are the main features at 231 Guildford Road — which the supermarket giant has barely touched since buying it eight years ago.

The derelict site has had locals concerned about its impact on property prices and the ability to attract investment. Coles spokeswoman Rebecca Schrauf concedes “community concerns” are prompting the clean up, which involves the removal of overgrown vegetation and fence repairs. Coles is in “advanced discussions with an interested party to sell the site for potential development”.

Locals on a new Facebook page——Coles, why don’t you care about Maylands?—say they’ve waited long enough for something to be done. Comments include ideas to temporarily turn the space into a community hub. Ideas on the page—which generated 300 likes in its first week—include installing an outdoor cinema, artwork, community garden, or badminton or beach volleyball courts.

Behind the keyboard, Elliaz Pik says the page was set up by locals who don’t want Maylands overlooked: “We want people to come to Maylands and experience what this town can offer instead of choosing to go to other places like Mount Lawley,” he says.

“It’s part of our main centre and it’s a real eyesore. That’s why this is so important. It impacts the community as well as the value of our properties.”

In 2012 the WA liquor commission rejected Cole’s plan for a $7 million grog superstore at the site after a community backlash.

by EMMIE DOWLING

A BLUEPRINT for Bayswater’s town centre will cost $120,000 to draw up — instead of $40,000 — because the council wants it done by consultants in time for a December 15 meeting with WA transport minister Dean Nalder.

Mayor Barry McKenna says the council wants “ammunition” at the meeting to convince Mr Nalder to take Bayswater train station underground.

Last fortnight the Voice reported Mr Nalder had indicated the station was unlikely to get much love from the $2 billion airport link, despite being the first stop from the airport, because the council had failed to develop a vision for its town centre.

“No-one wants to miss out on a potential $300 million underground station,” Cr McKenna told councillors.

“We could be talking about something similar to Subiaco.”

He wants to go in, all proverbial guns blazing, to get the minister to ask the Turnbull government for more funding.

The only upgrade currently planned for the station is a new disability access ramp.

Cr Stephanie Coates, who first suggested fast-tracking the plan, says ideas include connecting the centre with the “under-utilised” river. Another is for “water taxis” to the CBD.

Crs Sally Palmer, Chris Cornish, Alan Radford and Brent Fleeton voted against spending the extra money, saying the six-month wait for staff to do the plan, instead of consultants, is worth the $80,000 saving.

“I don’t know what the rush is,” Cr Cornish told colleagues. “I can’t imagine people are going to cart their luggage around while they go shopping.”

Construction is expected to start on the link late next year. Trains are expected to run from 2020.

by EMMIE DOWLING

Note: these photos are of 2015 Mercedes C250 and CLA250 models, but features may vary to the vehicles purchased by the City of Stirling.  

WHY buy just one luxury Mercedes with ratepayers’ money when you can buy two?

Eyebrows are being raised across Stirling as word gets around that mayor Giovanni Italiano and CEO Stuart Jardine are driving flash new sedans; a C250 for the mayor and a CLA250 for the CEO.

Both cars retail for about $75,000 each.

Neither the mayor nor the CEO would be interviewed by the Voice about the vehicles. Instead, council infrastructure director Michael Littleton stepped in via an email statement to defend the purchases.

He says the council switched to Mercedes based on cost, vehicles emissions, fuel consumption, safety and fuel type. “The vehicles purchased for the CEO and mayor fit within those parameters,” he says.

The council refused to say what makes and models were driven previously, but the Voice understands the mayor’s previous vehicle was a Holden Statesman or Caprice. A top of the line Caprice with all the fruit sells for around $62,000.

Mr Jardine is understood to have been provided a Toyota Prado 4WD (depending on the model between $60,000 and $90,000).

No information was provided on how often Stirling council buys cars, how big its fleet is, nor its total cost.

“It is important to remember that these vehicles are city assets,” Mr Littleton says.

“The city utilises its buying capacity to achieve competitive vehicle purchase prices and also optimises resale to minimise vehicle operating costs.”

He adds the cars are part of packages and incentives to “attract and retain quality staff”. No information was provided as to how a Mercedes keeps staff better than another vehicle.

“Tim” called the Voice to complain about the cars, saying they were “excessive”.  He’d seen the pair with the cars soon after last month’s council elections, where Cr Italiano was re-elected to his ward by the skin of his teeth.

Teresa Olow, who came within a handful of votes of defeating Cr Italiano in Osborne ward, says the cars are over the top.

“I don’t think it’s right because, at the end of the day, it’s ratepayers’ money,” she says.

“Tim” says the purchases do not sit well with other councillors.

by EMMIE DOWLING

IT’S 2015 and while most of us might moan about broadband that’s a little too slow, the poor folk in Ray Healy Towers in East Perth can’t even watch television.

The mostly elderly — and low-income — residents of five units in the complex have been without their Family Feud and Antiques Roadshow since September.

They’ve also missed the footy grand final, rugby grand final and the Melbourne Cup.

The WA housing department’s own rulebook states TV reception problems should be fixed within 28 days but that’s been blown out of the water by a month.

Service delivery general manager Greg Cash says service was “disrupted by a broken TV antenna cable” and “the exact location of the break can’t be found”.

He says “a new antenna and booster will be installed in the coming days” — but he won’t say what that means, exactly.

“Housing acknowledges that initial works took longer than 28 days to get done, but this issue has been escalated with Housing’s maintenance contractor and it should be completed shortly.”

The residents sound worn down and aren’t optimistic about a speedy resolution. One told the Voice, “it’s a waste of time complaining, because they do nothing”.

by DAVID BELL

GETTING the private sector to shell out for light rail could be a good way to get it up and running, says Curtin uni researcher Jemma Green.

Recently elected to Perth city council (but chatting to us wearing her sustainable policy institute researcher hat), Ms Green and boss Peter Newman met with new federal cities minister Jamie Briggs recently, after PM Malcolm Turnbull said he was keen on seeing a light rail plan for Perth.

Mr Briggs agreed with the notion that letting developers build light rail in return for accessing state-owned land near stations would be ideal for Perth.

Ms Green says under this method, known as active land value capture, “the government actually doesn’t pretedermine the route for the light rail, the private sector does”. There’s very little taxpayer cost compared to the big upfront infrastructure bills under the traditional model.

“The private sector is given the land, and the yields on the land provide commercial incentive to do the development,” Ms Green says.

“The stations can be developed as urban village centres which include residential, retail and commercial.”

Compulsory acquisition

Some land along the route would already be owned by the government, and some might require compulsory acquisition, but either way the private sector would be looking for a route that pays off and the government would pick one that delivers the best rail service and the most urban renewal.

“It’s been done successfully on the Canada Line in Vancouver and is presently being done on the East Valley Line in Edmonton,” Ms Green says.

“It is a model that can certainly work in the Australian context, but is counter to how we’ve approached infrastructure until now, so it will require change in mindset and innovation to make it happen.

“The federal and state governments need to invite expressions of interest from the private sector to see who would be willing to do this, and conversations we have been having at Curtin with the private sector suggest there would be strong interest.”

For planning buffs like Ms Green, the existence of a minister for cities is a big deal.

“The reappointment of the cities ministry at the federal level is crucial to Australia’s economic development. Cities are where the bulk of our economic activity takes place and cities now compete nationally and internationally on attracting the best jobs and people.”

by DAVID BELL