Perth Voice Interactive

WITH hordes of kids sprouting like weeds across the inner-city, architect Eamon Broderick says the place is well overdue its own primary school.

A member of the Council of Education Facility Planners International, he held a workshop in Mt Lawley last week to advance the idea with local principals, parents and students.

He says North Perth and Mt Hawthorn primary schools are already full to bursting and littered with demountables.

The increasing push for medium- and high-density living across the inner-city will see even more kids calling the place home in years to come.

Perth federal Labor MP Alannah MacTiernan says the issue’s been kicked around for years, and was a hot topic during her time as mayor of Vincent.

“Every second woman was in foal, you could smell the oxytocin,” she told the gathering.

She says officials in state government departments kept saying “no, no, it’s not a problem,” despite health department records showing booming pregnancies and births.

Ms MacTiernan says planners didn’t seem to appreciate that people living in modest flats want kids too, and aren’t necessarily going to shift to the outer ‘burbs to raise them.

Mr Broderick told the workshop there are four realistic possibilities for a new school site:

• 45 St Georges Terrace. It’s the old HQ for the Reserve Bank but has no open land so play is a problem;

• 101 St Georges Terrace. It’s the old WA Club HQ. No play space but plenty of room for a billiards table;

• two empty PMH buildings. But they’re in Subiaco, a long way for many.

Mr Broderick says folk at the workshop quickly figured out traditional notions about classroom size and format may have to be put aside. “With new ways of learning, [they] are quite limiting for what a school can do.”

Montessori and other alternative education systems have long shed the 30-kids-to-a-class with a droning teacher model.

Flexibility may be key to success for a new inner-city school that can’t fit the cookie-cutter template.

Creative solutions such as rooftop gardens or strolling to Langley Park could address concerns about kids getting fresh air and exercise.

Likewise, an inner-city school may not need its own library with Perth city council building a big new one on St Georges Terrace,  just a couple minutes’ walk from two of the suggested sites.  Another difficulty with any inner-city school is traffic congestion and safety: Mr Broderick says walking to school fixes congestion and traffic in the CBD at peak hour is also often at a standstill so can be relatively safe to negotiate.

He says many parents are unreasonably frightened of the white-van man whisking their child away: it’s a crippling fear that has to be addressed, given the miniscule chance of it happening significantly impacts a range of parental decisions.

Mr Broderick hopes the forum planted some seeds to get things moving soon. “The time is pretty much now.”

by DAVID BELL

The Voice Says…
IT’S been clear for years that Perth CBD and the inner suburbs of neighbouring Vincent are booming with young families.
For far too long governments—both Labor and Liberal—have relied on nearby private schools to do their job for them. But a private education should be a choice, not the only option.
The state government has a responsibiltiy to provide a quality public education for local children and it must start planning immediately to build a city primary school. We don’t need more wasted years of feasibility studies. We need kids in classrooms ASAP.

LEEDERVILLE’S YMCA HQ hosts the Healthway Drug Aware skate series this Saturday, with WA’s best skaters and scooterers competing.

Scooter contender Jiordan Giacoppo is in the finals after the competition was whittled down in 12 qualifying events over three months.

18-year-old Mr Giacoppo says he took up the scooter after a stack on his bike led to a bad whack on the head.

Despite spending half his time airborne or even upside down, he says he doesn’t really get a lot of bad scrapes on the scooter.

Mr Giacoppo says he hasn’t set his plan in stone for Saturday, preferring a looser approach, but good use of the whole park usually scores well with the judges (the sport’s scored by young people who know their stuff).

The comp’s free this Saturday March 21, with the scooters on from 1.30–4.30pm and skating starting 6.30pm.

by DAVID BELL

AMBER BEAVIS is the only sandgroper to be named one of Australia’s top five science voices under 40.

The WA Museum research scientist and taxonomist saw off 250 other brainiacs to snag the top five place in the slightly-ageist ABC Radio National competition.

The competition recognises those who can communicate complex science effectively to the masses, therefore making it more accessible.

As a prize, she will attend an ABC in-residence program later this year, which—perhaps—could see her become the next Dr Karl: “Having worked as a science communicator for two decades now, I feel very privileged to work for the WA Museum as I believe museums are one of the few really democratic avenues for teaching and revealing science,” Dr Beavis says. “I’m incredibly excited to be taking part in the 10-day media program.

This is a real opportunity to help make science more accessible, less intimidating, and to engage people and get them to ask questions that science does not yet have answers to, and that is so important to help grow the next generation of science thinkers.”

Dr Beavis specialises in arachnology (spiders!) and is involved in the classifying and naming of new species.

She also hosts her own science show on RTR FM.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

AROUND 50 members of the Mount Lawley Society gathered on Walcott Street to protest the demolition of a 1923 shop front.

The society is fuming that a developer wants to demolish the shop and build a four-storey mixed-use development that doesn’t incorporate the facade.

“There is no reasonable justification for the removal of the shop frontage, or for not making any real effort to integrate it into a development,” says MLS president Bruce Wooldridge.

“The surrounding homes are single-storey heritage homes, which would suffer a significant loss of privacy and endure noise issues.

“Parking is also a major issue, with only 16 on-site parking bays to cater for 11 apartments, seven offices, and a café.”

Mr Wooldridge says since 2010—when the state government started allowing multiple dwellings in areas coded R30 and R40—more developers have been submitting “inappropriate” applications for Mt Lawley.

“The MLS is not anti-development, however believes first and foremost in the protection of heritage properties and streetscapes of Mount Lawley,” he says. “Earlier discussions between Stirling council and the developer were predicated retaining the façade of the shop and a 2-3 storey development, but the developer has now reneged on that.”

Stirling council director Ross Povey says the city will assess the developer’s proposal and submit a recommendation to the DAP by April 13.

Public submissions on the development close March 24.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

THE Committee for Perth says light rail outpaces buses both financially and for moving more people.

The Barnett government has “deferred” its high-profile election policy to install light rail through North Perth up to Mirrabooka, in favour of looking at fancy buses which it reckons can do the job for far less money.

Trouble is, experts say even the best buses in the world won’t do the job nearly as well.

Describing itself as an apolitical think-tank advocating for Perth’s future, the committee says light rail “delivers high volume passenger services more cost effectively and efficiently than bus because it requires fewer vehicles to move the same number of passengers”.

Its research shows property values shoot up around light rail, and routes with more than 2000 passengers an hour are cheaper to operate and maintain.

Greens senator Scott Ludlam backs the research and blasts the government for its about-face.

The Greens’ own study shows light rail helps urban redevelopment and high street regeneration, which would be warmly welcomed by North Perth traders the Voice spoke to.

Federal Labor MP Alannah MacTiernan doesn’t buy the state government’s excuses about having to reexamine buses in light of economic difficulties and the lack of federal funding.

“They knew perfectly well that Abbott wasn’t funding any rail projects,” Ms MacTiernan says. “There has been a complete and utter fraud perpetrated on the people of Northbridge and North Perth and going up to Mirrabooka that they were going to get this.”

As for explanations the Liberals need to revisit the latest research on buses: “Bullshit,” Ms MacTiernan says. “Buses have been around for a long time.”

by DAVID BELL

THE $18 million Point Fraser development with its waterside restaurants, kiosks, offices, boutique brewery and tavern has been delayed another four months, and is now expected to finish March 31 next year.

The plan by City Foreshore Investment has been hanging around since the firm signed a deal with Perth city council in 2012 to develop the Crown-owned land.

The completion date’s already blown out from June 2014, with the “environmentally sensitive location” said to be holding things up.

“The ability for the developer to satisfy the environmental conditions put on … by the Swan River Trust has taken longer than originally anticipated,” a PCC report reads.

The ground’s more unstable than first thought and because of the delays with the SRT a drilling rig wasn’t available.

Lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi says given the challenges CFI has had it’s reasonable to allow the company an extension. The council keeps collecting rent in the meantime.

The original idea to spruce up Point Fraser dates back to the 1980s, but disappeared between dithering council regimes.

by DAVID BELL

MAYLANDS train station is set to get an additional 105 parking bays.

For several years a shortage of spaces at the station has resulted in clogged streets and commuters illegally parking on verges and median strips.

Carparks at the southern and northern end of the station are earmarked for an upgrade.

The works will require the removal of four street trees, to be replaced with 46 new trees.

Bayswater city council sought comment on the trees’ removal but none was received.

The upgrade comes before the council later this month.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

JEROME DAVENPORT has been inundated with golden oldies who want to be in his Mt Lawley mural.

The 25-year-old artist had nearly finished Faces of Beaufort St when he decided he needed some more mature faces to balance the age range.

He put the call out—ironically on Facebook—and was floored by a grey-haired tsunami.

“I met all sorts of interesting people, including an 80-something woman who had worked in the kitchens in the Italian Club for over 50 years,” he says.

“There was another resident who had lived off Bulwer Street for 60 years and we had a nice chat and beer in his vegetable garden.

“Older people have lots of amazing stories to tell.”

Davenport sketches faces onto the wall and then colours them with spray paint.

Each portrait takes around three hours to complete and he has been working intermittently on the project since November’s Beaufort Street Festival.

The mural, on the wall of Barlee Street carpark, includes a diverse mix of “ordinary locals” who live or work in the area.

“We’ve got a two-year-old on there and a lady who owns a jewellery store across the road,” he says.

A self-taught artist from the Wheatbelt, Davenport is renowned for fusing graffiti art with portraiture.

His urban art has featured in several international magazines, including London Street-art Design Magazine and Raw Artists New York.

He has completed more than 30 commercial pieces around Perth and has collaborated on WA’s largest urban artwork in North Fremantle.

Davenport expects to complete Faces of Beaufort St this weekend.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

 

AFTER half a decade of lobbying local and state governments, Bayswater locals have managed to get a pedestrian crossing built on Guildford Road.

The road is so dangerous to cross that several parents stopped walking their kids to Bayswater and St Columba’s primary schools and drove instead, despite the short distance.

Transport minister Dean Nalder says a signalled pedestrian crossing will be installed between Leake and Roberts Streets later this year.

“The state government will contribute up to $200,000 towards the safety initiative with the city of Bayswater contributing $140,000 towards the associated civil works,” he says.

“Guildford Road carries a high volume of traffic and there are two primary schools in this particular vicinity.

“The crossing will ultimately improve safety for the students by eliminating the current long wait times for gaps in the traffic to cross the road.”

Numerous attempts to win state funding for the project, including a petition to the parliament in 2010, had failed.

In 2013 Main Roads WA rejected a request from St Columba’s, claiming not enough people would use a crossing.

Bayswater primary P&C member Stephanie Baily says the crossing will also benefit seniors who cross the road to visit the local pharmacy.

“It’s been a long fight, but we’ve finally got there,” she says.

“It’s great news for the school and everyone who stays in the area.

“I think Bayswater councillor Stephanie Coates has to take a lot of credit for this, because she got the ball rolling by getting the city to allocate $140,000.”

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

Perth city council March 2015

PERTH could be one of 71 nations to host a Commonwealth walkway showing off historic sites, with councillors tentatively agreeing to the plan at Tuesday night’s meeting. Organised by UK group Outdoor Trust the walkways will be marked with her majesty’s royal cypher and cover a 10km route speckled with informative bronze plaques. Across the world the paths will point out 10,000 highlights of the Commonwealth.

THE Voice received a telling off from the PCC’s communications manager Louise Scott for sitting in the wrong seat at Tuesday night’s meeting. We’d sat down in the public gallery (all the better to gauge public reactions) when Ms Scott began gesturing for us to sit up front, at the official media desk. We were comfortable sitting with the proletariat and stayed put, so she came over to tell us five or six times we had to sit up front because councillors had to be able to see us and know we were there. Not wanting councillors to feel they should mince their words on account of us, we stayed where we were, earning us a glare from Ms Scott that would have earned her a glint of envy from Julie Bishop.

THE cost of council elections could soar with the flagged introduction of Australia Post’s two-speed mail service. Perth city council had faced a $46,000 bill for a postal election on October 17 but staff warn the new system—with a fast premium service and a regular service operating two days’ slower—will mean extra charges because they’ll have to use the faster system to get papers in before close of polls. Staff say it’ll “likely see a doubling of existing costs for postage of ballot papers and reply paid envelopes”. Maybe they should go back to making people turn up to vote at a booth?

by DAVID BELL