Perth Voice Interactive

It’s life rail, really

March 12, 2015

JEFF KENWORTHY is a professor of sustainability at Curtin University Sustainability Policy Institute. Having lived in a German city with similarities to Perth, he says the Barnett government’s decision to axe the northern suburbs’ light rail project and replace it with more buses will simply create more congestion in the city.

THE debate over buses versus light rail continues to dog Perth. It must be resolved now squarely in favour of light rail and not used as a political football. The future of Perth requires consensus not division because there are no hiding places left. Everyone breathes the same air, suffers the worsening congestion and pays a higher and higher proportion of their disposable income running the most expensive transport on the planet: the car-based system.

Having lived for some years in a German urban region with a population in the vicinity of where Perth is rapidly heading, I can say with certainty that Perth needs light rail and quickly. Buses on busways should not even be a consideration on major corridors such as Mirrabooka to Perth. Forget it. Why? There are several simple key reasons:

• Light rail has higher capacity than buses and Perth needs much more public transport capacity. This has been shown over and over again. Every rail line is now jammed to capacity in the peak. We hardly have enough rail rolling stock or feeder buses to cope with demand. And try getting off the platforms at Perth station in the peak.

• Buses are not going to cut it on major corridors in Perth. We’d need a bus every 60 seconds. Where are they all going to go once they hit the CBD? Are developers going to want to build anything on a corridor with a log-jam of noisy and smelly diesel buses outside their doors every morning and evening? Will people want to live there?

• People transfer from cars to light rail. The attraction of buses is more limited, especially diesel ones. Electric buses fare better, but still not the same as rail.

• Residential, commercial, retail and other development is attracted to light rail lines because the service and infrastructure is secure. Bus lanes can be removed with political whims.

• Streetscapes on light rail lines are usually improved with trees, landscaping and widened footpaths.

• The increased density, mixed land use and housing choice that Perth so desperately needs can be focussed along light rail corridors. This can help protect existing beautiful suburbs by taking more widespread development pressures away. Plans have shown that all of Melbourne’s foreseeable population growth could be accommodated along existing tram lines.

• Light rail lines help people to orient themselves around the public transport system. People know where a light rail is going because of the tracks and stations. Rail system maps around the world are commemorated in everything from place mats to drink coasters and tea towels. I don’t see any bus lane memorabilia anywhere.

• Peoples’ mental maps of a city are formed by rail lines, especially those of the children who we need to be planning for. Kids need to grow up with a public transport culture not a car culture.

I have been working to support a better public transport system in this city for 37 years. I have some historical perspectives. Earlier planners wanted to turn the Midland, Fremantle and Armadale lines into freeways with bus lanes in the middle. The mess we would have now if this had been done is simply unimaginable. The same mess will occur today if we use buses on major corridors.

Perth has come of age. We could become a public transport city if we can get through this infuriating back and forth over light rail versus buses. We are eventually going to need light rail on every major corridor in this city, both into and around the city. Our universities are drowning in parking and have become dysfunctional.

We’d better start now. It is a big job. And government does not have to pay for it all. Some of the cost can be leveraged from the enhanced urban development opportunities and land value increases.

The coming generations and the increasingly aged populations don’t want cars as much as they want well-located housing in walking-friendly urban spaces and frequent public transport to get them to other places without a car.

They want to spend their money on good housing, good neighbourhoods, attractive dining and entertainment and sophisticated communications technologies, not on cars designed to get them to somewhere else without any sense of connection with place or other people. Light rail will facilitate this. Busways will not.

Decisions need to be made now about light rail. Master planning has to start and we need the first line in the city before 2020.
Pincho me, I’m dreaming

March 12, 2015

by JENNY D’ANGER

I’D died and gone to foodie heaven. But why was everyone speaking Spanish?

“Ola!” my taste buds cried, and Newcastle Street slipped back into focus and I realised I was sitting at Pinchos, in Leederville.

It’s Spanish for little sticks, and this amazing tapas has them skewering a variety of dishes.

Well-priced and authentic tapas is something Hispanophile owner Justin Bell, of Jus Burgers, prides himself on.

And the menu starts with the para picar selection (Spanish for “to pick”), a mix of tiny dishes, at amazingly small prices such as chorizo with honey and cheese ($3).

I’m not a fan of anchovy on pizzas but Pinchos’ pinto gilda ($1) is a dainty white morsel, skewered to half an olive, and the soft, un-salty, flesh melted in the mouth, leaving me wishing I’d ordered more.

My lunch companion and I nibbled on some delicious smoked almonds ($3) and sipped a Spanish dry white in anticipation of an endless parade of dishes ordered by ticking boxes on the menu, which was then collected by our ever-so helpful waiter.

The remolacha y garbanzos ($9) was next to arrive, a generous bowl of beetroot, chickpeas, apple, fennel and radish with a magnificent dressing of yoghurt, honey and dukkah. Which went perfectly with the grilled tomato bread, ($4).

We skipped the embutidos (cured meat) selection, but meat lovers at the next table were stoked with their grilled pork sausage, with garlic and paprika ($9), and the pate ($8) looked smooth and creamy as it quickly disappeared.

As did the brochetta de gambas ($9.90) on our table. The flame-grilled prawns tender, and the tomato salsa smothering them just the shot.

A dish of patatas bravas ($8) took potatoes to new heights, chunky pieces smothered in garlic, rosemary, house-made tomato sauce and aioli.

Saving the best for last the bienmesabe fish with stuffed squid ($19) really was to die for.

A generous serve of spice-infused fish sat atop a delicious salad, but the absolute piece de resistance was the small squid, stuffed with fig paste and basted with a balsamic reduction.

And even better, my mate doesn’t like squid, so I got to eat both. Oh, the joy.

I’d like to say we tried the magnificent-looking poached pear tart ($11), but while I would have happily tackled another dainty squid, a huge slice of tart would have ended me.

So we headed off our taste buds doing a flamenco and crying “fantastico! fantastico!” all the way home.

Pinchos
749 Newcastle St, Leederville
9228 3009
open Sun and Mon 11.30am–9pm,
Tues–Sat 11.30am–10pm
Grace & charm

March 12, 2015

THE grace and charm of old Mt Lawley is evident from the moment you arrive at this Federation home, on leafy Joel Terrace, and step onto the wrap-around verandah.

The river winks enticingly between between houses on the opposite side of the road, and the addition of a second storey would no doubt give delightful views.

Although with five bedrooms and formal lounge and dining rooms, you hardly need more space.

Elegant bay windows, with lovely stained glass, in the front two rooms look out over a lush front garden, an air of gentility enhanced by rich jarrah floors, ceiling roses and lovely decorative fireplaces.

The dining room is equally delightful, with some of the most beautiful art nouveau tiles around the old fireplace I’ve seen in a while.

The rear of the home is neat and tidy, but in need of a little love.

Nothing a sledgehammer couldn’t fix to create the sort of open spaces today’s modern family expect.

My fingers itched as I took in the kitchen and adjacent scullery area. Both are a good size, and in pristine condition, but would benefit from being opened up.

The nearby family room overlooks a pleasant garden, and the covered patio is bound to be a favourite spot for entertaining, or simply reading the paper over a leisurely Sunday breakfast.

An addition built a few years ago created a second house, with a couple of bedrooms, bathroom, a study and a very pleasant sitting area.

With its own stained-glass “front” door off the verandah it’s perfect for a granny flat, or for adult children who just won’t leave home. And why would they with such a great pad.

There’s a double garage off a sealed rear right of way and two secure car bays.

Sitting on a massive 736sqm, there’s no shortage of trees and space for the kids to play.

But to really let off steam the delightful Banks Reserve on the foreshore is a very short stroll away, or jump on your bike and enjoy stretches of foreshore bike paths in either direction.

by JENNY D’ANGER

131 Joel Terrace, Mt Lawley
from $1.685 million
Toby Baldwin
0418 914 926
Acton Mt Lawley
9272 2488
realestate 88

March 12, 2015

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G’day mate, now get stuffed

March 9, 2015

MT HAWTHORN’S Rachelle Rose is one of the first locals to volunteer for The Welcome Dinner Project, which aims to ease refugees and other newcomers into Perth life with a friendly, home-cooked meal.

Guests bring along a dish to share as well, creating a shared multicultural feast.

The project was launched in Sydney in March 2013. Ms Rose says international students and migrants are also invited to her get-together.

“I’m planning to have around 20 people at my place in a month’s time,” the 39-year-old says.

“My house isn’t that big so people will be on bean bags, couches and armchairs and it will be a very informal type of gathering.

• A Welcome Dinner Project evening in the eastern states. Photo supplied

“I’m planning to make a chicken in the slow-cooker—everyone has to tell the story behind their dish and mine is about being a busy working mum!”

Dinner founder Penny Elsley says food is a great bonding tool.

“This project was conceived after observing a need for both newly-arrived people and established Australians to find opportunities to meet each other in ways that do not seem tokenistic,” she says.

“We’ve had an international student say, ‘for the first time I feel like I don’t miss my family’.

“One refugee said, ‘this is the first time I feel free in this country’. It’s just a dinner, but it means a lot to people.”

The project’s debut welcome dinner—not Ms Rose’s—will be at the Herb Graham Recreation Centre in Mirrabooka on March 14.

To volunteer visit http://www.joiningthedots.org

by STEPHEN POLLOCK
All Hansman on deck

March 9, 2015

COUNCILLOR Mike Sabatino wants to resurrect the Les Hansman management committee to steer a planned new centre.

Bayswater city council is set to tear down the Morley community centre, built in the 1970s, and replace it with a multi-million dollar civic and commercial facility.

Cr Sabatino says he sat on the original committee, before it was disbanded, and wants to see it back in action and shaping the vision for the new centre. “It would be great to get a representative from the Bayswater City Residents’ Association back on there,” he says.

Association president Tony Green is backing the move. In 2011 he said the council’s sudden decision to abolish the committee—which had also included a BCRA member—was a clear breach of the deed.

The BCRA and WA government had jointly funded the centre’s construction in the 1970s and handed it to the council in 1977, subject to the BCRA’s ongoing involvement.

• Cr Mike Sabatino outside the Les Hansman Community Centre. Photo by Matthew Dwyer

“It appears that the city of Bayswater is in clear breach of the deed of agreement, and we are looking into further action,” Mr Green told the Voice at the time. “The deed entitles us to a representative on the management committee and the use of a room, rent free, twice a month for 80 years.”

The multi-storey development could incorporate services currently at the Galleria, including the library, Max Tulley Centre and child care centre. The council has released two concept plans for public comment.

Option one will cost around $10 million to build and include a function centre, council one-stop shop, meeting room, indoor garden, service and office space/library on 2175sqm.

The more ambitious 7864sqm second option will cost around $73m but include aged accommodation, outdoor cinema, medical suites, retail, library and a car park/community rooftop garden.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK
Letters 7.14.15

March 9, 2015

Keriffic!
WOW! Our unique council has stayed intact. Much gratitude to all who saved us! Special thanks to Ian Ker for his huge input.
Patricia Meydam
Stirling St, Pertht

Royal pains
DEAR public transport authority: I’d like to commend you on your dogged and baffling adherence to rules that don’t make sense.
It’s a good thing you stopped me from taking my bike into the Perth train station at 8.51am—nine minutes before bikes are officially allowed in, and even though the station was pretty much empty and I would have had to make a concerted effort to bump my bike into one of the four people on the platform—because you know what happened last time dumb rules gave way to common sense? That’s right, the exile of Adam and Eve.
But it was okay, I could just ride up to City West and still catch my train: I’ll take the bike path along Roe Street! Haha, just kidding, the path disappears after 70 metres and you have to ride over sand and broken rocks, so you miss your train!
It’s cool, I’ll just drive tomorrow.
Truly, you are kings of sustainable transport.
David Bell
West Perth

Doing better than you think
YOUR article on the turn around in Vincent’s finances didn’t quite get it right.
The article said that the projected outcome for this year would result in a $165,000 deficit.
This was the figure provided to the council at its February briefing session but unfortunately it had at least $700,000 in mistakes which appear to have been picked up by the new finance director prior to the formal council meeting—bravo.
The revised figure is closer to a $535,000 surplus, predicated on the city completing a $13.8 million capital works program even though it had only spent 36 per cent of this by 31 January—so the true surplus could be even higher.
There are a number of reasons for the predicted surplus. Firstly, the council opportunistically ripped $745,000 out of the Seniors Reserve last November even before it knew the true financial picture. A cynical view could be that the council was using the news of the poor financial management as a bit of a smokescreen to grab some extra cash so next year’s budget is a lot gentler on ratepayers—perhaps even a rates decrease.
Another reason for the predicted surplus is the fact the administration mistakenly collected $740,000 more than was intended from ratepayers this year because it used April figures rather than June figures when setting the 2014/15 rates. On average, each property was charged about $40 more than required.
Council has also deferred a number of projects to reduce the deficit. However this does not really address the problem. While it makes the figures look good, it simply results in ratepayers having to pay twice for projects —once this year when they were supposed to happen, and again next year when they will happen.
To address the underlying causes of the deficit the council needs to look at where projects have been overspent (such as the Oxford Street Park, by $215,000) or areas where revenue did not hit targets. It cannot rely on its privileged position of having income that is not tied to a service. Unlike normal businesses where income is related to providing a service, councils can cut the service yet keep the income.
Another factor that must be taken into account is the council’s reliance on asset sales to fund activities. Last July the council decided to dispose of a number of blocks of land and to use most of the $2 million it was to receive from the sale of the city’s share of surplus land at the Tamala Park waste facility. It should be noted the land sales were decided on before the council was made aware of the error in the retained deficit—it was not a response to grim financial news, it was simply a way of funding projects without increasing rates. While this may work for one or two years it is not sustainable in the long run as the city does not have a large portfolio of surplus property.
Indications from the agenda of the February Forum indicate the council is considering even more land sales in the near future.
But things are not all that grim. It would appear the new leadership in the administration is finally treating the city’s finances seriously, and Mayor John Carey should be congratulated on bringing about that change.
Dudley Maier
Chatsworth Rd, Highgate

School support
I AM writing as a concerned community member with no personal connection to Perth College and with a daughter who attends a local state school.
I was very surprised to read the opinion about Perth College expressed in last week’s Voice in the context of reviewing a property for sale.
I enjoy reading your reviews on art, food and property, but a review of a property for sale is definitely not an appropriate forum for expressing an opinion about private versus public education.
I think we are very lucky to live in a community that provides choice to the people who live here.
It is in the interests of a local newspaper to promote the positives of all the schools in our community and to celebrate the choice and diversity they offer.
Wendy Campbell
Grosvenor Rd, Mt Lawley
The Ed says: Thanks Wendy. ’twas a light-hearted comment and should be read in that context, but was indeed an affirmation of the very good quality of local public schools.
Suits me

March 9, 2015

THE OFFICE ON HARROGATE, West Leederville

by JENNY D’ANGER

HIGH heels and black suits seemed to be de rigueur at The Office on Harrogate, a trendy cafe/bar tucked in an odd corner off Southport and Cambridge Streets, West Leederville.

The place had obviously been discovered by the trendy office worker set, but the occasional flouro vest popped up at the counter with tradies and workers from construction sites grabbing coffee and croissants to go.

My dining companion and I were enjoying an early catch-up over breakfast, and with a busy day ahead, figured champagne probably wasn’t a good idea, as we peeked at the wine list.

Settling down at one of the tall bar tables, which always make me feel like a kid as I swing my legs in mid-air, I took in the surrounds.

The almost obligatory polished concrete and rough surfaces that make up about 90 per cent of eateries these days were in evidence, while the battered, shabby-chic metal sheets forming the counter and decorating a couple of walls reminded me of the rows of tin lockers at my old high school.

The breakfast menu has the usual suspects, including the big boss ($24) with bacon, sausage, eggs, house-made beans and roasted tomatoes, or there’s salmon and eggs with dill mascarpone, or corn fritters with poached eggs, bacon and avocado ($17.50)

But the minute I spotted the coconut pancakes ($15.50) I knew they were for me. One of my gripes about pancakes is the teeny-weeny dishes of maple syrup—but not here. Soft, fluffy pancakes, which stood alone in terms of texture and taste, were already glistening with a sweet, fruity mix of berries and Greek yoghurt. And on the side was an amazingly generous serve of Canada’s favourite sap, and a dish of berry compote.

I dived in for a sugar-fix extraordinaire, only to find I was beaten by the extravagance of it all.

My companion was tamer, ordering the scrambled eggs ($17.50). With grilled haloumi, roast red pepper and baba ganoush (eggplant) they were “excellent”, she opined.

A couple of good coffees and we were both well armed to face the day.

The Office on Harrogate
32 Harrogate Street, West Leederville
9388 8197
Open 7 days breakfast, lunch and dinner
Acton Mount Lawley

March 9, 2015

ADVERTISEMENT: See the latest listings from the team at Acton Mount Lawley. For more properties visit http://www.acton.com.au.
newsclips 7.3.15

March 9, 2015

Photo by Matthew Dwyer.

WORKS have kicked off at Braithwaite Park to bring a nature playground to Mount Hawthorn. Nature playgrounds are intended to let kids play creatively and expose them to a wee bit of risk and scraped knees so they can learn some resilience. This one’ll have a flying fox, log-steppers, climbing net, water trough, a tunnel, a slide down an embankment, and a teepee, and it’s aimed at older kids 10-14 since tiny youngsters are already well catered for around town.

REPROBATES weeing and generally being awful in the alleyway across from 142 Murray Street led inner-city local Louise Murray to petition Perth city council to fix the place up. Along with 60 petitioners she’s asking for improvements to the laneway to discourage tomfoolery and public urination. The council’s already fixed up places like Wolf Lane and Grand Lane under the thinking that dingy places promote dingy behaviour.

THERE’S a big sausage sizzle tomorrow (Sunday March 8) as the mayor’s thank you to the Vincent community for all its help in the anti-mergers campaign. It’s at Braithwaite Park in Mt Hawthorn. Snags hit the grill at 4.30pm and then there’s a summer concert with the ‘70s sounds.