Perth Voice Interactive

MARTIN TOLDO is trying to overturn a council decision to delay dealing with issues raised at the recent Bayswater AGM of electors.

He has lodged a rescission motion that, if successful, would see the items come back to the council this month.

His move is supported by councillors Terry Kenyon, Mike Anderton and Chris Cornish.

“I personally think that this was an error in judgement, and that the ratepayers who put forward motions to discuss were not afforded the respect they deserve, no matter who they are,” Cr Toldo says.

“These ratepayers, who we represent and make the city of Bayswater possible by paying rates, must be treated with respect.”

Issues residents wanted debated included the establishment of a tree register, recording of meetings and heritage status for Halliday Park.

Punting them till after October made sense because of looming council amalgamations, mayor Sylvan Albert argued at the time (the mergers are now ditched). That didn’t go down well with the local residents’ association nor the urban tree network.

“Ratepayers are being treated in a rude and illogical manner,” association president Tony Green told the Voice (February 7, 2015).

Former Vincent councillor and anti-merger campaigner Ian Ker wrote on his blog the postponement “verges on contempt for both the electors and the local government act to defer consideration until the merger has taken place”.

“To defer consideration for an indefinite period doesn’t fall within a reasonable person’s definition of ‘consider’, especially when this is done via an en-bloc deferral,” he wrote.

Councils are obliged to “consider” motions passed at electors’ AGMs but are under no obligation to adopt them.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

FOUR-YEAR-OLD Téa Lake can barely move or communicate.

She has tubes inserted into her stomach and lower intestine to administer medicine and enable digestion.

If that wasn’t enough, she takes potent tranquillisers four times a day to prevent severe epileptic fits.

Téa is the only person in Australian known to be born with microcephaly-capillary malformation syndrome, a rare genetic condition that causes multiple brain abnormalities.

Another 18 people are known to suffer from the condition in America.

Bayswater city councillor Martin Toldo says his grand-daughter requires care 24 hours a day.

“We are looking after Téa this week to give my daughter Julie a well-deserved break,” he says.

“She is off to Bali with her husband to recuperate.

“Julie gets help from Senses and the MS Society, but looking after Téa is exhausting and emotionally draining.”

To help raise money for genetic research, Cr Toldo has formed the charity Téa Lake and the rare disease association.

Professor Jenefer Blachwell, a Telethon kids institute director and geneticist, says “rare” diseases do not attract as much publicity and funding as self-inflicted first-world diseases such as type 2 diabetes and (for most sufferers) heart disease.

“Although these genetic conditions are individually rare; they actually affect around 10 per cent of the population,” she says.

“Where other diseases can be related to lifestyle choice, genetic disorders are arbitrary and you have no choice in the matter.

“Funding research is vital to understanding and treating these genetic anomalies.”

Prof Blachwell says the goal is to enable quicker diagnosis of the condition after a child is born, better treatment, and offer parents a choice if they are likely to have, or are carrying, a baby with the condition.

Cr Toldo will officially launch the Téa Lake charity at Maylands Rise on February 20.

The fundraiser will include speeches from Professor Blachwell and Dr Gareth Baynam on the importance of genetic research.

“We have already raised $14,000 and will present $10,000 to the Kids Institute at the charity launch,” Cr Toldo says.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

THIS massive mural’s gone up on the side of an apartment building in Little Parry Street. We hear it’s a collaboration between artists Hosae, Daek, Ayers + Pures along with some of the Voice’s favourite street artists we’ve featured before: massive mural specialist Kyle-Hughes Odgers and alien creature-creater Martin E Wills.

REMEMBER that time your landlord bought your new light bulbs for you?

That’s right, nobody does, yet Vincent ratepayers are being slugged $9000 for light bulb repairs at Leederville Oval so the East Perth and Subiaco footy teams can play under lights.

Vincent CEO Len Kosova has looked over the 21-year lease between the clubs and the council, written up by the former administration, and concluded it’s verbose, vague, and disadvantages the public purse.

Thick documents are long on words and probably funded a lawyer’s new house in Eagle Bay, but Mr Kosova says they say very little definitively and leave questions about who’se responsible for new lightbulbs anyone’s guess.

Mayor John Carey isn’t happy about the lease and says all deals should benefit Joe Ratepayer first and sports clubs second, especially professional outfits like the WAFL clubs.

“It’s not our job to subsidise them,” he says.

“We’re not turfing them out, but we expect a better deal for Vincent ratepayers, and that is a simple ask.”

Mr Kosova’s elves are investigating whether they can tighten the lease, but the sheer length of it (it expires 2024 but there’s a nine-year option the clubs can exercise) will put them at a disadvantage.

by DAVID BELL

PRIDE Fairday is on this Sunday February 15 at Hyde Park with live music, stalls, food, kids’ play areas, roving Sugar Blue Burlesque performers, and the semi-famous dog show. It’s on 11am to 6pm, and you can BYO if you are super responsible about it.

TREMENDOUSLY bearded tree lover Greg Smith says he was a little too fringe for the Fringe Festival: while a DJ was playing he and peace-loving Canadian buddy Frank O’Brien tossed rose heads on the dance floor in a gesture of whimsy and love. A security brick-made-flesh approached the hippy seniors and told them if they did it one more time they’d be thrown out.

THE Mount Hawthorn hawkers’ markets are back on after power supply problems caused them to take a break. They’re opening up again this Friday February 13 from 5pm at Axford Park. There’ll be satay, greek food, French feeds, waffles, and maybe wood-fired pizza (unless there’s a total fire ban Friday). Vincent council’s budgeted $14,000 to permanently sort out the electricity issue by installing powerpoints by the end of February.

VINCENT CEO Len Kosova is off for two weeks’ leave with a third baby on the way. New finance director John Paton started last week and, now that he’s been shown where the calculator and coffee machine is, the council reckons his training is complete so he can fill in as acting CEO for a fortnight.

ANYONE wanting to hold a hoe-down in Vincent this year should head to the info session on Monday February 23 for major festival and event funding. You need to be there if you want to apply for cash to help your event, so get to the Leederville council HQ at 6pm.

SOCIAL outings for seniors are starting up again next week: Tours for Vincent olds across the next couple months include a Freo lunch cruise, a walk through the ABC and a visceral trip through the Tamala Park waste management facility (hold dor dose). Call 9273 6564 for info or cyber-savvy seniors can check the council website.

ART curator Leigh Robb is hoping her couture swimsuit will repel sharks when she does the Rottnest Channel Swim later this month.

She is part of a four-woman team, nicknamed the PICAnauts, who will take on the 19.7km open water event from Cottesloe Beach to the island.

“I heard sharks don’t like bright neon colours, so hopefully our swimsuits will fend them off,” she laughs. “We’ve had them specially made by local artist Tarryn Gill and designer Ingrid Zurzolothis.

“I remember when we did the swim last year, we could hear on the radio that a hammerhead had been spotted nearby—it was a bit disconcerting.”

Last year the team’s debut swim raised $5000 for artists-in-residence at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts.

Ms Robb says that this year they are hoping to raise double that amount.

“We’ve been training everyday at Beatty Park and have entered a few ocean races to warm up,” she says.

“We’re confident we can beat our time of seven hours from last year.

“People think artists aren’t very sporty—we want to shatter that myth!”

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

AFTER three years of toing and froing, a men’s shed in Bayswater is still nowhere in sight.

Cr Terry Kenyon has had enough, and has tabled a motion demanding that a men’s shed be erected in the city within two years.

In 2012, Osboine Contemporary Aged Care, a residential home for the elderly, spearheaded the campaign to create a a social hub where men could meet, build spice racks, drink tea and talk about footy.

The council investigated having a shed at several sites, including Maylands Autumn Centre, the pre-primary schools of Morley, West Morley and Embleton.

But sites were either deemed to be too close to housing, or impractical for semi-heavy machinery.

City manager Beverley Bridgland reported the Noranda Sporting Association was approached about having a shed on its vacant land on Wilde Street, but it would not formally commit to the idea.

NSA president Ewen Apps says his club simply needed more information.

“Discussions were at a very early stage, we hadn’t said yes or no,” he says.

Meanwhile, neighbouring Bassendean town council green-lit a Men’s Shed in December, which could impact on the viability of a Bayswater facility.

“The main funding providers, Lotterywest, have indicated that the likelihood of funding for two locations for Bayswater and Bassendean may not be possible, as funding has been reduced for community men’s sheds across WA,” Ms Bridgland wrote.

However, Lotterywest spokesperson Pina Compagnone told the Voice men’s shed funding had not been reduced.

The item will come before council this month.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

TWO mail boxes have been removed with great haste from the front of the Malaysian consulate on Adelaide Terrace over “safety and security concerns”.

We spotted an Australia Post notice in last week’s Voice quietly noting the removal.

The posties played coy when we asked for specifics, with spokesperson Michelle Skehan saying they periodically check if postboxes are needed based on usage, how close they are to other mailboxes “and whether the location is deemed high-risk as it is located near critical infrastructure”.

The notice said “due to the nature of the safety concerns, the removal and relocation of the [mailboxes] will be expedited”.

In Queensland last year terrorism threats saw the then-Campbell government shut some mailboxes and remove or seal bins. In US cities manhole covers, postboxes, rubbish bins and paper stands have all been sealed or removed. London removed its bins following IRA bomb attacks, which may explain why that city is covered in garbage.

by DAVID BELL