Perth Voice Interactive

BASSENDEAN mayor John Gangell says Bayswater council meetings are slow and inefficient, heightening tensions ahead of a merger between the municipalities.

Cr Gangell snuck into last week’s Bayswater meeting for some reconnaissance, sitting patiently through more than four hours of debate.

“On average our meetings at Bassendean take around one-and-a-half hours,” he says.

“At the Bayswater meeting there were ratepayers waiting in the gallery for three hours to hear an item being debated. It should have been brought forward. There’s lots of scope for streamlining the meetings.”

Cr Gangell also took umbrage at Bayswater’s decision to delay debate on several motions raised at the electors’ AGM until after July’s amalgamations.

“Some of the items are probably better left until after the mergers but issues like recording council meetings could have been debated. I understand the infrastructure is already in place and it’s just a case of switching it on.”

Cr Gangell concedes he’d like to be mayor of the new Bayswater-Bassendean super council, which will also include sections of Inglewood, Mt Lawley and Swan—but is concentrating on getting re-elected as a councillor first.

“I’ll run for council in October and then see what happens,” he says. “I’m not throwing my hat in the ring just yet.”

The Voice understands Bayswater is busy drafting a ward map for the new council, after the state government back-tracked on its decision for the new city to be ward-free.

“If Bayswater present a suitable ward map to us, we will back it,” says Cr Gangell.

“Bayswater and Bassendean went through a lot of argby-bargy over the merger boundaries and it didn’t really get us anywhere.”

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

THE fur is flying between Maylands MP Lisa Baker and Bayswater mayor Sylvan Albert.

The Labor MP accuses the council of failing to enforce a local law it passed in October that limits the number of cats allowed per property.

It’s the latest in a string of complaints she’s made about the council since Cr Albert—who’d stood against her as the Liberal candidate for Maylands—was elevated to the mayoralty.

“Maylands residents tell me they have cats entering their roof space and using it as a toilet,” Ms Baker says.

“They cannot open their windows on some days due to the overwhelming stench of cat urine.

“They have to deal with the year-round stench of cat urine and faeces, cats fighting in the middle of the night, strays and flea infestations.

“These residents are demanding action from Bayswater council.”

Cr Albert notes the council introduced a local law to limit each household to six cats—after the WA government failed to do so—but it cannot be applied retrospectively.

“Ms Baker does seem to have taken an extraordinary interest in local government matters lately and I can only speculate as to why that might be,” he says.

“Perhaps she has ambitions to give up state politics and run as a prospective councillor in the next local government elections.

“Although you could perceive her criticism as politically motivated, I would hope that is not the case.”

He wonders whether Ms Baker showed the same level of interest in cat numbers when the Cat Act was before the state parliament.

Ms Baker says cat hoarding is an ongoing problem. “The council can no longer make excuses for not taking action to control excessive cat numbers and pretending that this is not its responsibility,” she says.

“There are properties in the Maylands area that have dozens of cats, which are not registered, sterilised or microchipped.

“At one Maylands property, neighbours report between 60 to 80 cats.”

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

FOLLOWING the dearth of Australian feature entries in last year’s Revelations film festival, a small group of Perth movie fans has set out to ensure the local industry gets a showing.

Australian Revelations curators Rebecca Anderson and Suzanne Worner have started a one-a-month showing of local movies as a sideline to the Revelations festival.

They’re going for a mix of old and new: the first couple show Romper Stomper and Mad Max and mix in a bit of retrospective by bringing in Steve Bisley for a Q&A about playing Goose. When the Heath Ledger flick Candy shows later this month, it’ll be presented by Heath’s dad, Kim, who’ll offer some insights into his time filming the movie.

Ms Anderson says they’ve gone for movies you won’t generally see on TV (so while The Castle is indisputably the best film of all time, it’s ineligible because it plays on Channel 9 three times a week).

She prefers films that “embraced their Australianness, that were unashamedly Australian”.

“I want us to remember those and look at the new ones and say we should be supporting Australian films,” she says.

For the new movies the pair has gone for flicks that didn’t get much of an audience in their first release: horror The Babadook scared the pants of international critics but dropped like a stone locally when released late last year. And before every movie Australian Revelations will screen short films which will finally get a an audience other than the the filmmakers’ mums.

The screenings are on every month down at Backlot cinema tucked away in the backstreets of West Perth. The private cinema was started by former Paramount big wig Ian Hale who, after 21 years in the corporate world, traded in the boardroom for working an espresso machine and running projectors.

The next movie is Candy on Feb 23, check http://www.revelationfilmfest.org for info on the time.

by DAVID BELL

CATHERINE EHRHARDT is quickly becoming “Queen of the Markets”.

She was behind the Maylands and Mt Hawthorn hawkers markets, involved in the Inglewood Night markets and is now set to manage a new winter market at the City Farm in East Perth.

If that wasn’t enough, she works full-time in her shop Blackcurrant Clothing on Railway Parade and has three kids under the age of nine.

“I’m super busy, but I love it, “ she says. “I’m not a great sleeper, so I use all the available time I have to keep on top of everything.”

Over the past few years, there has been an explosion of farmers and hawkers markets in inner-city Perth.

Ms Ehrhardt, who lives in Maylands, says that’s because people want to “reconnect”.

“We live in an age where people barely know their neighbours’ names, so it is nice for people to commune and get a sense of community again,” she says.

“I think that has been missing from society and people realise it and want that sense of belonging back.”

City Farm’s Wednesday night market will start April 15 from 5-9pm, and will feature around nine food stalls, two food vans and a range of stalls selling organic produce. “We’re aiming for around 25 stalls in total and will use the barn area for all the hot food stuff,” Ms Ehrhardt says. “The barn gives us flexibility with the winter weather.

“This market is quite unique as it will be a mix of a hawkers and farmers markets, offering the best of both worlds.”

The job of market mogul is a far cry from Ms Ehrhardt’s early career, when she worked in pathology labs in Perth.

“I mixed up my preferences for university and ended up putting medical science first, instead of art management,” she laughs.

She worked with the Maylands Business Associaton on the highly successful Street Festival, before leaving to form the Local Arts and Community Events, a not-for-profit group which runs the local hawkers market.

City Farm development manager Deborah Brennan says the night market will complement its existing weekend farmers market.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

MAYLANDS residents are concerned the upgraded Seventh Avenue railway bridge will clog surrounding streets with trucks and increased traffic.

The new $9.3 million bridge is expected to open in May, and will replace the rickety 1913 timber bridge which carried just 3500 vehicles a day. The old bridge had an eight-tonne load limit, which will not apply to the new bridge.

The Seventh Avenue Street Alliance, formed in December, is circulating a petition calling on Bayswater council to make their street a cul-de-sac.

Alliance member Dave Cockford says 250 signatures have already been collected. “Seventh Avenue is classified as a local access road, not a distributor road,” he says. “But this bridge looks like something that belongs on a freeway and locals are worried that thousands of cars and trucks will soon be trying to access Beaufort Street along their suburban streets.

“No-one seems to know how the traffic from the Seventh Avenue bridge will be diverted onto nearby distributor roads such as Central Ave, Grand Promenade and Railway Parade.”

Mr Cockford adds he would like to see a global traffic management plan for the whole area.

Mayor Sylvan Albert says the new bridge will not result in more traffic.

“Advice from Main Roads traffic modellers indicates that after construction traffic flows will revert back to previous volumes,” he says. “The city has undertaken traffic counts in Seventh Avenue and will continue to closely monitor traffic conditions to determine any necessary traffic management intervention.”

Maylands Labor MP Lisa Baker held a street-corner meeting with residents before Christmas and supports traffic-calming measures. The replacement bridge will span more than 80 metres and include footpaths, accommodation for four rail lines, bridge guard rails and increased capacity. The Third Avenue bridge in Mount Lawley will be demolished as soon as the Seventh Avenue bridge is complete, and should take eight months to complete.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

THE chill of cancer has surrounded Jeremy Marshall for years.

His sister, now in remission, had the disease, a friend died from it in September, and it claimed his grandmother. Now Mr Marshall is hitting back, and will embark on a gruelling ride from Mundaring to Albany to raise money to fight kids’ cancer.

“Right now, cancer is the largest killer of children from disease in Australia and three children die from cancer every week,” the Mt Lawley man says. “I think when people see an ordinary person crazy enough to do something ridiculous like ride 1000km off-road, uphill, in the middle of summer, they understand there is a measure of passion there.”

To prepare, Mr Marshall rode a 690km section of the trail last January—and through 40 spider webs every hour.

“I have fitted my bike with an invention I call my ‘spidey stick’,” he says. “It’s a bendable piece of pipe I have attached to the handlebars to hold sticks I can use to swat away spider webs. Given that almost no-one else uses the trail in summer I will have a monopoly on having to clear away the spider webs.”

The 36-year-old will carry a 12kg pack while cycling along the Munda Biddi trail, the world’s longest continuous off-road cycling trail. “I will be providing daily updates over Facebook, and via the Great Cycle Challenge website,” he says.

“Particularly to provide assurance given the fires down south which have been pretty traumatic for the families and people of Northcliffe and surrounds.

“I’m not particularly worried about my safety, I will be monitoring the situation closely and be using diversions to take a wide berth around the fires.”

To sponsor Jeremy Marshall go to http://www.greatcyclechallenge.com.au/riders/jeremymarshall.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

EVER wondered what kind of hair lacquer Colin Barnett uses?

How often parliamentary speaker Michael Sutherland strokes his gavel in chambers?

These and less frivolous questions will be answered on Heritage Perth’s free tour “Connecting People, the law and parliament”, which starts next month.

The hour-long walk—exploring the history of WA’s judiciary, local government and parliament—includes a tour of parliament and a live debate in chambers, where Mr Sutherland will be keeping the house in order.

“We are always looking at more ways to get the community involved with parliament,” the Mt Lawley MP says.

“It is one of WA’s main civic buildings and it is host to an average of 40,000 visitors per year.

“Over the past year we established a dedicated area for school students in the courtyard with a shade sail, held public open days, and had school tours for 16,000 students.”

The tour will also explore the origins of the WA parliamentary system and the role of the Black Rod and the mace.

Connecting People, the Law and the Parliament  is on February 18 and 19.

Visit http://www.heritageperth.com to book.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK