Perth Voice Interactive

INGLEWOOD is set to host a summer market Monday nights.

The food and arts market is planned to start in November and will be held in spots between Sixth and Tenth Avenues. It is the brainchild of Inglewood on Beaufort Street, a nascent community group spearheaded by Mondo’s Vince Garreffa.

IOB deputy chair Matt Seabrook says the group wants to hold the market on Monday nights because of stiff competition other days.

“We did a bit of research and found that weekends were saturated with other markets,” Mr Seabrook says.

“Plus people tend to be free on a Monday night and have time to pop down.

“I think the markets will be great for the local community and gave the area a real boost.”

Since launching its Facebook page last month, IOB has amassed 813 likes.

It has held meetings with Stirling city council and plans to submit its principal development application in the next fortnight.

Mr Garreffa says the IOB complements the Beaufort Street Network, which is focused on the Mt Lawley-Highgate end.

“Inglewood is a sleeping giant and has lots of space and land to work with, unlike further down Beaufort Street in Mt Lawley where it is clogged and packed with traffic,” he says.

The Inglewood markets are part of a wider push by Stirling council to realise the full potential of a 2.8km section of Beaufort Street—known as an “activity corridor”—that stretches from Walcott to Salisbury Streets.

IOB will hold an “information evening” for interested market vendors on September 30 at the rear of Mondo’s Butchers in Inglewood.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

A WOMAN restricted to a wheelchair has twice been bogged in a sandy path, with a builder and her council slow to fix the problem.

Lily, who travels the pavement on Beechboro Road South to get to her local shops, was bogged after sand on the path mixed with rain and her 250kg wheelchair started doing wheel spins.

“My only option [now] is to venture out onto the road and take my chances,” she says.

“Usually there are work vehicles parked in the cycle lane so I have to go right out onto the left-hand lane and dodge the traffic.

“One time when I did it, the builders onsite were laughing at me.

“I can’t cross the road and use the other pavement because it is on a bend beside a hill and the cars fly down at 60kmh.”

Lily says pensioners from the nearby aged care home and mums with prams and strollers also struggle.

She contacted the builders and Bayswater city council last week, after the Water Corporation ripped up the pavement and it was replaced with sand a few weeks ago.

Since then, the builder has replaced the sand with compact limestone, which Lily says is not any better.

“It was only after I told Bayswater council that I had called the Perth Voice that they sprung into action and came down to the site,” she says.

“Before that the man at council didn’t believe it was possible for me to get bogged in the sand and didn’t take me seriously.

“They walked back to my house and agreed there was no safe point for me to cross before the sandy section.”

Mayor Sylvan Albert says the council spoke to the builder after receiving Lily’s complaint: “We have spoken to the builder who has placed compacted limestone in the area as a temporary access path,” he says.

“This is common practice for temporary access as construction works are undertaken. The builder told us he intends to construct the concrete crossover as soon as possible in order to solve the issue.”

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

THE Beaufort Street Art Market has been approved to run until the end of next year following a successful trial.

Lesley Thomas from the Beaufort Street Network said on the first day of the market “several businesses reported an increase in trade”. Despite rough weather she said it was a good turnout: one artist selling wares from a suitcase sold more than $700 of product. She says it’s the first open air art market in town and it’ll run the first Sunday of the month on Barlee Street.

THE Mary Street Piazza will be made permanent, with an overwhelming majority supporting the Beaufort Street public open space.

But the Mary Street Bakery says the piazza is costing it “between $500 and $1000 per day” in lost trade and says it will have to close and “re-open as a night time restaurant” if the piazza remains.

A massive 87 per cent of 300 submissions were in favour of the permanent piazza plan, which aims to provide a place to sit, eat, play music or even do maternity yoga on a street usually considered a retail “ribbon” with no “heart”. The project has had more feedback than either the bike plan or the massive town planning scheme changes.

But Mary Street Bakery says we don’t knead it

But former Vincent councillor John Little says the piazza will kill local business by taking up already scant parking.

Better known as the long-time owner of Fibber McGee’s Irish pub in Leederville, Mr Little co-owns Mary Street Bakery with Paul Aron and Michael Forde, who also run El Publico.

“To lose nine car bays and the flow of traffic past our door in both directions will kill our business, a business that has helped breath[e] life to Beaufort Street day trade and a business that relies heavily on takeaway custom,” the trio told the council.

“We estimate we have lost between $500 and $1000 per day of the trial period to date.

“This is not a sob story but we have invested heavily in this business and only last month for the first time did the business turn a profit—this will not happen this month and there is no doubt in our mind that we will have to close the bakery, rebrand, and reopen as a night time restaurant (which the street does not need) if this piazza goes ahead”.

The trio says the problem isn’t lack of public space, but the lack of daytime trade, and “you do not achieve a vibrant street by creating spaces where people can sit if there is no daytime business operating in the area to bring the people there in the first place”.

Mayor John Carey says he doesn’t accept the traders’ argument.

“That is complete nonsense. You create spaces that actually activate town centres and encourage people to visit and stay. It’s not competing against his business, it’s actually going to add to it. It’s creating a public space where there’ll be an onflow from the cafes.”

Mr Little is no fan of the current Vincent council after it decided not to renew the contract of former CEO John Giorgi, whom he’d worked with as a councillor during the mayoralty of Nick Catania.

by DAVID BELL

A HIKE in late fees is penalising low-income families and discouraging people from borrowing books from struggling libraries, says Inglewood mother of two Narelle Hopkin.

Busy trying to juggle a toddler, a three-month-old and a recently diagnosed kidney problem that required doctor’s visits, Ms Hopkin was six days late with 12 books and shocked to be slugged $18.

She says the recently introduced fine of 25c a day per book is too high.

“I don’t think fines for late returns are a bad thing, I just think they need to be reasonably priced.

“Life is hectic and if I was a single mother who was struggling to get by, a $20 fine for returning books a week late would price me out of using the library.

“I know of other mums who have now stopped using the library because of the fines. The city should be trying to encourage more people to use libraries.”

Vincent and Bayswater council libraries do not charge for overdue books, and Perth charges $2 for every book five or more weeks late.

Stirling city library manager Viv Barton says residents have several options to avoid fines, including a courtesy reminder email, online and phone renewals and an after-hours chute.

“The city did consider waiving fines for the first offence when developing the fines policy, however, research of other local government authorities charging fines for overdue loans indicated this policy was not successful in ensuring items were returned on time, nor had any positive effect in changing borrower habits for those who continually returned overdue items.”

Ms Barton adds borrowers may ask that fines to be waived on medical grounds and exceptional circumstances using a formal waiver request process.

The maximum fine for each overdue book is $5.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

THE operators of the Leederville hotel promised a new, less rowdy venue when they applied to Vincent council for renovations, and so far that’s bearing out.

Chief ranger Steve Butler reported to the Safer Vincent committee that “WA police advised there has been a 25 per cent decrease in activity in Leederville area since the [change at] Leederville Hotel, particularly that of disorderly behaviour”.

Following a spruce-up the front of the hotel was rebranded Bill’s Bar and Bites.

Long a source of complaints for nearby traders, the Leedy was blamed for scuffles, vomits and public urination (though Vincent council staff say some accusations are unfair). Nearby trader Debbie Saunders says the area still has a break-in problem, and she asked the council why CCTV had been stripped from Vincent’s budget (the project was deferred to make up a budget shortfall). The CCTV plan had already been battered, with the Abbott government cancelling a $200,000 crime-fighting grant.

WE’RE hearing strong indications the final boundaries of council mergers will be announced this coming week.

The Voice understands WA local government minister Tony Simpson will announce his call on options presented to him by the WA local government advisory board on Wednesday.

Mr Simpson has the power to accept or reject the WALGB’s recommendations, but no power to amend them.

The most likely look for Perth and Vincent is a full merger. That could trigger a referendum under the Dadour Amendment, which allows a majority vote from residents to block mergers provided they get at least a 50 per cent turnout.

The minister’s been hoping to steer clear of that by classifying it not as a full amalgamation but a minor “boundary adjustment”.

Attempting to do that could spark its own legal challenge.

Perth council, which only wants to nab a sliver of southern Vincent, has been campaigning to get its citizens to join the voting rolls, concerned that Vincent voters will otherwise have too much power in a merged entity.

The PCC’s latest slick A3 newsletter features a front page exhortation to “get your name on the roll,” telling people to have their say in important decisions about how ratepayers’ money is spent. The campaign’s timing is raising eyebrows given the next election isn’t for 13 months, but a Dadour vote could be much sooner.

EARLY signs of new life for the long-closed Savoy Hotel are echoing through Perth city council’s planning department.

The Hay Street hotel was built by John Talbott Hobbs, and in 1916 it was advertised as “The Ritz of Australia”.

But it’s been closed since the 1980s, with just a shoe store operating out of the ground level.

It’s currently owned by Singaporean investment firm Starhill Global, which has entered preliminary discussions with PCC planners about restoring the Savoy as a hotel.

The owners believe the development may cost too much to be financially viable, as it’d cost about $18 million to restore at the cheaper end. That’s $400,000 per room, twice the base-level figure of $200,000 per room hoteliers usually aim to spend for a stock-standard joint.

However the council has several sweeteners it can use for historic buildings to talk them around, including rates relief and allowing owners to transfer “plot ratio bonuses” to other sites, meaning the company could add extra storeys to another project.