THE street prostitution name and shame list is empty, with Vincent city council putting a drought of recent convictions down to the issue being “largely resolved”.
In 2013 the Alannah MacTiernan-led council resolved to publish the names of people convicted of soliciting a prostitute around Smith and Stirling Streets in Highgate. The names stay up for six months, but with the most recent convictions dropping off, the list is now empty.
Acting CEO Mike Rootsey says “the street prostitution issue has been largely resolved at this present time through the combined efforts [of] WA police and the city.”
The Voice asked if the problem had moved to nearby streets, but Mr Rootsey says “the city has received no further resident complaints” and “feedback from WA police supports that kerb-crawling is non-evident in Highgate area at this present time.”
• Method clothing shop owner Dale Emery with mayor John Carey. Photo by Matthew Dwyer
CCTV has been rolled out on Beaufort Street, with 47 cameras installed along its length.
The cash came from a $184,000 WA government proceeds of crimes grant.
The coppers helped pick the best spots for the cameras. It’s hoped they’ll help cut down vandalism and biffo, and perhaps even the murder of trees.
“CCTV might not prevent that, but it’ll help us follow it up.”
Vincent mayor John Carey says “we have a community that really cares and has been trying to improve the streetscape, and we’ve had yobbos who are being destructive, vandalising, and destroying trees.
“CCTV might not prevent that, but it’ll help us follow it up.”
Existing CCTV has provided police an image of a man armed with a screwdriver who robbed a woman on Beaufort Street in March.
While violent crime on the street is more rare than on other hotspots, petty vandals pouring out of pubs have been a big problem. Over 18 months 70 trees were killed by vandals, costing $50,000.
Over the next few weeks the council will try to find enough cash to install CCTV in Leederville.
In February the Voice reported the council had lost $200,000 of federal crime-fighting funds following the election of the Abbott government.
• Terry Tyzack at the Yokine playground. Photo by Matthew Dwyer
A NEAR-DEATH experience for a chihuahua has prompted Stirling council’s decision to install bicycle barriers outside the playground at Yokine Reserve.
A joint cycle-pedestrian track skirts the playground’s western entrance, which is on the bend of a steep hill that restricts visibility.
Cr Joe Ferrante told colleagues he’d been cycling downhill towards the blind corner when confronted by the tiny pooch.
“I don’t cycle fast and I nearly squashed a small dog,” he said.
“What would have happened if a child had run out of the playground or strayed onto the path while going in?”
Cr Terry Tyzack says the playground entrance is a ticking time bomb.
“If a child is hit, or a woman with a pram it would be horrendous,” he says.
“The path is only two metres wide, it’s meant to be three, and the signs indicating that the path is multi-use have faded. We have established this is a risk and need to take action.”
Council staff reckon rails could cost around $10,000 to install. Cr Tyzack says signs should go up to warn cyclists: “We don’t want cyclists plowing into the barriers, replacing one safety risk with another.”
• Locals opposing cuts to the ABC drop off their petition at Alannah MacTiernan’s Beaufort Street office. Photo supplied | Green Left Weekly
A QUARTER OF A MILLION people have signed a petition calling on the Abbott government to not cut funding to the ABC.
The whopping document was dropped off simultaneously at 60 federal MPs’ offices around Australia, including Labor’s Alannah MacTiernan in Perth.
More than 1600 Perth electors signed the GetUp! petition.
“We want the ABC fully funded, free from ads, free for everyone, because it is has fair and balanced news reporting,” says lead Perth petitioner Bria Ryder, a Greens party member and Mt Lawley resident.
“The ABC is balanced, not biased towards the left-wing.”
“I got involved because I want to make sure my federal representative understands how important the ABC is to our community.’
Ms MacTiernan, currently somewhere in the Kimberley, says for every ABC broadcaster like Phillip Adams—an unashamed left-winger—there is a rightwinger like Amanda Vanstone, a former Howard government minister, to provide commentating balance.
“I think they have balanced up the Phillip Adams side with other broadcasters who are more right-leaning,” she says.
She notes there has been plenty of research into claims the ABC is biased towards the left. The Howard government even set up its own inquiry, which determined the broadcaster was completely balanced and fair.
“This is not a recent address, you can go way back to Alistair Cooke’s Letter from America,” Ms MacTiernan says.
“The ABC is balanced, not biased towards the left-wing.”
In a 2013 GetUp! survey, the protection of public broadcasters from cuts and privatisation ranked amongst Perth’s top four issues.
• Kylie Bryant and Roger Tomlins on site with an impression of the new liquor barn. Photo by Matthew Dwyer
MAYLANDS residents are lobbying for a WA liquor commission hearing on Woolworths’ plan to open a 990sqm Dan Murphy’s at the Peninsula Tavern site.
The $3.5 million Railway Parade redevelopment will include a family-friendly bistro, which locals are happy with, but many oppose the giant bottleshop that comes with it.
After winning planning approval, the Australian Leisure and Hospitality arm of Woolies has now submitted a liquor licence application with the WA department of racing gaming and liquor.
Chris Byrne, a father of two young boys who stays on Ninth Avenue, says Maylands doesn’t need another liquor outlet.
“Local residents and business already experience significant problems with street drinking, anti-social behaviour and violence around the Maylands centre,” he says.
“These issues will be only be made worse by a ‘destination’ liquor store, right next to the train station. The Dan Murphy’s will dwarf the heritage Peninsula Hotel next door.”
Ninth Avenue resident Kylie Bryant says the grog shop will fuel anti-social behaviour.
“Local residents and business already experience significant problems with street drinking, anti-social behaviour and violence around the Maylands centre,”
“I have lived here for 10 years and I am most concerned about the social issues,” she says. “My neighbours and I have experienced an increase in alcohol-related anti-social behaviour.
“Many fights in the street, property damage, street drinking and only recently my girls with my mother in-law helped direct traffic around someone passed out drunk on the road.”
ALH manager David Curry says a community meeting was held earlier this year and 3000 letters were issued to residents.
“Through written responses received at the community consultation meeting and subsequent to that meeting, the vast majority supported the new development,” he says.
“ALH Group is committed to work with the community during the project approval phase and beyond.
“In this regard [it] has agreed to enter a formal management plan that includes local residents and Bayswater city council to regularly review the interface between the business operations and community.”
Labor Maylands MP Lisa Baker plans to lodge an official objection to the licence application.
• The Language Centre Bookshop owner Annie Folk—moving completely online. Photo by Matthew Dwyer
THE internet has killed The Language Centre Bookshop in Leederville, which pulls down the shutters on 32 years on June 30.
When the Voice met sanguine owner Annie Folk on Monday, the 204sqm store was cloaked in shadow, its lights only turned on for customers.
Ms Folk says a combination of falling sales, soaring utility bills and new technology sealed the shop’s fate. She hopes to keep the business afloat online.
“We used to sell a lot of language books and audio packs to schools, but now a lot of teachers are using tablets and computers to teach languages,” she says.
“When TAFE, one of our biggest customers, stopped buying our books that was the beginning of the end to be honest. A lot of people would come in and pick my brain on what product they needed, then go and buy it online: it was frustrating and I began to resent it.”
Ms Folk adds many people now opt to learn languages online, rather than attend courses or use traditional materials.
At its peak the store employed four full-time staff but Ms Folk has been running the store alone since sales plummeted five years ago. It had moved to Carr Place eight years ago.
‘A lot of people would come in and pick my brain on what product they needed, then go and buy it online: it was frustrating’
To make ends meet Ms Folk plans to teach English and Italian and expand the shop’s website, adding 10,000 titles and hundreds of learning aids.
Hers is the latest in a string of bookshops to close their doors: in 2012, Borders high-tailed out of Australia and Angus & Robertson scaled back to a handful of outlets.
Last year’s arrival of an Australian portal for internet behemoth Amazon had local bookshop owners screaming for a level playing field on GST.
Books sold in stores attract the 10 per cent tax but books sold through Amazon’s Australian site do not.
Elizabeth’s Bookshop co-owner Harry Schmitz says customers may get a short-term buzz from lower prices but he says there will be real long-term impacts on the Australian economy and on publishing.
“How many local Australian jobs will be generated by the launch of Amazon’s Australian website and how much money will the government miss out in non-levied GST?” he asks.
“This website is another impediment to people visiting local bricks and mortar shops.
“I believe it’s another nail in the coffin for high street book sellers in Australia.”
Ms Folk, chairperson of the Leederville Action Group for 14 years, says the internet cannot replace human expertise.
“The high street can never compete with the internet on price, but you can’t put a value on good service and product knowledge,” she says.
“A lot of people try to learn a language online, but there’s no substitute for good materials and a teacher.”
A 28-METRE crash barrier will be installed in the grounds of Inglewood pre-primary following two road accidents in seven months.
Earlier this month an accident occurred near the Hamer Parade school just before closing time. Last year a car ended up against the boundary fence.
As well as installing the $7000 barrier, Stirling city council will investigate partial closure of the Eighth Avenue and Walter Road intersection, removing the right and left “in” lane to the avenue.
Cr Terry Tyzack says the driver of the car who ended up against the school fence last year backs the safety measures.
“This is an ongoing issue, there has been a spate of accidents outside the pre-primary,” he says.
“Motorists need to slow down as they approach the school”
“Do we have to wait until someone ploughs through the fence and into the playground? I spoke to the driver involved and he’s on board with our proposal.”
The city will also investigate road calming measures on Hamer Parade, but Cr Tyzack said that might be impractical as the road is a bus route.
Stirling council director Trevor Eves concedes the measures the council is looking at are at least three to five years away due to a backlog of projects.
Local Liberal MLC Donna Faragher tabled a 400-signature petition to state parliament last year calling for the school to receive priority in the Barnett government’s rollout of flashing 40kph speed signs.
The school is still waiting for the signs, but Main Roads installed high visibility caps above existing signs for this school year.
“I am very concerned that accidents continue to be reported near Inglewood pre-primary school,” Ms Faragher says.
“It is clearly a black spot and improvements need to be made: the children’s safety is the number one priority.
“Motorists need to slow down as they approach the school, particularly during peak school drop-off/pick-up times and I am very supportive of the school’s request to be included in the next round of the 40kph flashing school zone sign program.”
TEDx is coming to Perth concert hall, as long as the organisers of the techy conference can get organic gluten-free vegetarian food options and high-speed internet at the new venue.
Technology, Entertainment and Design conferences first started in 1984 with the tagline “ideas worth spreading”.
Notable TED talkers have included Bill Clinton and Bill Gates, with speeches addressing revolutionary ways to treat phantom limb syndrome, a presentation on weird sea animals, and a guide on how to completely dry hands with only one sheet of paper towel.
Local, independently organised off-shoots called TEDx events have been held at UWA’s Octagon theatre since 2012.
With the event gaining popularity, the organisers went looking for new digs. Perth city council cooed a siren song, offering to cover most costs associated with hiring out the Perth concert hall: renting the venue normally costs $32,000 but the PCC looks likely to kick in $25,000 (the maximum TEDx can get from any single sponsor under its licence).
Proving the California-born event is the hipsterist thing on Earth, the local TEDx organisers have two concerns with the Perth concert hall location.
First they want to bring in their own preferred caterer Katrina Sykes, who specialises in local produce and organic, vegetarian and gluten-free options.
Secondly they’re concerned about getting enough internet capacity to allow the event to be livestreamed.
While TED has become an internet favourite for its quirky informative presentations, the non-profit has also copped criticism for not paying speakers. Defenders reckon the honour of being invited to speak outweighs the lack of a pay cheque.
•This junkpile was lying around for days. Photo by Matthew Dwyer
THIS massive pile of junk has been lying outside a Vincent council-owned property for days—within sight of the council HQ.
On Monday afternoon garbage was strewn across the footpath, forcing pedestrians onto busy Vincent Street at peak hour.
The council owns 291 Vincent Street, just 200m from council HQ.
One tenant moved out after not paying rent. Two buddies then took over the occupancy, but acting CEO Mike Rootsey says they also “turned out to be unsatisfactory”.
After the council gave its managing agent the nod to evict, the tenants moved all their stuff onto the verge. And there it has stayed.
Mr Rootsey says the dumping was reported on Friday and his rangers are working with the agent to get the tenants to clean up their own mess.
But five days later the council has changed tack, bringing in its contractor “to remove the junk as soon as practically possible,” Mr Rootsey says. No word on whether the tenants will be billed.
Perth Voice Interactive 