Perth Voice Interactive

BAYSWATER pensioners will continue to wilt in the heat and get soaked in the rain, after the Barnett government refused their requests for shaded bus shelters.

Elderly shoppers want a shelter at the stop on Eighth Avenue, beside the Maylands Town Hall, while the residents’ committee at Mertome retirement village want a shelter at nearby Avenell Road, so they can sit in the shade while waiting for a new twice-daily bus service.

Leslie Wojcik, 73, says sometimes it gets so hot at the Eighth Avenue stop she has to seek shade in a nearby telephone booth.

“My elderly friends and I use the bus stop all the time, mostly when we come back from grocery shopping on Eighth Avenue or visit the library at The Rise or the Maylands Senior Citizens Centre,” she says.

“We’ve petitioned the city on a number of occasions to get a shaded bus shelter but we haven’t had any luck.

“We’ve petitioned the city on a number of occasions to get a shaded bus shelter but we haven’t had any luck.”

“My local councillor Sylvan Albert said he would get a shelter put in, but since he’s become mayor I haven’t seen anything done.”

The public transport authority rejected a funding request from the council saying not enough people use the service on Eighth Avenue and patronage figures for the new Avenell Road service are not available yet.

Council voted against spending $25,000 on two new shelters, with council staff also citing low usage.

Mayor Albert says a bus shelter for pensioners is not at the top of the priority list.

“Due to cost constraints it is not possible for the city to provide a bus shelter at all of the bus stops within the city,” he says.

“Accordingly requests for bus shelters and the maintenance of existing shelters, needs to be considered on a priority basis.”

Instead, the council will install a bench at the Avenell Road bus stop and spend $20,000 tranforming existing concrete bus shelters to steel.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

STIRLING city council has been accused of spreading  “half-truths” and of “fear-mongering” by an ABC radio talkback host.

ABC720 host Geoff Hutchison this week took mayor Giovanni Italiano to task over Stirling’s claims that Inglewood, Mt Lawley and Dianella will suffer if they end up being transferred to neighbouring Bayswater as part of the premier’s amalgamation plans.

A council mailout to ratepayers claimed the Inglewood library and other key services would “be lost”  if transferred to Bayswater.

Mr Hutchison also questioned the ethics of Stirling issuing pre-filled submission forms to homes in the three suburbs.

Cr Italiano says the council was simply trying to make it easier for elderly people, who couldn’t get online to complete the form themselves.

Meanwhile, Stirling councillor David Lagan this week moved the mayor send a letter to Bayswater complaining about its councillors lambasting Stirling last week.

Bayswater councillors had been responding angrily to a cartoon shown at a Stirling anti-amalgamation rally which appeared to call them a financially “irresponsible neighbour” (Voice, March 1, 2014).

Bayswater councillor Mike Anderton says claims his city will close Inglewood library are preposterous.

He wants Bayswater mayor Cr Sylvan Albert—who was elected in October—to be less mild-mannered.

“He needs to get on the front-foot and hold Stirling to account on false claims they are making about us in the press,” Cr Anderton says.

“We need to be more pro-active in the amalgamation process.”

At a closed-doors meeting Tuesday Bayswater approved its amalgamation submission, which it will send to the local government advisory board this month.

Bayswater has been consistently supportive of the WA local government minister’s original proposal which would see sections of Inglewood, Dianella and Mt Lawley become part of a new Bayswater-Bassendean super council.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

VINCENT staff are reportedly contemplating industrial action over the axing of CEO John Giorgi.

Former Vincent councillor John Little told the Voice that staff are considering a stop work meeting.

“From what they’ve told me there’ll be an organised walk out during the working day,” the Leederville publican says.

The Voice has been unable to confirm the claim, and both acting CEO Rob Boardman and mayor John Carey say they are unaware of any planned action.

The elected Vincent council decided by a 7-1 margin to not renew Mr Giorgi’s contract when it expires December 31.

A petition with 155 staff signatures has been lodged, asking the council to rescind its decision.

Staff aren’t allowed to talk to the media but Mr Little says they’re unhappy at losing 20 years of corporate knowledge and experience (Mr Giorgi has been CEO since Vincent’s formation in 1994, and worked at the old Perth city council another 20 years before that).

Staff say Mr Giorgi has looked after them and in the wake of the decision morale is perilously low as the city faces re-amalgamation with Perth.

Mr Little says staff will attend the town hall merger meeting on March 9 to ask residents to sign the petition to keep Mr Giorgi.

Vincent mayor John Carey, one of the seven who voted to let Mr Giorgi go, says he hadn’t heard about any industrial action: “I understand that John Little doesn’t like our decision and he’s trying to stir things up,” he says, “but a decision has been made by council and people should respect the deliberation, that we’ve considered this matter with honesty and integrity over a period of four months.”

Mr Little says staff are also unhappy with the redundancies on offer (16 weeks maximum compared to 50+ for other councils).

Mr Giorgi had been pushing for a more generous policy, advising council “the city’s employees are significantly disadvantaged”. Mayor John Carey says councillors decided to get more information before making any decision to be more generous.

by DAVID BELL

JAMES PEART is Vincent’s new south ward councillor, picking up 44.41 per cent of the by-election vote to replace John Carey (who had to resign his seat after winning October’s mayoral vote).

An urban planner and a street coordinator for the Vincent to Perth merger campaign, Cr Peart beat out Mark Rossi (36.14 per cent) and Gary Simmons (19.45 per cent).

Endorsed by mayor Carey, Cr Peart also had the most visible campaign, with many shops and cafes hosting his posters.

Cr Peart says his priority now is to get up to speed with major projects like the bike plan, town centre spruce ups and the greening plan to make sure they’re delivered.

He also wants to keep a close eye on new developments popping up all over the city and make sure they’re not detrimental to the neighbourhood: “If developers are looking for flexibility in the standards, then they have to show that what they’re proposing is going to be a good thing for the neighbours and the community.”

He recently had a run in with one of these multi-dwellings himself. At last week’s council meeting then-Mr Peart stood up during public question time to oppose a development on Burgess Street in Leederville, where he lives.

He’d said the seven-unit development was “cheap and nasty,” and councillors agreed, rejecting the proposal. Cr Matt Buckels said “I can’t see a redeeming feature in this proposal”.

by DAVID BELL

SEVENTY-EIGHT year old Bill Bradbury is spitting chips after the WA public transport authority slapped a sign over a CHOGM artwork at the Esplanade bus port.

Mr Bradbury says the “beautiful mural” brightens the concrete bus station and is the talk of people sitting on buses waiting to trundle out the station. He says the PTA could have put the sign on a nearby empty wall.

“I’m glad the PTA don’t have the cleaning contract for buildings in Rome,” he quipped.

“I use the bus port on a regular basis to go down to the university and the nature mural cheers me up. People are constantly talking about trying to make Perth more colourful and vibrant and the PTA do something like this—the legacy of the CHOGM is definitely starting to fade.”

The Voice contacted the PTA, but spinner Laura Tomlinson says they’d need more than 24 hours to get back to us.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

INGLEWOOD’S Alana Neal won the Muay Thai super lightweight WA title last Saturday night (Neal needs her knees, March 1, 2014).

“I weathered the storm and came out on top.”

In a gruelling kickboxing duel, Neal secured the title with a unanimous points decision over Mandurah rival Crystal Carlow: “She was prepared for my trademark knee smashes, so I had to alter my strategy and employ a lot of head kicks,” Neal says. “She was a bit of a brawler and kept coming at me with a big overhand right, but I weathered the storm and came out on top.”

After the fight an exhausted Neal celebrated her win with several bars of chocolate and a plate of macaroni and cheese.

“I had ice on my shins and just had a low-key celebration in the house,” she says.

She plans to fight next in Thailand—the home of Muay Thai—taking on the local talent.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

A HOMELESS support group member has described Perth lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi’s views on beggars as “misguided”.

She’s been reported saying, “they live in a home and are using the collections from their begging to pay their way in life. It’s pretty shocking”.

She says pleas for money should be ignored as there are services to provide food and shelter to the genuinely homeless.

Meanwhile, Perth city councillor James Limnios was quoted in the Sunday Times last weeked saying “I have been led to believe by certain people that this is actually a bit of an organised scenario.”

“To insinuate this is part of a commercial operation shows a superficial understanding of poverty and homelessness in the city,”

Conrad Liveris from advocacy group Street Smugglers spent a week on Perth’s streets in January to better understand problems faced by the homeless.

He says claims of organised begging rings aren’t backed up by evidence, and the beggars he’d met were genuinely in need.

Even those with temporary accommodation can spend their entire pension on rent, meaning if they don’t make beg they have no funds for food.

“To insinuate this is part of a commercial operation shows a superficial understanding of poverty and homelessness in the city,” he says.

He says the closest thing he saw to “organised” begging was a group of nine closeknit homeless people who’d been on the streets together for a long time. When one had extra money, they’d buy food and supplies for the whole group, but he says there was nothing sinister about it.

“Homeless people do pool their resources together, that makes sense, because they act as a family.”

by DAVID BELL

JAMES LIMNIOS has deleted his Facebook post referring to professional beggars.

Cr James Limnios says he’s been “sworn at and abused” online by people demanding he provide evidence for his claims.

He’d posted “in most cases it’s a scam with some known ‘beggars’ making $400 per day.  Most of us have feelings and feel compelled to pass on a $1 or $2, DON’T!

“Your (sic) better off supporting qualified charities who do a magnificent job supporting very genuine cases.”

He also linked to an overseas article claiming that beggars would drug babies so they’d be easier to handle.

After several people asked for evidence of “professional beggars” Cr Limnios removed the post and blocked several people from his Facebook page.

They continued to query him on Twitter, with Alex Vakarian asking: “You don’t think that being involved in politics might mean having to defend or explain your positions?”

Cr Limnios said, “it’s inappropriate to be sworn at and abused so I chose not to be part of it”.

He told the Voice “this is a matter that the city is looking into further in response to many stakeholder concerns. We are currently working with relevant authorities through our CEO and lord mayor and as a result I took down a post”.

CHILDREN in Bayswater are being put at risk because of a Barnett government go-slow in rolling-out flashing speed signs, Maylands Labor MP Lisa Baker claims.

She says six schools in her electorate have no 40kph safety lights and she wants to know when the government plans to install them as part of its electronic school zone installation program.

“Parents are concerned that their children’s safety is at risk without the safety lights.”

“Safety lights are an effective way of reminding motorists that they are entering a different speed zone and to slow down,” she says.

“Bayswater and St Columba’s primary schools need safety lights as a priority because of their location.

“These two schools are in close proximity to each other, meaning extra traffic during school pick up and drop off times.

“Parents are concerned that their children’s safety is at risk without the safety lights.”

Bayswater primary P&C president Stephanie Baily is supportive of any measure to improve safety: “We will discuss the installation of safety lights at our next meeting,” she says.

Ms Baker and WA Labor leader Mark McGowan door-stepped Bayswater primary school this week, collecting signatures for their petition calling on the WA government to expedite the roll-out.

“Flashing-40 signs are an important part of road safety around our schools,” Mr McGowan says.

“It’s obvious these two schools in Bayswater require flashing-40 signs.

“I hope the Barnett government will agree that these schools should be a priority.”

Ms Baker plans to visit the six schools in her electorate that don’t have signs and collect more signatures.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK