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December 1 will see smoking banned in Hay and Murray Street malls and in Forrest Place.
Perth city council’s smoking ban has been in the pipelines for about a year. In the first six months puffers will be issued cautions, then from June 1 they’ll be fined.
“Our hope is that people will consider the health of others, themselves and their wallet, and butt out before we have to fine them,” says lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi. “We and our environment don’t deserve to choke on their harmful habit.”
Shoot the owners
AFTER re-reading “Death of a dingo-dog” (Voice, November 2, 2013) a couple of times can I suggest the “owner” of the dog be “put down” and the dog given to a new owner with the ability and desire to train the dog to be a normal pet. Dogs—even dingo-rottweiler crosses—can be trained to be gentle and behave in the normal manner that dogs behave.
Nick Agocs
Malton Court, Dianella
Squiggly mess
THE Mary Street Bakery has replaced the mural they painted over (Voice, November 2, 2013). Great, but sorry, the new mural isn’t a patch on the old. Lots of meaningless squiggles—the local artists did a much better job.
Val Marsden
Clotilde St, Mt Lawley
Creativity dims
I FIND it sad and concerning that some artists actually believe that simply reproducing enlarged versions of everyday inanimate objects such as lamps (Voice, November 2, 2013) is anything but a gimmick: an endlessly repeatable, pointless exercise, easily copied by other self-deluded practitioners of this perplexing “art”, bereft of ideas, inspiration, originality or rich reward—in short, absolute banality.
It should not have taken councillors more than three seconds—enough time for a gasp of disbelief—to rule out this pretentiously inadequate offering. Judging this “jumbo” lamp inoffensive is not the point. Surely our community deserves better: an art capable of inviting our active engagement, an adventurous, creatively challenging and impressive art form.
In terms of value, I would prefer a functioning ‘60s lamp rather than this thing the artist thinks is art. At least a real lamp promotes vision. This imitation lamp is devoid of vision.
Vincent Sammut
Franklin St, Leederville
It’s all fine
I REFER to “Parking far from fine” (Voice Mail, November 2, 2013) from A Ismailjee, of Lord Street, Highgate.
Whilst I will not comment on specific cases, as it would be inappropriate to do so, I strongly repudiate Mr Ismailjee’s assertion of improper conduct. The city’s officers carry out their duties in a fair, equitable and objective manner, in accordance with legislation.
The city strongly refutes any harassment of any appellant to parking fines. All persons have an opportunity to appeal a fine according to the city’s established process of appeal. It is also always the prerogative of an alleged offender to have a matter decided upon by a magistrate and in a court of law, should they wish to take the matter further.
It should be noted the fines enforcement process is set up by the WA state government, not local government, and nor the City of Vincent. If a person does not pay the fine, or make time-to-pay arrangements within 28 days of receiving the fine, the court refers the matter to the fines enforcement registry.
Whilst all people have a right to refuse to make the required payment, the city has a standard procedure for all parking infringement notices as set by the fines, penalties and infringement notices enforcement Act 1994. Failure to pay the required amount can result in the loss of a person’s driver’s licence, or of any vehicle licence owned by the person refusing to pay such a fine.
I trust this clarifies all concerns raised and refutes the assertions made in the letter.
John Giorgi
CEO, City of Vincent
Yuk
I DROVE past the new mural at the Mary Street Bakery (Voice, November 2, 2013). How ugly and dull compared to the lovely bright mural they replaced. Why a Sydney-based artist when we have so many local artists like Konfucius, whose work is so good? Thumbs down to that mural. Yuk!
Donelle Phillips
Barlee St, Mt Lawley
Vets, votes and cronies
WHY do veteran councillors continue to be re-elected? Yes, it’s happened again.
Here’s my reasoning. I stress “my reasoning”, not necessarily the general reasoning. Usually, when re-elected, veterans immediately deplore publicly the low turnout. In private they are probably ecstatic.
Over the years—for a couple of decades or even longer—they have most likely established a network of cronies. So when the time arrives for them to plead for our votes, the pleas are a disguised calling in of favours. In this there’s no actual wrongdoing that can be pointed out—nevertheless, in contemplation it prompts an uneasiness, a distaste.
It would be fascinating to find out the percentage of cronies in low turnouts. The veterans would, of course, become instant history were local government elections to become compulsory. How they must dread such a prospect. For that matter so do I. Such a move would, indeed, to quote the Voice’s front page headline of a few weeks ago, “democra-sigh”. Just as undemocratic as the farcical “compulsory” federal and state elections.
As for the veterans’ “wisdom”, my understanding is all this is collected in the archives and waiting to be accessed. So nothing lost of this nature with their departure. Quite the contrary.
The solution? Two-term limits for councillors, please. This first suggested, incidentally, almost a decade ago by then-Perth city councillor, Lisa Scaffidi.
Ron Willis
Cricket historian & novelist
First Ave, Mt Lawley
THE GLOBE COFFEE HOUSE, Mt Lawley:
by JENNY D’ANGER:
The 40-watt smile of the staff at the Globe Coffee House is better than a jolt of black coffee when it comes to a pre-work breakfast.
The cafe makes no pretence to be anything but what it is, a homely little place that exudes a pleasant ambience, rather than the urban grunge so beloved of trendier eateries.
It reminded me of a cafe that had become a regular for the D’Angers during our sojourn in Capo d’Orlando, perhaps it was the semi-open area fronting the pavement and the red flowering geraniums.
Taking in the mostly Chinese-Australian staff juxtaposed with the mediterranean menu, we entertained ourselves with ideas of a remote village in the northern Italian mountains peopled by a relatively unknown offshoot of the Han people.
The Globe changed hands earlier in the year, and has been growing customers ever since, from all reports especially for the coffee.
A couple of big glasses of freshly squeezed orange juice ($6.50) cooled parched throats, while we waited for our food.
Crostini ($14.50) means “little toast” in Italian, which seemed appropriate for breakfast, especially as it came with avocado, “rosemary-kissed mushrooms”, and cherry tomato salsa.
I’d love to know from where the avocado was sourced as it was one of the best I’ve tasted in a long time. To put a dressing on it would have been sacrilegious.
The mushies were pretty damn fine too and the cherry tomatoes came with a sharp, salty fetta.
I could have ordered Dave’s meal even without his seeing the menu: Poached eggs on toast, topped with smoked salmon ($14).
He was a happy little vegemite tucking into his perfectly poached eggs.
“Soft and runny, not hard,” he managed to smile between mouthfuls.
I urged our spare wheel to let rip and order the “rather large breakfast” ($21).
Its two rashers of bacon, free-range eggs, cherry tomatoes, field mushrooms, beef chipolatas, hashbrown and toast were tempting but she was exhausted just reading it, and opted instead for pancakes ($14.50).
They arrived swimming in maple syrup and were “light, with a lovely cinnamon flavour,” while the sharpness of the Greek yoghurt and berries was the perfect foil to the sweetness of the syrup, she said.
The Globe is open for dinner, with a menu that includes tiger prawn spaghetti ($28) and Amelia Park scotch fillet ($30) or pumpkin pie, with spinach and ricotta ($22). Good prices, particularly for this end of town.
Or check out the lunch menu, where the range includes free-range chicken burger and chips ($18) or a steak sandwich ($19.50).
There’s nothing fancy about the Globe, but it’s well-priced and has an old-fashioned charm and comfort missing in many a trendy cafe making it well worth a visit.
by JENNY D’ANGER
The Globe Coffee House
672 Beaufort St, Mt Lawley
open 7 days
9271 3408
He was a university student at the tender age of 16 but Don Waters was never destined to remain in his chosen profession.
“I was the world’s worst accountant,” he says, his energy and love of life resonating down the blower, charging an otherwise dull day with colour and carrying this listener along with his enthusiasm.
Waters had turned up for his first job in a bank wearing red pants and a multi-coloured fruit motif tie: “The manager took one look and sent me home.”
He returned in yellow savile-stitched trousers and the manager surrendered, as there was nothing in Waters’ wardrobe suitable to the grey world of banking.
“I was always a bower bird, collecting colours,” the now-62-year-old reflects with a chuckle.
He’d always dabbled at the edges of the art world but it was his second wife who threw out the challenge to take it up professionally.
“She urged me to do it full time—or stop talking about it.”
He still remembers cancelling his last client 30 years ago, “with fear, excitement and every emotion you can think of”.
But of course Waters established a successful career in the art world—albeit with dark paintings that prophesise the end of the world.
“[Frightening] stuff, with towers sticking out of the beach.”
His career really took off in 2009 after 9/11, when he vowed never again to paint negative imagery.
“I thought ‘why am I paining this stuff when it’s in the news every night?’. It consumes us.”
Exploring Arcadia is Waters’ latest exhibition, a collection of gloriously colourful images celebrating the “bright side of life”.
Arcadia is associated with bountiful, natural splendour and harmony, inhabited by people living without the pride and avarice that corrupts civilisation, Waters says.
Some works are pure escapism, an imagined world: One is a home/ship created in a floating tree wearing a top hat, its foliage a mix of purple jacaranda and red of the tropical poinciana.
With a brother and his family in Perth, Waters is a regular visitor and reckons the city is like an old friend, or “a pair of old slippers”.
So it’s no surprise many of his works are vivid scenes of iconic WA landmarks, such as Cottesloe beach
The sea heaves with a colourful mix of swimmers and sea life, while the old Indiana Tearooms have Waters’ trademark red door. That motif came unbidden into his artworks, but Waters has since discovered it’s a lucky sign in many cultures, including Ireland where people would paint their door red when they’d paid their mortgage.
“It’s welcoming, a safe haven and friendliness,” Waters say.
These days his works can be found around the world, including the Queen’s private collection, which has two.
As well as turning out an impressive volume of work, Waters and his wife are well connected to their small community of Jacobs Well in Queensland.
Waters is president of the PCYC, the Progress Associations and the local Environ Education Centre. He also teaches art and says the most important lesson he passes to students is “to remember you paint for yourself”.
Exploring Arcadia is on at Linton and Kay Galleries, 137 St George’s Terrace, Perth until November 21.
Following in the footsteps of St Patrick in Ireland, St Mirin is said to have rid the Scottish island of Cumbrae of snakes in the 700s.
The original owners of this magnificent federation home in Mt Lawley probably named it after their windswept old home.
A three-bedroom/two-bathroom place built almost 100 years ago, the spelling change to Cambrae can be put down to ever-changing language and accents.
The gloriously rambling cottage garden of this 760sqm property is a veritable eden—one hopes sans snakes—while the inside reflects grand colonial architecture.
Soaring ceilings abound, most with beautiful plaster roses. Stained glass windows, wide jarrah floorboards and gorgeous fireplaces are other original features you’ll be pleased to see.
The spacious entry hall is a picture of elegance with a stunning arched stained-glass window casting mellow light onto the decorative ceiling.
The commodious main bedroom has its own fireplace and a delightful bay window with French doors to the wrap-around front verandah.
By the bedroom door is an intriguing Greek column, which poses a conundrum: The vendor discovered it after removing the walls of two small rooms to enlarge the main bedroom, but has no idea of its original purpose. It’s certainly an interesting feature that gets people talking, judging by the conversation when the Voice dropped in.
The space created by the smaller rooms’ removal has allowed for a delightful open study off the bedroom with its own ceiling rose and fireplace, and a spacious dressing room and ensuite.
A central lounge flows into an open-plan area, with a large country-style kitchen with timber cupboards, and city views from the sink.
Step out onto the timbered rear deck and you feel you could reach out and touch the skyscrapers.
With a peaked alsynite roof and cafe blinds this is a great spot for alfresco entertaining, or simply enjoy the serenity, and lovely garden, over breakfast, lunch of tea.
There’s plenty of hidden nooks for quiet reflection in the cottage garden wilderness or the native garden in the front garden.
Leafy, quiet streets belie the short distance to the vibrant Walcott Street cafe strip hub, and Perth College is a short walk away.
BY JENNY D’ANGER
20 Storthes Street, Mt Lawley
EOI from $2.2 million
Pam Herron | 0413 610 660
Jon Adams | 0413 610 662
Beaufort Realty | 9227 0887
The book is about local history but Bayswater city council had it printed in China.
Mike Severn runs Success Print in Bayswater and says “the book could have easily been printed and bound within the boundaries of the City of Bayswater”.
He says many locals will be “horrified to turn to the back of the book to find it was printed in China, rather than the money being spent in the local community where it would continue to circulate and add to the sustainability of ratepaying businesses.”
It’s hard to pin down who at the council was responsible for shipping the job offshore.
New mayor Sylvan Albert replied via email: “The city awarded the work to Fremantle Press as we believe they represented the best value. It would be incorrect to suggest that the City was in a position to dictate to Fremantle Press who they should use for the print element of the publishing project.
“The relationship with the print company in China was an internal matter for Fremantle Press and was handled exclusively by them.”
So we contacted Fremantle Press. CEO Jane Fraser says since the press is not the publisher of the book, but was merely commissioned by the council to produce it on its behalf, it was a matter for the city or the mayor to respond to.
by DAVID BELL
More than $40,000 was raised at the Second to None second-hand clothes auction, held Saturday, delighting Aranmore primary school mum Ciara Thiedeman who’d aimed to raise $5000.
The funds will go to Vincentcare, which supports people with mental illness. Following a story in the Voice two weeks ago there was a huge response from locals. A number of local WA celebrities also donated items.
“It was way beyond what we expected,” Ms Thiedeman says.
Her mum Noreen took her own life in 2009 after years of suffering a personality disorder. Ms Thiedeman says we need to talk more openly about mental illness and suicide to shed the stigma associated with them
She says the huge amount raised “really exemplifies that the community wants to do something about this”.
by DAVID BELL
Eighteen months’ work and a couple of grand spent on a native garden have been squashed flat by Water Corp contractors.
Chapman Street resident Steve O’Brien took great pride in his verge, removing weedy sand and spending time and money bringing in soil and new plants.
“After 18 months of surviving contractors and poor car-parkers we expected this summer to see the various plants fully cover the area,” he told the Voice.
“We got home [Monday] to find that contractors who are putting water pipes in the street have parked on it: Mini excavator, bobcat and compactor on the top of the plants.”
Mr O’Brien says the decision to park on his verge garden was bizarre: “Ours is the only verge garden in the entire street!
“There are some survivors in the plants they rolled over, but all the grevilleas… are goners.”
Water Corp’s Jaselyn O’Sullivan said Mr O’Brien’s verge would be put back just as it was: “We apologise for any inconvenience this has caused.”
by DAVID BELL
An extraordinary election will be held at a cost of $26,000 to fill new Vincent mayor John Carey’s vacant council seat.
WA electoral legislation prevents simply picking the third-best scoring candidates from the October 19 election to fill the third spot.
Mr Carey says there was some confusion about how it would work after Alannah MacTiernan vacated the mayoral seat. No-one had realised a by-election would be needed.
“It was a mistaken presumption,” Mr Carey says. “It was a new scenario that we hadn’t faced before.
“Had I known this situation [would result] I would have resigned as councillor to avoid the expense to ratepayers.”
We asked the top two candidates who just missed out if they were keen to stand again.
James Peart (fourth with 828 votes) says: “It’s a possibility! Can’t confirm at this stage.”
Katrina Montaut (third with 907 votes) says: “I don’t know. I’m getting a lot of people asking me to, and a lot of people expressing their interest in having someone out of the loop that’s been created on council.”
She says it’s a tough decision, “after dealing with some of the not-so-pleasant aspects during the campaign,” but wasn’t keen on providing details about what she was referring to.
VOICE CORRECTIONS: Our reported figures last week on the Vincent mayoral vote were a tad low. We’d only included the votes for one ward. The results were 5342 votes for John Carey and 790 for Angelo Merlacco. Also, Stirling mayor Giovanni Italiano is better known as “John”, not “Joe” as we’d published in a photo caption.
A DINGO-ROTTWEILER cross in Highgate must die following an attack in December 2012.
After that attack the Lord Street dog was declared dangerous, requiring the owner to erect warning signs, keep it muzzled and leashed in public and kept it in a child-proof enclosure at home. It also had to wear a collar identifying it as dangerous when in public.
But the owner failed to comply with the conditions so the magistrates court has now ordered the dog be destroyed, fined the owner $3000 and ordered that he pay the injured victim $1067 in compensation.
Vincent CEO John Giorgi declined to identify the man, saying he believed, “it is not in the interest of the community to name the dog owner”.
A noted animal lover, Mr Giorgi described the death sentence as, “a good outcome considering the danger this dog imposed on the community”.
“The city has pursued this case to its full extent due to the nature of the attack and the attitude of the owner towards the law and welfare of the community.”
Perth Voice Interactive 