Perth Voice Interactive

ONE of the founders of a new resident and business group in Vincent says they’ve discovered an undercurrent of deep discontent about how Vincent council is being run (“Coy RASBA ruffles feathers,” Voice, October 7, 2023).

Businessman Greg Johnson, who has run Tredway Shoes in Mt Hawthorn for decades, said anger about a trial that saw free one-hour parking scrapped across the city was just the tip of iceberg.

Mr Johnson said he met fellow business owners, including Shawn Offer from Fresh Provisions and Siena’s of Leederville part-owner Andrew Parissis, at the council meeting where they pleaded unsuccessfully for the council to abandon the trial.

He said they were furious when CEO David MacLennan trumped their call by suggesting Vincent charge just $1 for the first hour instead of the full fee, which was embraced by the majority of councillors.

There was also anger that paid parking was in breach of an agreement with Mt Lawley business owner Gerard O’Brien, under which the council controls the car park but doesn’t charge his customers.

“How much was accrued?” Mr Johnson wants to know.

“Why wasn’t it returned?

“The auditor general might qualify the audit knowing the revenue raised is in breach of a legal agreement.”

Mr Johnson said following the meeting the businessmen decided that they should form a new association, as there hadn’t been a local chamber of commerce since the greater Perth council was broken up and Vincent council created in 1994.

They formed the Residents and Small Business Association of Vincent and got a website and a Facebook page up not long before campaigns kicked off for the local government election, ruffling some feathers amongst candidates who felt they weren’t getting a fair go.

Mr Johnson said that pales into insignificance compared to those who’ve joined because they’re not happy with the status quo.

“Every day there’s new people signing up,” says Mr Johnson, scrolling through his social media accounts to prove the point.

But he says while the parking issue kicked things off, members’ concerns had since morphed and they’d been looking into them since being raised.

Rates

First was the rates. He says while the council adopted a 4.5 per cent rate increase, following a revaluation by the valuer general, some residents’ bills were actually closer to 17 per cent higher, which he feels is excessive.

That’s been exacerbated by what he sees as an overly-ambitious capital expenditure budget. While Vincent hasn’t managed to spend more than $10 million in the last decade, and regularly has to carry over unspent money, this year it has budgeted for around $15 million.

Mr Johnson says on its regular form, that means the council has unnecessarily collected $5 million from ratepayers already being squeezed by rising cost-of-living expenses.

And for the candidates who complained RASBA gave preference to mayoral candidate Ron Alexander (who’d voted against the paid parking trial) and ward candidate Ashlee La Fontaine with profiles on its website, Mr Johnson said it was mainly because they’d announced their candidacy early. After that, he said, RASBA merely pointed people to all the profiles on the council’s election webpage.

by STEVE GRANT

A 24/7 PETROL station proposed for Wellington Street in East Perth has drawn ire over plans to stick fuel vents right next to apartments.

The WA Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety has weighed in on the proposal, advising that “fuel vents have the potential to impact on amenity, due to being the point where vapours escape”.

A planning report by Perth council staff says “the fuel vent is close to the southern boundary of the lot directly abutting residential properties. 

“The applicant did not respond to a request to move this fuel vent further away. The amenity of adjoining residences therefore may be impacted by odours.”

On The Run

National petrol chain On The Run has applied to build the two storey “convenience store” featuring petrol pumps and a car wash at 141 Wellington Street. 

The joint Perth/state Development Assessment Panel is due to vote on the Wellington Street station at its October 17 meeting.

OTR’s application points out there used to be a service station on the site a few years ago, and says the store “will provide amenity to the locality by providing convenient goods”.

But Perth council planners have recommended refusal for a slew of reasons, from the fuel vents being right near houses to the wide driveways cutting across footpaths making for “an unpleasant pedestrian experience”.

A two-storey petrol station also falls short from Perth council’s planning strategy for the iconic corner site, as they ideally want a “high scale residential use” measuring at least 16 storeys.  

Expanding

OTR has been expanding at a rapid clip across Australia, but has hit a couple of speedbumps in WA. 

The company recently had their bid to open a petrol station on Walcott Street refused by DAP over concerns of the “adverse impact” on local amenity. 

They’re currently appealing that decision through the State Administrative Tribunal, and as a backup plan they’ve lodged a separate application for a scaled back version (“Fuelish plans,” Voice, September 26, 2023). 

by DAVID BELL 

ERECTING a memorial to the 1994 Rwandan genocide has been deemed too political to handle with an election on the horizon, with Stirling councillors narrowly voting to postpone the decision.

Members of the Rwandan Community Abroad Perth group have been working on getting a monument in Perth, wanting a place of “remembrance, honour, and education” for the genocide against the Tutsi.

Many Rwandans participate in the annual “Kwibuka” (To Remember) commemorations across 100 days in April and July, marking the dates of the killing of between 600,000 and 1 million people. 

The monument would serve as a Kwibuka gathering place for Rwandans. They’ve settled on Stirling Civic Gardens as an appropriate place. Stirling is home to a sizeable portion of Perth’s Rwandan community, as well as other East and Central Africans who observe Kwibuka.  

Rosemine Mutamuliza grew up in Rwanda and was 12 when she fled the killings, and she attended Stirling’s October 3 meeting to tell councillors: “Many of the survivors, include those living in Perth, continue to bear lifelong physical and emotional scars. 

“Many are not able to travel back home in April every year. This is why a remembrance and a memorial is a crucial part of our community and our healing process.”

RCAP are funding the $30,000 to create and install the statue and will be responsible for maintenance, and it’d cost Stirling about $2,000 to prepare the site.

RCAP had applied to install the memorial earlier this year but Stirling’s existing memorial policy didn’t allow any monuments to events that happened outside council boundaries.

After an amendment in August to change that limitation, Stirling staff had recommended councillors vote to approve the monument at the October 3 meeting.

But there’s now been another delay as councillor Michael Dudek moved to “hold this item over until after the caretaker period” for the new council to make the call. 

Stirling’s caretaker policy aims to “avoid actions and decisions which could be perceived as intended to influence the result of an election, or otherwise have a significant impact on or commit the incoming council to”.

The vote was a 7/7 split. In favour of deferral were councillors Michael Dudek, Felicity Farrelly, Chris Hatton, David Lagan, Karlo Perkov, Elizabeth Re and Joe Ferrante.

Those wanting to go ahead and vote were councillors Andrea Creado, Bianca Sandri, Suzanne Migdale, Teresa Olow, Stephanie Proud, Lisa Thornton, and mayor Mark Irwin, who’s met with the RCAP and said he’d support their bid.

With Cr Irwin holding the casting vote, he reversed track and sided with the deferrers, saying “given it is a tied vote and it’s only asking to hold it over, I will support the holding over of this item till after the caretaker period.”

A councillor proposing a deferral is unusual: Stirling’s policy says it’s the CEO’s call as to whether something is too political to be considered during an election, and this item had already been deemed acceptable.

And at a cost of $2,000, the memorial decision is also far below the cutoff to be considered “substantial expenditure” that has to be deferred. That limit is 0.01 per cent of the council’s annual revenue, or about $25,000.

by DAVID BELL

INTREPID locals are preparing to set a new world record for the biggest group ice bath at Leighton Beach in North Fremantle.

To set the record, 250 people must simultaneously submerge up to their neck in 5oC ice baths for three minutes. The attempt will use 3200 bags of ice and thirty inflatable 3m pools that will be pumped full of ocean water.

The event is being organised by Mark Hughes, who runs ice bath classes at Freo Farmers Market for a gold coin donation and founded One Life Live It, offering personal coaching and ice bath training to combat stress and anxiety.

The record has never been attempted before, so Hughes has held meetings with The Guinness Book of Records to agree on the figures and a Guinness adjudicator will ratify the result.

The event will raise awareness and funds for Beyond Blue, a not-for-profit that supports Australians with their mental health.

Hughes says it’s an organisation close to his heart.

“I suffered debilitating anxiety and two separate bouts of depression in the past and while I managed to stay off prescription medication, the cold water and breathwork helped me tremendously; I have never slipped back,” he says.

Hughes hasn’t had a hot shower in half a decade and has been taking ice baths for more than six years.

“I use the ‘cold’ as one of a number of modalities to help clients shift ‘state’ to focus on making significant behavioural changes to overcome difficult issues they’re dealing with in life,” he says.hIf you’re having second thoughts about taking part, don’t worry the event will be held in the height of summer on Saturday January 20.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

THE saga of a historic cottage allowed to fall to bits by its owner Main Roads has exposed the weakness of Vincent council’s heritage enforcement, and one councillor has flagged a need for a tougher enforcement policy to preserve historic buildings.

The cottage on Guildford Road is listed as “category B – conservation recommended” in Vincent council’s heritage inventory, noted as a “substantial and good example of the Federation Arts and Crafts style, which demonstrates the aspirations of the original developers for this neighbourhood before the growth of traffic on Guildford Road impacted so heavily on amenity”.

Main Road owns the 1904 cottage at 40 Guildford Road and first requested approval to demolish it in 2007 (‘Neglected’ cottage to lose protection,” Voice, October 7, 2023). 

Vincent council refused that request, and instead added the cottage to its municipal heritage inventory as “category B – conservation recommended”. The listing called the cottage a “substantial and good example of the Federation Arts and Crafts style, which demonstrates the aspirations of the original developers for this neighbourhood before the growth of traffic on Guildford Road impacted so heavily on amenity”.

Main Roads has now applied to remove that heritage protection with an eye to eventual demolition. Guildford Road is scheduled to be widened, which would chop off the front of the property, and the WA Department of Planning, Lands, and Heritage wants to build social housing on the site. 

The cottage has been empty and has fallen apart under Main Roads ownership in the past 17 years since listing, so keeping it on the MHI list as “a substantial and good example” is harder to justify.

Vincent council staff have recommended it be removed from the MHI, largely because the impending state government road widening plans are seen as inevitable and chopping off the front of the property for a wider road would render any restoration pointless.

Ruin

At the October 10 council briefing, councillor Alex Castle suggested they might need a stronger heritage retention policy given a property on their MHI was allowed to fall to ruin.

While this cottage could theoretically be restored, any property that falls into such a bad state that it can’t be repaired is a candidate for removal from the MHI.

“What powers does the City have to avoid situations like this, where you have a property on the MHI that has been neglected so badly that the condition now would support its removal??” Cr Castle asked. 

“It seems like – I wouldn’t say convenient – but it’s a loophole to the to the requirements of the MHI that mean you can leave it for 17 years and eventually it should be removed. 

“Are there fines or other actions that we could take in these sorts of situations?”

Vincent’s development and design manager Jay Naidoo said enforcement was “difficult” and properties fell apart especially fast when they were empty. He said their best approach at the moment was to work with owners to keep the places occupied, and encourage adaptive reuse of old buildings to keep the spaces in use. 

Cr Castle said: “Perhaps that’s something to be explored in the next review of that policy as to how we address situations like this.”

The policy dealing with amending the MHI is currently overdue for a review, having last been updated in 2015. It was scheduled for another review in 2017.

Councillors vote on whether to nix this one from the list at their October 17 meeting.

by DAVID BELL

A FREE ‘come and try’ bike skills day runs at the new Bayswater Skate Park on October 22.

To celebrate Bike Month the park’s hosting the BMX stunt show team Freestyle Now to run skills demos, and there’ll be a pop-up pump track from WA trailbuilding company Three Chillies Design.

It’s all ages at 60 Embleton Avenue from 10am to 2pm.

VOTES have been slow to roll in for this year’s local government election, even in council areas that are usually politically active. 

A majority of people who are going to vote typically mail off their ballot within the first week.

But as we go to print, some two weeks after ballots were sent out, the WAEC’s cumulative vote count reveals a pretty sluggish response so far.

About 22 per cent of votes have been returned in Bayswater council, 23.77 per cent in Perth, 19.21 per cent in Stirling, and just 18.26 per cent in Vincent. Despite the latter’s reputation as a politically switched-on locale, Vincent sits below the state average of 21.21 per cent.

There have also been concerns swirling around Perth council’s effort to advertise its enrolment process given the lower number of eligible voters at this year’s election. 

Efforts

At the final council meeting before the vote, councillor and lord mayoral contender Sandy Anghie questioned how thorough the efforts had been to “promote/advertise the fact that people are entitled to enrol to vote for the 2023 election, to have their say on how their rates were spent?”

The administration’s answer stated that a notice was put up at council house, Perth library, the council’s website, and on their LinkedIn page.

Cr Anghie’s questioning revealed that Perth council’s owners and occupiers roll was significantly smaller this year, dropping from 2600 voters at the last election to 2314 this year.

That list allows property owners or business owners who live outside Perth council boundaries to have a vote, but membership expires every two years.

Cr Anghie questioned how much effort had been made to advise potential electors that they needed to re-enrol. 

It turns out the only promotion consisted of a notice placed on the City of Perth website on July 18, advising owners and occupiers that they had to get their applications in by July 24. 

by DAVID BELL