FREO’S COFFEE FESTIVAL NOT TO BE MISSED

If you love coffee as much as I do, you’ll love the second annual Fremantle Coffee Festival on Sunday, November 4, 10am-7pm.. It is organised by Fremantle Business Association (FBA) as part of Fremantle Festival.

The Coffee Festival is a celebration of Fremantle’s famous Cappuccino Strip and coffee culture Fremantle is famous for. There will be displays and samples from 11 coffee roasters, live entertainment, children’s activities and Gino’s spaghetti eating competition.

All local restaurants and traders are getting on board, offering plenty of food and drink to taste and lots of entertainment.

Popular coffee roasters such as Dimattina, Bonissimo, Rubra, Remedy, Brazilianno, Silvana and more will be offering their best coffee blends. You will be able to sample the coffee for a gold coin donation or buy a bag of beans to take home.
Children can enjoy face painting, storytelling, balloon making, a climbing wall, bouncy castle and a visit from Fat Cat. Local bands will be entertaining the crowd all day from the main stage.
We’ll also have Fremantle Dockers and South Fremantle football players signing autographs.

Everyone joining the Coffee Festival is asked to make a gold coin donation, which will go to the Telethon Adventurers, a great charity that funds research into childhood cancer.

The Barista competiton will also be held on the weekend at the Town Hall, so pop in there to see them sweat and makes lots of great coffees in just 15 minutes.

Roel Loopers

Very attractive poster with great photo

 

LOOKING FORWARD FOR FREMANTLE

There was not much new in the State of the City address by Fremantle Mayor Brad Pettitt, but a few things he said made me think about what has changed in Fremantle in recent times. Brad mentioned that most plans in the Strategic Plan 2011-2015 have already been implemented and that the City might have to write a new one next year. This is partly due to a very active and efficient Economic Development and Marketing Department. They get things done and that is great, but because of that they are also in the spotlight and get criticised. Of course there is also a bit of envy from under performing officers who complain the department is interfering with theirs.

There is the controversial Old Port Project at Bathers Beach which has given us a great board walk that I would love to see extended all the way to J Shed to create the connectivity between the Fishing Boat Harbour and Victoria Quay.

The new precinct signs will hopefully go up soon and will create more direction in the inner city, as will the electronic parking signs due soon as well.

At Kings Square delightful small things are happening. The roof and wall garden has gone up and so have the colourful Framing Freo artworks by Greg James, there is a market there four days a week that gives vibrancy to our city square, and at the moment Freo identity Horatio Birdbath is making the bollards at the square into intricate lovely artworks.

The Cappuccino Strip has been resurfaced and new light and banner poles have gone up. High Street west will get similar treatment soon as well. There are plans to light up all the beautiful heritage buildings there and I am working with a small group of people to QR code all the significant sites and buildings in Fremantle to create a virtual smartphone tourguide of the city.

Fremantle is far from perfect and things need to change. It is often frustrating that is can take excruciatingly long for change to happen. It is unacceptable the heritage buildings at Arthur Head have been neglected for far too long, but it is great that a community initiative by the Bathers Beach Art Precinct has got the J Shed painted by Colourific at no costs to the city.

Those in Freo who always complain but do little are very welcome to become part of the solution, take ownership, bring new ideas to the table and help our city grow and change for the better. I am excited to be part of the first board of the new BID (Business Improvement District) group and I am full of positive hope for Fremantle. It will take the input and efforts of many as we can’t expect council to do it all.

Roel Loopers

Intricate artwork by Fremantle artist Horatio Birdbath at Kings Square

Colourful bollards by the Fremantle master of the marker pen Horatio Birdbath

 

 

 

 

ON YOUR BIKE AND FEET AND SPENT MORE MONEY LOCALLY

There is an interesting post on Triple Pundit titled Biking+Walking=More Money Spent at Local Businesses that very much relates to Fremantle and the perception retailers have on where their business comes from. Here is the link: http://www.triplepundit.com/2012/10/biking-walking-spent-local-businesses/

A survey in New York‘s Manhantan‘s East Village found that people who rely on public transport, walking and biking spent far more than motorised people who also frequent the same area. Aggregated weekly spending by those not using cars accounted for 95% of the reatil dollar in the area while motorised people only spent 5% of retail dollars there.

East Village attracted more non motorised people because of protected bike lanes and better pedestrian safety. I have used similar arguments trying to get the Cappuccino Strip closed on weekends but the retailers there insist on keeping it open and allow polluting cars and buses to negatively impact on the alfresco experience. Strange indeed.

Roel Loopers

FREO STRIP BAD ROADWORK PLANNING

I know nothing about public works or road work, so I stand to be corrected. But can anyone at the City of Fremantle explain why the pavers at the intersection of South Terrace and Market Street were ripped out, then had to be replaced with 50 metres of bitumen for only three days and that bitumen was removed again today to make way for new pavers.

Would not good planning mean to know one will not get the new paving done before the long weekend and leave the old pavers there till they can be replaced after the weekend? Why dig it up and then hastily replace it very temporarily with bitumen for just three days? How much more does this cost the City?

Roel Loopers

Click on photos to enlarge

FREMANTLE’S ROAD OUTRAGE

Have a very good look at this newly laid bitumen on Fremantle’s Cappuccino Strip because next week it won’t be there any more. In its wisdom the City of Fremantle decided to give in to pressure from the South Terrace traders and not close the strip for traffic over the long weekend, but instead wasted money on laying near 50 metres of bitumen for only three days as it will be replaced with pavers next week.

This raises the question why the South Terrace cafe operators have so much power. I am sure that most Fremantle residents and visitors would love to see the Cappuccino Strip closed for traffic on weekends, but the retailers insist it remains open and they don’t even want to consider a trial period. Why that is I have no idea, since cars can’t stop or park on the terrace, so no business comes from them. Closing the strip on weekends would mean alfresco areas could be expanded and more people would linger longer and spend money there, so the reluctance by the traders to close the street for traffic seems irrational to me.

Roel Loopers

New bitumen for only three days

CAPPUCCINO STRIP UPGRADE

The roadworks at Fremantle South Terrace are progressing well, with the new bitumen in place and workers now digging up the area in front of Gino’s and Bannister Street. I heard some criticism though about the colour of the new Cappuccino Strip road surface. It is supposed to be red but those less colour blind than I am claim it is brown. Does it matter? What do you think?

Roel Loopers

FREO CAPPUCCINO STRIP SEES RED

It’s busy bee time at the Fremantle Cappuccino Strip with the new red bitumen road surface being put on. It’s a bit inconvenient for traffic but it won’t last long and South Terrace will hopefully look better after the works have been done. I understand the red bitumen line will go down High Street west as well soon.

Roel Loopers

FREMANTLE HARE OR TORTOISE

I find meeting with my fellow blogger mate Michael Swanepoel, he of the great Fremantle Doctor blog, always inspiring. Michael’s thoughts and ideas are always contemplated for some time and deliberate, while I am more the mister thousands of a second decision making photographer. Michael is a strategic city-planner, so I deduct that deep thinking might be part of his job description.

This morning it made me contemplate the hare and tortoise approach to life, or the procrastination or action attitude Fremantle council has. Thinking about it I find the blinkers on, go for broke, and action now or the city will die a horrendous death, not appealing.

To make it clear, I don’t like procrastination, but I also don’t like blanket approach solutions and over hasty decisions that often result in mediocre outcomes.

Let me start with Planning Scheme 49. In my opinion there was no need for the blanket approach of that many sites and for allowing buildings over eight storeys in height, against community wishes. I would have loved to see us get started on only the Myer and Queensgate site at Kings Square, the Point Street carpark, the Westgate mall/Target building, and the Woolstores shopping centre. Getting those sites developed would have seen significant changes to the inner city together with the already happening developments at Queen Victoria Street. We could have then decided if Fremantle wants and needs more of that type of development in the inner city or if we’d prefer to spread it around town more evenly.

The other blanket approach is making an arts hub out of historic Arthur Head, while all it needs to start with is to create a café/wine bar venue on the beach at J Shed and have a weekend market there. Better even why not have an evening gaslight market in the Round House and Whalers Tunnel. These two actions would see the vitality of the west end area go up like a Ferrari on Viagra.

Let’s stay in the area with the Old Port project development at Bathers Beach. It was an expensive exercise that resulted in a less than perfect outcome. We now have a large area of black tar that looks like a carpark and another large dust bowl, while it should have had decks, paving or grass, more seating, shade areas, barbeques and an interactive artwork or children’s playground. The already damaged and derailed sunlounges are also dangerous because wood splinters will do damage to many sunburnt bums.

Now let’s move to the Cappuccino Strip where things are happening with planters, new lights, banners and now road surfacing soon. Will this really create something special? I doubt it. A shared-road approach should have been taken by council, by introducing one-way car traffic and a shared bike and footpath. The strip also should be closed for traffic on Sundays from 11-6. I am aware the inner city traders don’t want that, but a few café owners should not dictate what council does. Surely it would be better for the restaurants and cafes if they could expand their alfresco further out onto the street. What benefits do stinking cars and busses bring to these traders? They can’t even stop or park on the strip.

I could go on, but blog articles should not be too long, so I finish saying that panic is not a good reason to overreact and make less than perfect decisions. The fear of procrastination is no excuse to accept mediocrity. Sometimes it is just better to be the tortoise than the hare. Speed can kill.

Roel Loopers

GREAT GYPSY SWING AT FREO’S KULCHA

KULCHA in Fremantle was swinging yesterday afternoon with  the sounds of Belleville Gypsy Swing and star guest world renowned violinist Ashley Arbuckle.

It was the second free event of the weekly Sunday afternoon Caravan Club at Kulcha and is already a great success with people from all over Perth making the trip to the Cappuccino Strip.

Here a few photographic impressions of the afternoon.

Roel Loopers

PROMOTING ART IN FREMANTLE

New banners promoting art have been up along the Fremantle Cappuccino Strip for a week or so now. I like the banners promoting festivals, events, etc.

I am not sure I would have promoted the Blessing of the Fleet as an arts events, but since it will be the opening event of this year’s Fremantle Festival I suppose it’s now also part of the arts.

Roel Loopers