FREMANTLE REACHING THE POINT

News that the tender for the redevelopment of the City of Fremantle Point Street car park will be signed next week, open up very good opportunities for the City to insist on outstanding architectural design and building quality, not just complying with a five star green rating. If council allows a mediocre building to be erected on the site adjacent to historic Princess May Park for the sake to get quick development done, it will lose all credibility. I for one look forward to getting rid of the ugly car park and revitalisation of Princess May Park.

Harbour Theatre have been told they still got another year at the former cinema building and that is probably a realistic time to draw up plans for the area.

Roel Loopers

FREO’S EAST AND WEST HERITAGE MESS

Princess May Park in the east of the Fremantle CBD is causing headaches on two fronts. Anti-social behaviour by drunks who use the park daily is upsetting businesses in the area. Last week a fight there lasted for over two hours and calls to the police resulted in no action for far too long, while Fremantle’s own security staff was powerless to stop the brawl.

A CCTV camera finally installed there has been put smack bang in the centre of the park. The location was probably selected by the same insensitive person who put one smack bang in front of the Round House earlier this year. It was removed after the outcry of residents and heritage groups.

Former Councillor John Dowson is also rightly asking what has happened to the $ 600,000 allocated for improvements on the 1854 Boy’s School at the park, and why council allowed several airconditioners to be installed at the northern face of the building and more around the corner.

John also wants a heritage interpretation of Princess May Park to be done and in light of the council wanting to develop the Point Street carpark site this should be done as a priority.

The east end of town is a mirror image of the west of the city where the neglected heritage buildings at Arthur Head also need urgent attention. Verandas and picket fences are rotting away, exteriors need to be painted, better signage needs to be installed, road surfaces need to be made safe for pedestrians, landscaping in front of J Shed needs to be done, the mess at the Old Port Project at Bathers Beach needs to be sorted before summer starts, etc.

It must be a good feeling at Fremantle council to live the sustainable new green buildings dream, but this can’t be done at the cost of our significant heritage sites and buildings. They need to remain a priority and should be looked after better.

Drunks are not only a problem in the east of town. Arthur Head is also a favourite party destination for backpackers at night and they often leave a mess of broken bottles all over the place. This is another area ignored by our police. It must be too hard to get out of the patrol vehicles during the evening to check on the international  revelers who use the cannon deck and grassed area next to the Round House as a dump.

Progress is great and so is planning a modern future for our city, but looking after what we’ve already got is essential. We need better policing of buildings and of people.

Roel Loopers

DRUNKS IN PRINCESS MAY PARK A PROBLEM

Anti social behaviour at Fremantle’s Princess May Park is of concern to retailers and residents in the east of the city with some suggesting the corner next to the former Port Cineaste building, where the people sit and drink alcohol should be opened up to Adelaide Street by removing some of the fences that line the park. I don’t believe this is the solution, and removing fences of a heritage listed site might be difficult anyway.

Twenty or so years ago people would sleep under a tree on a church property along St Georges Terrace in Perth. The tree was removed. Did it solve the problem of homeless people needing a place to rest? Of course not! Removing fences at Princess May Park won’t solve the problem either. They’ll move to the other side of the FTI behind the walls there. Remove those as well?

It is up to the W.A. Police to enforce the law. Princess May Park is a known hang out for drunks and that needs to be addressed. A beer bottle was thrown at me from there earlier this year. The shards just missed my legs and I could have been hurt badly. A CCTV camera in that location would alert City officers when the first drinking starts and police will have to attend swiftly to stop it from escalating in fighting and abusive language. Removing fences, walls or trees is only putting a band-aid on the problem.

Roel Loopers

NEW FREO ART HUB?

With the City of Fremantle considering turning the heritage Pilot’s Cottages at Arthur Head into Aboriginal art studios, I have been contemplating if there are not better solutions than the tokenism of handing over four small houses to our Noongar friends, that are not suited to be substantial art spaces, so here my suggestions to the city.

The former Port Cineaste building on Adelaide Street offers the opportunity to create a real art centre, similar to Mangkaja in Fitzroy Crossing, Mowanjum near Derby and the art centre at Warmun. A community centre that offers artist studios and a well managed retail outlet that would create income for the artists.

The site at Princess May Park is popular with Aboriginals, who frequent it daily. The building is substantial and offers the opportunity to open it up to the park with an al fresco cafe and would even allow for a small amphitheatre in the park for story telling and music performances.

With the Film and Television Institute and Clancys already there this could become a great art hub for the city. The potential is huge with the expected massive developments on Queen Victoria Street just East of it, which would mean a steady flow of pedestrians going past the art centre.  Adelaide Street already is one of the major thoroughfares for people coming from the Northern and Eastern suburbs.

The site I propose is opposite the Adelaide Plaza shopping centre and the Basilica,  and has plenty of parking with many car bays in Cantonment Street and Beach Street, and also in the Point Street car park, until that is being developed.

It might well be that the State Government could financially support such proposal.

Roel Loopers

P.S. While I presently occupy one of the Pilot’s Cottages as caretaker for the Fremantle Society, I expressed in an email to the Mayor and councilors last week that I can see a bigger picture for Arthur Head and would never stand in the way of it for selfish reasons.

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DOUBLE DUTCH DELIGHT

I knew one day my double Dutch writing to newspapers would wake up people, so I am delighted to read in the Fremantle Herald that the Woonerf concept is going to be tried in Fremantle. The idea is to set up virtual living areas, like sofas, chairs, tables, etc. in the middle of the cappuccino strip, that will automatically slow traffic down and creates a better quality of sharing the street between pedestrians and cars. Trials have been very successful in Holland, Germany, Canada, the UK and also in Victoria.

# More good news comes today that the Pricess May Park will be handed over to the City of Fremantle. This will hopefully also mean a new long lease for the very family friendly Clancys Fish Pub.

# Proposed new development at the back of the old synagogue near the markets need to be scrutinised in detail though, so show us the plans please!

# I was told a worrying development yesterday, about regular break-ins at the Royal George hotel, where thieves steal the copper piping, including gas pipes, which poses a real fire threat to the old building and historic archives stored there.

Roel Loopers

WOONERF. Woon means living in the Dutch language, and erf is traditionally a forecourt where the family gathers on a farm (boerderij).