COMPARE COUNCILS ON MY COUNCIL WEBSITE

The WA State Government has a new My Council website where we can compare and see how our councils are doing. Nice to see the City of Fremantle page has one of my photos of Bathers Beach on it.

So I now know that the Fremantle area is 19 square kilometres small, that we have a population of 30,883 and 19,777 electors.

Fremantle’s revenue is $ 71,426,672 and its operating expenditure $ 71,070,614.

The total value of assets of the City of Fremantle is $ 486,608,885.

Rates are always a discussion point so I compared rates in the area and the recent rate increases were:

Fremantle 6%, Cockburn 11%, Mosman Park 5%, Cottesloe 5%, East Fremantle 6%, Melville 40%(is that a typo?), Mandurah 7%, Rockingham 10%.

The website is: mycouncil.wa.gov.au

Roel Loopers

WA PREMIER WANTS NORTH FREMANTLE TO BECOME MOSMAN PARK

It seems W.A. Premier Colin Barnett is keen to continue with the local government reform shambles after the debacle of merging councils went nowhere two years ago.

According to Town of Mosman Park Mayor Ron Norris the Premier wants parts of North Fremantle to become Mosman Park, against the recent advise by the Local Government Advisory Board, which preferred parts of Mosman Park at McGabe Street to be added to the City of Fremantle.

Local Government Minister Tony Simpson decided after the advise from the LGAB to leave it at the status quo and not alter the boundaries either way.

According to Mayor Norris the Premier told him that a way would be found to accommodate the wishes of a few hundred North Fremantle residents, and that he believed the proposed boundary changes had not been adequately assessed by the LGAB.

Roel Loopers

FREMANTLE TRAFFIC BRIDGE CLOSED

 

The Mainroads Department last night closed the old Fremantle traffic bridge for at least a week as a safety precaution after erosion was found at one of the foundation piers of the bridge. No doubt there will be bad traffic congestions next week especially during the rush hours, so don’t go anywhere near it!

Work had been done to strengthen the bridge and make it safer over the last months, with new fenders installed at water level to prevent boats from running into the bridge.

This is a very interesting development in light of the statement by State Government that there would be no need to build Stage 3 of the Perth Freight Link for another ten years and that the two bridges would remain the only river crossings. What now?

Roel Loopers

TWO NEW ART SHOWS AT KIDOGO ARTHOUSE

 

Two new art exhibitions open tonight at 6 pm at Kidogo Arthouse on Fremantle’s Bathers Beach.

Artist David Kenworthy shows his cute and lovely kitsch flashing coloured lights children’s paddle bath art in the small gallery, while in the large space Michelle Maliepaard shows her paintings and wooden statues.

Both shows are well worth a visit so head down to Bathers!

Roel Loopers

SHOULD DESIGN ADVISORY COMMITTEE BE MORE CREATIVE?

The City of Fremantle is asking for expressions of interest from qualified architects to join the City’s Design Advisory Committee-DAC.

The DAC provides advise to Council on planning applications and liaises with developers, architects and designers to help improve the projects.

After having talked to developers and architects I wonder if there is need to broaden the DAC. Disgruntled developers bypass the local DAC and go straight to the State’s Development Assessment Panels so they don’t have to deal with what they perceive to be undue interference with their creative concepts. There is also a bit of ego involved because it is not easy for architects and designers to take advise from their peers who are also their competitors.

Just a though, City of Fremantle, you might want to think about.

Roel Loopers

PS:  Thanks to Mayor Brad Pettitt who pointed out in a comment below that in the original post I referred to the DAC as the DAP. Very bad typo and lack of detail on my behalf! I will improve, I hope. ; >(

WHY NO SHOWERS AT LEIGHTON DOG BEACH?

Regular Freo’s View reader and North Fremantle resident Lionel asks the question why there are still no showers and access to drinking water for dogs at the Leighton dog beach at the rail bridge just north of where the new COMBI COFFEE van is stationed.

It is one of the busiest beaches in the metro area, highly frequented by tourists and people from all over Perth, but there is no drinking water and there are no showers.

Can we put that in the budget please City of Fremantle and get it done asap or are you still waiting for the State Government to develop the long promised public park there?

Roel Loopers

FREO INC? TIME TO PUT UP OR SHUT UP!

Until something substantially new happens I am going to be quiet for a while about the Fremantle Kings Square Project, but I do want to make a statement before I do, after the Fremantle Herald front page headline of Kings Square Deal Freo Inc.?

I have no issues whatsoever with community groups or individuals like Martin Lee, Craig Ross, Andrew Luobikis, Mark Woodcock, and myself asking the hard questions and scrutinising Fremantle Council, but I have very serious issues with the defamatory innuendo and claims that the contract with Sirona Capital smell of WA Inc. as Premier Colin Barnett supposedly told the Fremantle Society President.

If the Premier of this State really believes there is something sinister with what the City of Fremantle has done it is his duty to ask the CCC to investigate Council. If any group or individual has any proof that Fremantle officers and/or Councillors conducted their business unlawfully it is their civic duty to report it to the police. If they don’t do that they become accessory after the fact and they could end up in jail for not reporting it.

I have dealt with Fremantle Council, the CEO, the Directors, and many of its officers for many years and I have criticised them often, but I am willing to put both my hands in the fire that none of them is corrupt and personally unlawfully benefit from the work they are doing at the City of Fremantle!

What is so insulting about this is that these people worked with the Fremantle Society President for many years when he was a Councillor and for him to allege WA Inc. style corruption, by allegedly quoting the Premier is quite disgraceful.

The Royal Commission findings on WA Inc. were that “Some Ministers elevated personal and party advantage over their constitutional obligation to act in the public interest.”

So which person(s) and which political party did gain advantage from the City of Fremantle signing a contract with Sirona Capital? Name names please. I suggest it is put up or shut up time for the disgruntled former Councillor and his fan club!

Roel Loopers

 

VERY FREO COMBI VAN COFFEE BAR

 

There is a cute new Volkswagen coffee van around Fremantle, and it’s the new venture of well-known Freo musician, poet and former Blinco Street Cafe owner Dave Pensa.

The Combi Coffee van is at Leighton Beach most days of the week from early in the morning, so the perfect stop on your way to work in the big smoke, or when meeting clients. When I took this photo Fremantle resident Nicolas Takacs of A Beautiful City stopped for a coffee on his way to a meeting in Cottesloe.

Dave Pensa is a delightful man, there is a dog bowl, a welcome mat, a surfboard and the passive surveillance of having the van there has already seen a decrease in car break ins.

Combi Coffee is on Facebook if you want to find out the locations he is serving great coffee at.

Roel Loopers

INCOMPETENT TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT CREATES CHAOS IN FREMANTLE

I have just witnessed absolute and utter traffic management incompetence in the West End of Fremantle that created chaos for hundreds of motorists.

Traffic management is not rocket science, all it needs is common sense and knowledge of the street layout of the inner city. The company the City of Fremantle contracts appears to have no clue a lot of the time, as I often witness their unacceptable efforts, where so-called traffic management is actually creating the congestion.

It started with cars being allowed to drive into Cliff Street from Phillimore Street and High Street toward Marine Terrace, but arriving there they were turned back at the roundabout in the direction they came from as there was no left turn allowed into Marine Parade because of speed hump road work near the Esplanade Hotel, so traffic management had created a cul de sac with nowhere to go but back.

Cars were also allowed to enter Mouat, Pakenham, Henry streets from High and Phillimore streets to arrive at Marine Parade where they were not allowed to turn left and had to turn right to also end up at the Cliff Street/Marine Parade roundabout where traffic was already at a near standstill.

Basic logic and the tiniest wee bit of common sense by the professional traffic controllers would have seen the need to block traffic at Cliff, Mouat and Henry streets and not allow cars to proceed to Marine Parade.

Traffic management they are not, but traffic chaos creators, and the City should give them the boot because they don’t know what they are doing.

Roel Loopers

MORE VANDALISM IN FREO’S WEST END

 

I almost feel sad for those people who have nothing better to do with their life than to vandalise the properties of other people. What a sad bored and empty life you must live and what a waste of this short precious time on earth it is.

Hoons decided to do wheelies on the well-kept lawn at J Shed in Fremantle’s West End. The lawn is watered in the summer months by sculptors Janet Nixon and Greg James who like to keep it in good shape, but now the big burn-out circles have made a mess of it.

Down the road in Cliff Street ugly tags have been sprayed on historic buildings, and this all comes at a substantial cost to ratepayers and property owners who have to clean up the unsightly crap.

Respect for other people and their property should be a basic value for everyone in society, no matter how stupid and bored you are. Get a life vandals!

Roel Loopers