LOOPY SPENT MAYORAL DEBATE IN HIS LOO

My sincere apologies to the followers of Freo’s View for not reporting about the Fremantle Mayoral election debate that was held on Thursday evening.

I decided to have early dinner, before I went to Tannock Hall for the candidate debate, and managed to get myself food poisoning, so had to stay close to the toilet.

It’s the first time in 25+ years that I have not attended a major election debate in Fremantle and I am not happy about that at all.

I understand that Adele Carles did not attend, so the debate was only between Hannah Fitzhardinge and Marija Vujcic.

Disappointing that only two of the five Mayoral candidates could make it, but the feedback I received was that it was a good event.

Roel Loopers

VARSITY FREO BAR OPENS AT FOMO

The VARSITY FREO sports bar opened at the FOMO concept at Fremantle’s Walyalup Koort today. I am so happy we are finally seeing some real activation of FOMO, with many more businesses to open there in the next weeks and months.

The bar is very big, with a large alfresco area along Newman Court and also at the western side of it. It is loud with many TV screens, video game machines, pool tables, etc. so go check it out!

Roel Loopers

PFIZER JABS AT PORT PASSENGER TERMINAL TODAY!

Pop-up WA Health vaccination clinic at Fremantle Passenger Terminal today, Pfizer vaccines available to the general public.

All welcome, no booking required. Be there by 2pm!

If you are already vaccinated, please share this information with friends and family.Access off Peter Hughes Drive – look for the Roll up for WA flags. Don’t miss this chance!

PORT BEACH EROSION PROJECT TO START

The first phase of a major project to address coastal erosion at Fremantle’s Port Beach will get underway next month.

Last year the state government announced $3.25 million in WA Recovery Plan funding to implement a large-scale sand nourishment project at Port Beach.

Phase one, which will start in early October and take between 4-8 weeks to complete, involves sand screening for small rocks within Sandtrax Beach and the southern 200m of Port Beach, south of Tydeman Road, and removal of a remnant seawall.

Sections of the southern car park, main car park and beach access points will be closed to the public to enable the safe movement of construction vehicles to and from the works area.

The program of works will commence at Sandtrax Beach and move in a northwards direction, with the work site barricaded at all times for the safety of beach users.

The works will involve earthworks machinery and a sand screening plant working on the beach and shifting material to stockpiles located in the closed areas of car park. There will also be trucks entering and leaving the site from time to time.

Once all approvals are in place, Phase 2 of the project will see approximately 150,000 cubic metres of sand dredged from Fremantle Ports’ shipping Deep Water Channel and placed onto Port Beach.

The works will involve marine-based machinery transporting the dredged sand from the Deep Water Channel, with land-based machinery working on the beach to manage receival of the sand and construction of the beach profile.

To minimise disruption it’s anticipated this program of works will commence at the end of Summer 2022.

For further information or to stay up to date with the project, you can subscribe to email notifications via our project webpage at mysay.fremantle.wa.gov.au/port-beach.

WE LIVE IN A BEAUTIFUL CITY

There might be rain on the horizon, but it was quite a beautiful morning in Fremantle, so I took a couple of photos during my early morning walk.

Roel Loopers

FREO SKATEPARK CRACKING UP

Fremantle City might want to do a ‘preemptive strike’ at the Esplanade Youth Plaza and do maintenance on the cracked concrete, before it gets worse and the skatepark has to be closed.

History shows that Fremantle often waits too long to do essential maintenance, and the problems grow and become far more expensive. Do it now, before the summer starts!

Roel Loopers

FREMANTLE MAYORAL ELECTION DEBATE TONIGHT

It will be an all female Fremantle Mayoral election debate this evening, because the two male candidates have other commitments and can’t attend. So it will be Adele Carles, Hannah Fitzhardinge and Marija Vujcic debating the issues and trying to convince you to vote for them.

The event starts at 6pm, doors open 5.30pm, at Tannock Hall of Notre Dame University, on the corner of Cliff Street, opposite the Fremantle Herald.

I am not aware who the moderator tonight is. In the past it has been Peter Kennedy and also Martin Drum, but I don’t know who will be trying to keep the divided audience to engage in a respectful and orderly community forum.

I am happy to predict the outcome of the Mayoral election, and that is that Fremantle will have a female Mayor after October 16. That alone is a great outcome for our city.

Roel Loopers

WHAT A GREAT FITZHARDINGE DREAM! POLITICS OF KINDNESS, RESPECT AND POSITIVITY.

I did not attend last night’s Politics in the Pub, that had the theme What is your big idea for Fremantle? I do however want to share what Councillor Hannah Fitzhardinge, who is standing for the Mayor of Fremantle at the October 16 Local Government Election, had to say because in my opinion she is spot on! Here is what Fitzhardinge said:

“Tonight I want to talk about a simple idea. It should be an expectation, a shared value, something we should take for granted. It shouldn’t be a big idea, but perhaps at the moment it is.Tonight, I want to talk about kindness and a civil society. The idea is simple – we cannot build up the city we love, by tearing each other down. Should this lead to monoculture, group think, a dictatorship? Of course not! The best ideas are generated by building on, not tearing down, the ideas of others. If we can’t listen with open hearts and open minds, we never get beyond our own egocentric view of ‘how the world should be’, to imagine, with others, how we can create a shared future that goes beyond our own personal wants and needs.

Social media is not helpful when it comes to genuine conversations with people. It’s often an echo chamber, where name-calling, shaming, trolling find their home. If you find yourself on social media in a discussion that wouldn’t be acceptable in your own lounge-room, can I suggest you block, delete and leave. Your life will be the better for it. As someone who has put myself forward for public office, I knew this would be part of the deal. Early on, when I made the decision to run for Mayor, I wrote some Principles for my conduct and that of my team. The number one principle was “Look forward – be positive about the future and don’t get caught up in other people’s agendas”. The second was “Kindness, always.”I hope that I will be able to look back on this campaign and say that we lived by those principles, and that we won on those principles.”

Hear, hear! Well said, Hannah Fitzhardinge!

Roel Loopers

TWIGGY INTEREST IN FREO’S P&O HOTEL?

Fremantle is not only the city of arts and festivals, but also the city of rumours, so let me share the most recent one with you.

According to a West End property owner Andrew-Twiggy-Forrest has been showing an interest in the former P&O hotel on the corner of High and Mouat Street. One of Forrest’s companies already purchased the Orient Hotel building, just down the road from the P&O, last year.

Time will tell if the Freo grapevine is correct, but it is a good sign for Fremantle when the major players are investing in our city.

Roel Loopers

NATIONAL SECURITY THREATENED BY FREMANTLE COUNCIL ELECTION? 🥳

Fremantle Society president John Dowson has sent another ranting email to the members of the group, attacking the Greens and Labor supporters on Fremantle Council, with a swipe also at the WA McGowan Government.

Dowson claims the Australian Signals Directorate is investigating the Fremantle Council local government election:

“The Australian Signals Directorate is investigating serious electoral interference with the Fremantle election and hopefully will prosecute offenders to the full extent of the law.”

What is it the ASD do and why would they be interested in a local election? This from the ASD website:

The Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) is a vital member of Australia’s national security community, working across the full spectrum of operations required of contemporary signals intelligence and security agencies: intelligence, cyber security and offensive operations in support of the Australian Government and Australian Defence Force (ADF).

ASD’s purpose is to defend Australia from global threats and help advance Australia’s national interests. We do this by mastering technology to inform, protect and disrupt.

Here Dowson’s attack on the WA Labor government:

“It is imperative, as Emperor MacGowan gathers more and more power over our lives and health, that individuals stand up for themselves and their own community, so that Fremantle is not  simply a facilitator for everything Mark MacGowan and his favoured group of developers want.”

It sounds like a lot of desperation to me, and trying to make as many negative points about the incumbent Fremantle Councillors, but sadly that is what we have had to endure from the Liberal party-loving FS president for some years now. How very disappointing!

Roel Loopers