MAKING CROSSING SAFER FOR BEACY SCHOOL KIDS

 

The community information session about safer pedestrian crossing-especially for Beacy Primary school students- at Hampton Road near the Scott Street intersection raised more questions for me than it provided answers.

It is good to see City of Fremantle staff together with Main Roads experts willing to answer questions from community members and parents, and it was also good to see the Member for Fremantle Simone McGurk there and South Ward Councillor Jon Strachan.

But my first question is why did the City only do a trial for option 1 and closed off the right turns into Scott Street, when the initial thinking was that the pedestrian crossing would be safer if moved 40-50 metres south from the intersection?

Now they prefer to go ahead with the moving of the pedestrian crossing south, but still want to keep the restriction of turning right into Scott Street. Why not do a trial and move the pedestrian crossing and re-open Scott Street and test what happens, before doing both?

I also did not at all get the point the Main Road engineer made that a push button pedestrian crossing light was less safe for children than lollypop attendants, because supposedly motorists might not be able to stop in time for the red light in wet weather while the kids are already on the road. Surely the same danger applies with lollypop people in attendance, and for everyone on the road really.

I was also flabbergasted to hear that Maxwell Street, which now gets a lot more traffic since the no go right turn into Scott Street, does not get the flashing 40kmh school hours lights because it is not within the school zone. Hale Road runs east along the school and Maxwell Street west along the Beaconsfield Primary School, so why do Hale Road and Scott Street have such flashing school zone hour lights but Maxwell Street is not considered to be in the same school safety zone? Sorry, but that is Yes Minister kind of nonsense.

You can have your say till August 22 on the My Say section on the City of Fremantle website, and help make sure that the State Government’s $ 200,000 allocated for the improvements will be well and wisely spent to the satisfaction of the community.

Roel Loopers

 

 

SOUTH FREO DEVELOPMENT WELL ON TRACK

 

 

The M/28 three-storey apartment development opposite The Local hotel in South Fremantle is well under way and on track to open early next year.

The Match group is developing twenty 2-3 bedroom apartments with large balconies. Some will have views of Fremantle Port.

I took this photo yesterday when I walked by on my way to the CBD.

Roel Loopers

NO PEDESTRIAN CROSSING LIGHTS FOR BEACY PRIMARY KIDS

 

The City of Fremantle is keen to do the right thing for the South Fremantle community, which has been demanding safer pedestrian crossing at Hampton Road for children and parents going to the Beaconsfield Primary School, but there won’t be pedestrian lights installed.

Main Roads has indicated to City officers that it won’t support that because of the low number of pedestrians crossing at the Scott Street intersection. On average only 83 pedestrians crossed in the mornings and 53 in the afternoons, while the Main Roads criteria is for at least 350 pedestrians crossings daily to support traffic lights.

So now another community consultation is under way with affected residents receiving letters in the mail from CoF.

Option 1 is to replace the pedestrian crossing bollards with flashing lights and to adjust the kerbing on the median island that was installed last year to allow vehicles to enter and exit properties on Hampton Road from the right. It still means no right turn into Scott Street when coming from the south on Hampton Road and that has increased traffic in Maxwell Street a lot.

Option 2 is replacing the bollards with flashing pedestrian crossing lights before and after school crossing times and improve the pedestrian refuge by widening the median island at Scott Street.

The preferred community option of moving the pedestrian crossing 50 metres south closer to Lloyd Street, preferred by 65% appears to have been abandoned, so neither options will please the community I assume.

A community information session will be held at Beacy Primary on Thursday August 2 at 6pm and you can have your say at: http://www.mysay.fremantle.wa,gov.au

 

Roel Loopers

 

SOUTH FREO SOUTH TERRACE UPGRADE STARTED

 

 

 

Works to improve the streetscape along a section of South Terrace in South Fremantle have started

The upgrade, at the intersections of South Terrace, Sydney Street and Little Lefroy Lane, will create new road surfaces and footpaths painted in vibrant colours inspired by Fremantle’s street art. It will also include new bike racks and seating, street trees, rubbish bins and drainage improvements.

The placemaking includes the widening of the footpath which will create a bigger, pedestrian-friendly area and increase the amount of alfresco space, while the new paving, street furniture and trees will make it a better lingering node space for people to enjoy,

It is anticipated that reducing the width of the road will make it safer for people to cross the street and encourage drivers to slow down, which will also allow the removal of the very unpopular temporary speed humps in that section of South Terrace.

The project is being funded with the assistance of a $200,000 grant from the state government’s Local Projects, Local Jobs program.

The design was the subject of community consultation in November last year, with 73 per cent of respondents supporting the changes. Several other public meetings organised by the South Fremantle precinct, and attended by South Fremantle Councillors and City of Fremantle staff, were held at The Local last year to hear community concerns and ideas.

This is only stage one of the improvements to South Terrace in South Fremantle, so let’s hope that they work for traffic calming and making the area more pleasant and safe for all. The entire stretch from South Street to Douro Road is due for a traffic calming and an upgrade that will hopefully result in Mainroads allowing the City to lower the speed limit to 40kph.

Roel Loopers

 

ANOTHER SUNDAY IN FREO PARADISE

 

 

Just another beautiful Sunday morning in gorgeous Fremantle! I took this photo at the East West Design warehouse in South Fremantle a couple of hours ago.

Roel Loopers

PARMELIA PARK FIESTA ON TODAY!

 

 

The Parmelia Park Fiesta is on today in Chester Street in South Fremantle, so make sure to take part if you live down that way.

It is on from 2-6pm with a long table dining experience, live music, Croatian dancers, acr=ivities and the unveiling f a new mural by Olivia Samec and Kerry Stack.

There is food for sale and pony rides and a welcome to country by Trevor Stack.

See you there!

Roel Loopers

LAST CHANCE TO VOTE SOUTH FREO!

 

The Fremantle South Ward by-election will be decided today after the unforgivable blunder by the WA Electoral Commission.

It is the last day today for voters in the ward to cast their vote at the Fremantle Townhall till 6pm. Votes will be counted straight after that, so we will know by 7pm if Andrew Sullivan retained his seat or if one of the two other candidates comes over the line first.

It was interesting to hear on SBS this week that voters in the Netherlands are turning  away from mainstream political parties, with more and more people voting for candidates representing local parties for their local governments, while in WA there appears to be the trend of the big political parties becoming more interested in local government politics.

VOTE! It’s a privilege and duty!

Roel Loopers

LOW BENCHMARKS FOR SOUTH WARD BY-ELECTION

 

It was a kind of groundhog day and deja vu all over again feeling at the Fremantle South Ward candidate forum at The Local, that was attended by less than twenty members of the community.

We have basically heard it all before and a lot of it is based on ignorance and the fact that candidates can’t be bothered to attend council meetings, so they have an opinion based on hear say.

The accusations flew wild; There is only one narrative at Fremantle and councillors are too close so there is only rubber stamping. Council looks after developers and businesses but not after residents. There is no due process, community participation, or consultation.

The elected members set themselves low benchmarks, one candidate who has never been to a council meeting said, and that it was questionable if the new South Beach basketball court was a good return for money.

Ignorance always annoys me, but it annoys me even more when it comes from people who want to be our next councillors. If they are too lazy to do their homework and attend council meetings and inform themselves, what benchmark do they set themselves then to be an elected member one has to wonder?

I left the meeting when they started to dig in why there was a by-election and if maybe council or the incumbent should have done more to prevent the inexcusable blunder by WA Electoral Commission staff who allowed an non eligible person to be a candidate.

Did I hear any new ideas about where Fremantle should go, any long term plans? No, none, just good old council bashing. Very disappointing!

Roel Loopers

 

SOUTH WARD BY-ELECTION FORUM

 

 

There will be a candidate forum for the Fremantle South Ward local government by-election this Thursday March 1 at 7.30pm at The Local hotel on South Terrace.

I won’t be attending though as I have already voted, and so have most people who bother to take part in the council election.

Ballot papers were delivered 10 days ago and according to the WA Electoral Commission the vast majority of people vote during the first five days of receiving their ballot paper, so Thursday’s exercise seems a bit futile.

Roel Loopers

NEW SOUTH FREMANTLE APARTMENT DEVELOPMENT

 

 

Preparations are now under way for the three storey residential and commercial M/28 development on the corner of South Terrace and Charles Street.

The new building developed by the MATCH group will be opposite the The Local hotel in South Fremantle and will add to the vibrancy of South Freo.

 

Roel Loopers