Clean Up Australia Day

Sunday 4 March is Clean Up Day. We’ll be cleaning up around James Miller Oval in Manning, starting at 9:00 am. We’ll meet on the north side of the buildings, near Moorditj Keila and the club rooms. That’s behind the shops on Welwyn Avenue.

 

You can click here to see more details and to register your names. We have a Facebook event here too. Our group has challenged to Millennium Kids to see who picks up the most rubbish. They are working on the Como Beach shoreline.

If we get sufficient people we’ll move on and do some of the Salter Point shoreline too. Come and join us, (bring some water), have fun and make a difference in our neighbourhood.

Please pass this message on as far as you like. Have your say by clicking on Comments, below, (log in as Name) or just email me and I’ll publish for you. See you on Sunday!

Welcome, and Happy Australia Day

Wow! Summer time in Perth is just so good. Cricket, the Arts Festival, blue skies, time with friends, a little travel, good conversation and Australia Day.

We live in a wonderfully safe country, we have jobs and businesses in a booming economy, our health and education services are very good indeed, our community is safer every year, our parks are green, our tap water is healthy, our transport systems flow freely, we are tolerant of others, our legal system works, our public services are excellent. There is so much to be thankful for.

On Australia Day I’ll do as I have for five years: join the volunteers, take a big bag of Council Welcome flyers and walk the foreshore from end to end all afternoon, welcoming people to South Perth’s free family events. It’s a marvellous way of meeting thousands of people, with smiles all around. On New Year’s Eve in Melbourne, when walking the whole length of the City area, with a total ban on public alcohol, through six hundred thousand people from six to midnight, I noted not even one aggressive incident. Perth: we’ve started a trend, we don’t need a boozy Australia day!

On Clean Up Australia Day - Sunday 4 March 2012 we’ll be working around James Miller Oval and Manning Hub in South Perth, starting at 9:00 am. You are very welcome to join us, to make our neighbourhood cleaner and have a chat too. Our event is on the web: click here to register or just turn up. With a few more volunteers I’ll even put on a free barbecue. Pickup bags are supplied free for you.

These are such positive events, where we get to connect with others, to make a difference around us and to help neighbours. We don't have to look far to find people much less fortunate, doing it tough, with physical and mental health issues, affected by discrimination or misfortune. Yet there seem to be numbers of ordinary people who are a little grumpy. My experience is that there’s a simple fix for a lot of this feeling - get out and help someone else, volunteer.

Our country is incredibly diverse in so many ways. Through events like these we can meet people from different backgrounds and rebuild some of Australia’s famous trust and friendliness. We have some inspirational community leaders. Can we join them in building our communities and connecting people? I feel really good when this happens, and hope you can too.

Please pass this on as far as you like. Have your say by clicking on Comments, below, (log in as Name) or just email me and I’ll publish for you.

River Care and Mosquitoes

"Poison the river! Drain the swamp!" These are the calls in South Perth for a public meeting about mosquitoes, tomorrow, Tuesday 17 January.

We love our rivers. They are where Noongar Wadjuk people lived, where the Swan River Settlement was formed in 1829. We swim, fish, sail and walk in and by the rivers most of our lives. In 1930 the City tried to drain wetlands and imported Gulf of Mexico mosquito fish. It didn't work; the fish just ate other stuff and are now the most common fish in the Canning River. In 1940 we built Canning Dam, reduced flow by 98%, stopped fresh water flow and left wetlands around Wilson, Shelley and Manning permanently salty. By the 1960s mosquitoes drove families indoors at sunset.

A group of residents wants the City to fog wetlands and lay bait for young mosquito larvae. Fogging chemicals kill all insects, including bees, dragon flies and moths. Larvicide kills all larvae, of all types. Species that naturally eat mosquitoes are eliminated; our rivers are poisoned and natural balances disrupted. The effect of fogging on mosquitoes lasts only a few hours.

We love our rivers; they belong to all of us. We love watching moon rise over the water, pelicans skimming low at sunrise, swans nesting. We are horrified about dead dolphins and disappearing birdlife. These rivers are at the core of our lives and we want them managed with the depth of appreciation that we all share.

Even during the recent, spirited debates about Canning Bridge development, residents, the Como Action Group and Ward candidates spoke and wrote of a desire for “pristine rivers.”

On 7 p.m. 17 January, tomorrow, Tuesday, South Perth is hosting a public meeting at the Civic Hall, corner of South Terrace and Sandgate Street, South Perth. A group is attempting promote an argument to poison the river. Please be there to provide a voice to speak up for care of our beautiful waterways and their complexity, to say that this is just not on.

Please feel free to add your thoughts for all to see, by clicking on Comments below or by emailing me. (Anonymous comments might be edited.)

More New Ideas in the City

A recreational club with two thousand members, operating seven days a week, with strong competition and a buzzing social scene? This can be a new South Metro Bridge Centre. An expanding demographic of older players could really appreciate a new facility for this rapidly growing pastime. With goodwill and some imaginative funding this could be easily achieved. The present club is on City land zoned R80, being very valuable and potentially contributing to a new centre.

South Perth Bridge Club is feeling squeezed by new developments near their Como home of thirty years. Melville Club has been given two years to vacate their old building to make way for Riseley precinct developments. There is opportunity to start afresh. With a new site on Manning Road, close to the freeway, Canning Bridge Station and the new light rail service, this could be easily accessible to the whole Perth region. Merging the two local clubs and bringing in new members could easily create an exciting new venue near the Manning Library, on Council land. Regional tournaments could be accessible to all between Mandurah and Joondalup. Can we make this happen?

More events last weekend included a spirited party hosted by Moorditch Keila, with food, music and smiles. Wow, Dena, Garry and friends do wonders in our community.

Speaking of making things happen, the McDougall Farm Community Garden people are a bundle of energy. Another workshop on Sunday brought more people and ideas together. John McBain and friends are about to commence preparing worm farms and compost, ahead of an anticipated Spring 2012 planting.

For younger residents, this weekend the new McDougall Park play area is expected to be open. What a job the City has done here :-) More new ideas in action.

People in this City are moving with energy. Councillor Gleeson speaks of visionary planning and the need to be “not tied to the dinosaur of our old Town Planning Scheme.”  Councillor Reid speaks of keeping the open feel of our neighbourhoods, not closing off our families behind high walls.

Do you have some ideas about the future? Click on Comments below to add your thoughts, or just email me and I’ll publish them here for you.

What About Small Voices?

An affordable housing development in Manning was last night refused by South Perth Councillors. The property at 4 Downey Drive is owned by Homes West and has a dilapidated house on it. In partnership with an architect, Homes West submitted plans to construct a  block of six affordable apartments with a street-facing office. They planned to sell four units on the open market, use the cash for more building, and to sell the other two units on a Shared Equity arrangement to approved buyers. The City’s planning officers recommended the application for approval by Council.

Manning has for many years comprised welfare housing, including houses for returned soldiers from the 1940s. At times as much as 50% of dwellings were social housing. That figure is now down to 17%. In recent years people have been buying land in Manning cheaply and building grand houses on their blocks. Three such new houses can be seen adjacent to 4 Downey Drive, above. The rest of the street remains mostly in its old form.

In September Councillor Sharon Hawkins-Zeeb, who lives next door, raised a petition of more than a hundred local residents to protest about this proposed building next to her property. At the consequent public meeting speaker after speaker rose to express their feelings against the amount of social housing in Manning. As each finished the crowd clapped and cheered. A representative of the Department of Housing pointed out that the development was not for social housing but that the units would be sold. His words appeared to be not understood by members of the crowd, as they continued to demand less Homes West tenants in their suburb.

At last night’s meeting Councillor Hawkins-Zeeb declared a “Proximity Interest” and left the room during debate. There was no debate. When the Mayor introduced the item not one Councillor even twitched to move or second the motion. Not a word was said. The motion therefore lapsed. Councillor Colin Cala then moved that the application be refused. He spoke of the size of the building being out of character with the streetscape, noting that as more good quality homes are being built their amenity should be protected. He said the proposed building would have far-reaching effects on adjoining property. Cr Peter Howat spoke to say that the building would affect the neighbours and was not in keeping with the neighbourhood. Not one person spoke up for affordable housing, for the needs of people who can’t afford big houses, for people such as nurses and police, whom Homes West sees as likely buyers of the proposed units.

The motion to refuse the application was supported by all except Councillors Lawrance and Hasleby. Of course I do respect that many in our City have homes that they worked hard for and can be proud of. I do ask: should not our Council represent all residents, not just the wealthy? What of young people who can’t afford a big house, the elderly with no family living at home, others who just don’t need all those rooms?

Click on Comments, below, to have your say, or just email me, to have your thoughts added to the blog.

Verges, Gardens and Economic Development

Our McDougall Park Community Garden meeting last week was full of energy. We had lots of conversation about why we are going to share a garden space, how, what our shared values are and much more. What wonderful neighbours we have around here. For more information you can click here to go to the Facebook Group. If you click “Add Friend” you can be part of the group too.

Recent Council moves to amalgamate various tiny pieces of land in the parking area behind the Windsor Hotel and to sell the combined block have caused some concerns. Some residents have suggested that they could lose walking access across the car park. Others are concerned about loss of parking spaces and about local street exit at the rear. These are important points. Might it be possible to use “and” instead of “or” in our thinking to achieve the desired development and to maintain these amenities? I’m sure this is what we can expect with good architects, planners and local input? Have your say when you get the chance.

Preston Street too is in the news. Along with ideas for al-fresco dining and street art some have suggested that if we installed more bike lock-up points there would be fewer cars, less congestion and happier shoppers. The street is wonderfully popular; now what if we changed the dominant colour to be less beige?

Back in June, after work by myself, John McBain, Mark Taylor and many others, the Council changed the verge law so that we do not need permission for:

• Natural lawns, reticulation, verges mulched with organic mulch or low-growing Waterwise verge gardens.

This means we can have native plants, mulch and even edible herbs on the verge. Click here for more details.

My last achievement before leaving Council was to have the City commit to composing an economic development plan. Surprisingly, we don’t have one. One of the CEO’s KPIs for the year is to get this moving. There is so much happening and I’m hugely encouraged by the way our community joins in planning for our future. Do you have thoughts on this?

Please pass this on to your family and friends. You can add your thoughts by clicking on Comments below, or email me and I’ll publish for you.

Two and a Half Opportunities to Have Your Say

What’s a democracy? Is it somewhere that you get to have your say about the law? Here are 2.5 chances to do just that, one about now, one about later. Both are to do with our Councils, what they are and how they work.

For the first, WA State Government has a Local Government Amendment Bill currently  progressing through the Lower House; it could reach the upper house next week. It’s all about discipline, payments, investments and underground power. There’s a summary below or you can click here for a full copy and here for explanations. If you’d like to have input you could contact your State MP or you could email me to pass on, or you could click on Comments, at the end of this blog. You should be pretty quick on this one.

Your second chance is to do with the future role of Councils, what they are, what services they provide, how big they are and much more. You can go directly to the Metropolitan Local Government Review web site or read more about the 23 questions below.

Chance three is to say stuff ‘em all, I’m going to make a difference near home. The Great Freeway Clean-up is on for 27 November 2011, between The Narrows and Cranford Av, right past Mill Point and Como. Click

here for more info.

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1 Now) Local Government Amendment Bill key components:

• new disqualification provisions for council members so that they cease to hold office when elected to Parliament or when convicted of a major crime
• modifying the current power for the Salaries and Allowances Tribunal to recommend the levels of local government chief executive officer salaries and remuneration to making a binding determination which must be complied with by local governments
• inclusion of a new power for the Salaries and Allowances Tribunal to set the levels of fees and allowances paid to council members
• addition of a new head of power to enable regulations to be made to regulate the types of investments that local government may invest their money in
• clarifying the powers of local government to impose service charges for underground power and the ability for rebates to be paid under the Rates and Charges (Rebates and Deferments) Act 1992
• inclusion of a new power to enable the Minister to suspend a council for up to six months and/or require members of council to undertake remedial action where a council has become dysfunctional

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2 Later) Metropolitan Local Government Review

Submissions should be sent to: Metropolitan Local Government Review Panel GPO Box R1250 Perth WA 6844 or mlgr@dlg.wa.gov.au

Submissions can also be made via the website: metroreview.dlg.wa.gov.au

KEY QUESTIONS

1. Do you think there is a need for better local government arrangements in metropolitan Perth? Why? Or why not?

2. If you think there is a need for a better local government system, what should the priorities of the new system be? What should its objectives be?

3. What are the best aspects of local government in its current form?

What is your vision for the future of the Perth metropolitan area?

5. What do you think are the biggest issues facing metropolitan Perth?

6. Do you think local government in metropolitan Perth is ready to face the demands and challenges of the next 50 years? If not, what do you think needs to be changed?

7. Do you think that local government in Perth will be able to deal with national and international issues such as climate change and growing populations?

8. Do you think local government should be responsible for managing these issues, or should they be the responsibility of the State or federal governments?

9. Who should pay for the social and physical infrastructure and services required to cope with these issues?

10. Is metropolitan Perth in a position to be an effective international competitor? If not, what would you change?

11. What do you think about the other governance models discussed here, such as those adopted in Auckland or Vancouver? Which aspects of these models would work in Perth? Which aspects would not work?

12. Do you know of any governance systems that work well elsewhere, either in Australia or overseas, that might work well in Perth?

13. Should more be done by local governments to engage with the community?

14. Should voting be compulsory for local government elections?

15. Does metropolitan Perth have too many local governments? What would be the advantages and disadvantages in reducing the number of local governments?

16. If the boundaries and/or roles of Perth’s local governments are changed, what should be the criteria for doing so? Are the LGAB’s factors (cited above) the right criteria?

17. Should local government boundaries be set by an independent body and reviewed at regular intervals?

18. If Perth’s local government boundaries do not change, how do you think services to communities could be improved?

19. What do you consider are the main roles and responsibilities of local government?

20. In an urban area like Perth, which functions should belong to the State or Commonwealth governments?

21. Are there any State-provided services that local government might be better placed to provide?

22. What do you consider to be the principles of good governance at a local level?

23. Do you think there should be greater State government oversight of issues, such as key performance indicators and senior local government employee appointments and salaries?

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Whew, this not being a Councillor is a busy job.

Just click on Comments, below, to have your say.

Your Council, Your Connections

Your Council meetings are open to the public. To see and hear what goes on you can walk in at (almost) any time. In South Perth the formal monthly meeting is usually at 7 p.m. on the last Tuesday of the month. On the Tuesday before that there is normally a formal briefing session on items in the month’s agenda. This is where ratepayers and residents can submit questions to the Mayor on agenda items and where you can make a deputation to Council on these items. Recent topics have included Dog Law and HomesWest developments. Meetings only sometimes extend past two hours. Go on, participate in Democracy!

During the month Councillors will have many other forums, workshops and briefings. These are not generally open to the public and have a very informal style. Some Councillors also attend training sessions, for example updates on the Law, Code of Conduct and Rules of Conduct, on understanding financial reports, on Planning, and so on. It’s a bit of a work load.

When Councillors swear their oath of Office they voluntarily surrender some of their Constitutional right of free speech. Decision-making in an effective Council is in a collegiate style, rather than one of “getting the numbers”. This always gives a much better outcome for the City’s future. Councillors agree, too, to support the group’s decisions, whether they personally agree or not, voted in favour or not and even whether they were present or not. There are many laws about process and behaviour. One that surprises some is that a Councillor must have an open mind, be open to argument and not have a fixed position.

Perhaps you’d like to represent your community. Click here for some thoughts on what you might bring to your community.

In my area this month I’ve got Neighbourhood Watch onto Facebook, Twitter and the Web. You are welcome to join as a Friend, to Follow and to browse. I’ve also added a Community Calendar to this Blog, for you to use. You can link to it on the right side of this page. Feel free to send in your events, it’s free.

See you at the Community Garden planning session at McDougall Park on Sunday?

As always, we’d love to read your thoughts. Click on Comments, below, or email me and I’ll publish them for you.

Rooster to Feather Duster

Congratulations to Mayor Sue Doherty on selection by the community to lead our City of South Perth. Congrats also to Councillors Bill Gleeson, Fiona Reid and Sharon Hawkins-Zeeb who will represent us on Council. For myself, there’s lots to do in the extra thirty hours a week I now have as an ex-Councillor. Rooster one day, feather duster the next. Tonight I’ve updated the Neighbourhood Watch web site and created a Facebook page for that tremendous group of committed people. Now for a Blog update. Oh and click here for my Facebook page.

A common theme in the election was the community’s sincere concern about change and how we plan for a future that will be very different to anything in our past experience. Canning Bridge development was certainly a big issue.

Exciting presentation last night with ABC's Josh Byrne on Community Gardens. South Perth's projects at McDougall Park in Como include a shared garden for the community, a wonderfully imaginative kids' playground and preservation of the heritage dairy farm buildings. I love the way this park is going, with about five phases of people passing through each day and swans and other birds nesting in the middle.

McDougall Park was originally a dairy farm, started in 1914, operating until 1946 when Neil McDougall retired. Neil and Hazel gifted the farm to the Council and Hazel’s will specified that the house and farm buildings be preserved. They are now heritage listed.

I am excited about this project because I have seen others working well in Perth City, Fremantle and in Africa. What a great way to bring people together! You are invited to the next planning meeting at the park on Sunday 6 Nov 10am to 12 noon, Clydesdale St, Como. It’s open to everyone, especially if you live in Manning, Como or McDougall wards. See you there!

I’ve had a number of calls from people who received voting papers for the Mayor but none for the Ward Councillor. If this happened to you, or you received none, especially in Como, please let me know so I can advise the WAEC.

Next week sees a Special Electors Meeting at 5:30 on Monday at Manning Bowls Club, in response to a petition against development by Homes West at 4 Downey Drive, Manning. While many in our city are doing well, there are others that are in hard times and need our support. All in our community need shelter and security, basic needs for all that live on Earth. There are real questions around how we ensure such core needs for our residents, in an envelope of trust and respect. It is certainly not easy and I hope all that attend share these key values.

Manning residents will choose a new Councillor soon, as Cr Les Ozsdolay resigned this week. Les has worked hard and done wonders, being the driver behind Clontarf Markets, the chef for innumerable sausage sizzles and an ear for many residents. A by-election will happen some time soon. With heaps of support, I will be nominating and hope to be as useful.

Click on Comments below or just email me, to have your thoughts published here.

Preston Street for Dinner?

It’s Friday night in Como. Where shall we go for dinner? Preston Street of course! Sunset view down the hill, sails on the water, a cool drink to hand. Ahh, I love this place.

Now, what can we do to make it even better? What if we encouraged the restaurants to place tables on the pavement, leaving a walkway on the building side? Patrons at Just Tapas, Empress, Coffee at Cygnet, Wild Lime, Golden Mile, Lago di Como and others could enjoy sunset even more.

Then what if we did a bit of engineering and shaped the pavement a bit so tables stood straight? What if the businesses chipped in for the cost? What if we had a bit of gentle street music?

Do you have an idea? If we work with our Council we can do wonders with our City. Click on Comments below or just email me, to have your thoughts published here.

Highlights and Thank You

People of our City are amazing. Over the past four years as Councillor I’ve had the absolute pleasure of working with wonderful community members. So many people are contributing their time, energy, skills and funds towards the future of our neighbourhood.

Some of the high points have been:

• The Friends of McDougall Park, who get together to tidy, weed and manage a beautiful locality. This park is an oasis of peace, where a pair of black swans is  nesting right now.

• Lyndon Lewis, who has personally contributed very large sums towards environmental landscaping of the Canning River shoreline.
• Members of Neighbourhood Watch, who work tirelessly to make our suburbs safer. It has been my pleasure to chair some of their Council liaison meetings and to design their web site.
• The people of Como, who value their neighbours, trust each other and regularly turn out at our Tea in the Park events, and join conversation about our future.
• The crew at SERCUL, working every day to safeguard our rivers. I’ve learned a lot while representing the City at SERCUL and while chairing the Local Government Reference Group of Perth Region Natural Resources Management Group.
• The Heritage Society, who have such passionate and interesting members, working on historical, natural and artistic heritage of the City.
• Millennium Kids, who create the leaders of tomorrow, conscious of our world.
• Members of Perth Bushwalkers, for whom I’ve been the Treasurer, sharing appreciation of our rich natural diversity.
• SIDS Foundation, based in our City and achieving wonders for families across WA.
• The Library team at the City, who have created a wondrous space.

• The Staff and Councillors at the City of South Perth, who show how good a local Council can be.

I’ve also learned a lot while being on bodies such as the WA Local Government Standards Panel, consultation groups around transport, light rail and river management, the Local Chambers business group and quite a few others.

Thank you to all of these people, for allowing me to be part of what you do and to contribute my own pieces to your objectives. It has been a satisfying, positive and enjoyable four years.

What more can we do together? How can we all make a difference? What do you think? Comment below, or email me, and I’ll get your thoughts published here.

 

Trust and Economy of our City

Do we think enough about what makes our local economy work? Transport, housing, environment, community services and sense of place all get attention at Council level. But what do we need to do to build local businesses, jobs and economic connections?

Trust is the bit we take for granted and it is the core of what makes Australia work, as a community and as an economy. In many poor countries there exists a culture that says it’s OK to cheat someone who is not a family member. In some places cheating is even seen as a sign of clever business. Willingness to trust strangers is what puts Australia at the top of league tables charting economic strength. It’s also why I enjoy street food markets in Asia.

Our position on the trusting spectrum is what makes us different. Trust is so much a part of our life that we treat it like oxygen. We trust that our customers will pay us, that our land tile is secure, that our kids will learn useful skills and sound values at school. We trust our friends, our neighbours and strangers at the shop. Is this the key to developing local jobs and being more of the village community that many of us seek? Is trust an asset to be nurtured, one of which we are not aware?

While the mining economy powers ahead, should we do more to consciously build local economies and promote local jobs? Can we have more jobs near where we live? Do we have to treat our suburb like a dormitory that we leave every morning for work, and return to, for food and sleep? Can we build local business so we are more a part of the life in the veins of our community?

Can the large number of home and small-office consultancies be part of this. Will National Broadband allow businesses to be quite different to anything in our past. I already know people who work for big UK and USA businesses, while living in Perth, using the Internet to help them service opposite time zones. Will the development of one of the world’s biggest super-computers in Kent Street next year spur innovation? Could Mend’s Street be the centre for fashion retail in WA? Can services for education capitalise on the rapid growth of Curtin Uni?

At Council this week I commenced a formal conversation around how we can promote the City’s economy. We went on to include this topic in the CEO’s key performance indicators for 2012. My dream is that Council can do much more in this direction. We’ve already begun, with a vision for Canning Bridge and for the area between the Freeway and the Zoo. The new library has small rooms available for business start-ups and community groups. Manning Hub redevelopment includes a significant business rejuvenation. There is thought around a business component of funding heritage preservation and the Old Mill.

What structures, ideas, inspirations and changes can we promote? How can we make a difference? What do you think? Comment below, or email me, and I’ll get your thoughts published here.

Empty Seats on Council

Nominations for WA Local Council seats close on Thursday afternoon 8 September 2011. Does this matter to you?

A number of Councils around the State still have empty positions. Others have only one person nominating in many Wards. Sometimes this means a good person gets straight in without being distracted from their good works; other times it means that a less skilled person get to lead your community.

Do you care enough to make a difference?

If you are reflecting on how you might contribute to the City’s future, and what it takes to do it well, you might like to look into one of my questioning blogs by clicking here.

There are some interesting electoral profiles out there. I like to look at what a person has done already, before I look at their view of the future. Oh, and I hope they have such a thing as a view. My ideal candidate should have an active history, should care a lot about others, should have already done a lot for others, should be a good listener and should have a focus on what our City will be like in our grandkids’ time.

My ideal candidate might have some connection with politics, but must be able to bring their personal values to the Council Chamber, and leave their party allegiances outside. They really must be able to work together and, when necessary, to disagree agreeably. Oh, and quite a few, I hope, don’t fit the standard model of greying male. (There are enough of us already.)

Go on, like Ernie says, get out there.

Do you have something to add? Click on Comments below or just email me, to have it published here.

 

Happy Birthday Perth

This week in 1829 the City of Perth was founded. (Lisa Scafidi has just alerted me to this fact.) A hundred and thirty five years earlier, in 1696, Dutch explorer Willem de Vlamingh landed here. For many thousands of years before that the original inhabitants had built a strong relationship with this place.

The early European settlers nearly starved. South Perth Mill was built to grind wheat, grown where the Royal Perth Golf Club now resides. The mill was our first industrial development.

The mill and the peninsular represent many things in both Colonial and Indigenous history. For this reason the proposed museum here will show both lines of history. Recognition of this is important to our future. Our old buildings, artefacts, oral and written history, works of art, our people and much else make up this history. My recent blog on preserving Heritage House asks about ways to show our respect for South Perth’s heritage in its many lines.

Susan Harris and others have written about early farms, bird nesting sites, an old fig tree, Canning River wrecks, dreaming and learning trails, artists such as May Gibbs and very much more. Susan’s thoughts about the depth of our shared heritage, what that might include and how we might preserve and understand it can be downloaded here.

In any case, the matter is a broad one and we do things better in this city  when we all contribute to the conversation. A motion to Council next week asks us to investigate building a community reference group around heritage matters. There are other views developing around this theme as we begin to appreciate heritage value in a time of rapid change. Do you have something to add? Click on Comments below or just email me, to have them published here.

Our Safer City

What a community this is. We want a safer city and we are doing something about it. We take responsibility, we work together, we look out for our neighbours.

The City’s planning approach now includes a Design-Out-Crime aspect, so that our streets are in clear view and have lots of pedestrians. We try to make our precincts active at all times of day. Neighbourhood Watch is very active, with members all over the place; members use the new web site we set up to make contact and update information. Since I started the wipe-out-graffiti project others have joined in, cleaning the streets of scribble as fast as it appears. This is all about people reclaiming their own streets.

Moorditch Keila, with support of the Council and SouthCare, has done wonderful things to connect indigenous young people. They’ve organised regular sporting and cultural events, had a lot of fun and significantly reduced the trouble that some members had got into.

Our Sports clubs are a really big part of enjoying life and connecting people, young and old. Hundreds of volunteers give their time and skills to make life better for others. Youth groups like SPYN- South Perth Youth Network, develop opportunities for young people and enjoy doing it. The image of our City is changing fast, getting even better and includes young people in our future.

By bringing young people into our lives, our planning for the future and everything we do, our City is safer, more enjoyable and more likely to be resilient in a changing world. Millennium Kids has really connected with hundreds of young people. Hey they even have a project called ‘Have Fun, Eat Chocolate & Care for the Environment.’ Older people have formed groups such as Friends of McDougall Park to take care of local parks, making them cleaner and safer for all of us.

Since we started Next Door Day on the last Sunday in October each year, so many people have taken up the idea, as far away as east coast towns. Inviting the neighbours over for food and drink, sharing  and having a chat has been popular and fun. It also makes our neighbourhood connected and safe. We’ll be doing it again this year.

We don’t outsource our caring about safety to a contractor, we don’t delude ourselves that private security cars make any difference. Melville has had security patrols for many years. People there like seeing the cars around a couple of times a year, but doubt their effectiveness. The Mayor of Melville comments that for workplace safety reasons the patrol officers must not approach possible offenders. Patrols must stay back, observe and call the police, just like any other resident. As I learned a few years ago, when my son was looking at jobs, private security officers are often new arrivals in Perth, working night shift, on their first jobs here. It’s a thankless, boring job, with little backup or support.

Working with our Police officers from Cannington and Kensington, especially on community projects, has had much better results. Our Eyes on the Street project has involved nearly everyone in the City, so that there are literally thousands of people watching out for each other, keeping us safe. By supporting the work of WA Police in our City we link to their network, skills and experience. Their fantastic work on Australia Day demonstrated how very effective our police are when the going gets tough.

Yes, our city can be safer, and by watching out for each other, by being involved in our community, we can make it that way. I’m doing my bit for a safe city; won’t you come with me?