Redirect the energy
I WANTED to thank the gang at the Herald so very much for printing my letter calling on Cr Sam Wainwright to direct his considerable civic energies in to preparing the City of Fremantle to capture value for all when the NDIS monies begin to flow (Herald letters, June 21, 2014).
Printing the letter induced a fantastic response, and I sincerely hope it has a wider effect, as I am none too sure the rest of the council, and especially the mayor, has any real interest in developing this area.
Tony Buti, MP for Armadale, law professor and father of a disabled child said, in the West Australian newspaper a year ago something along the lines of “for some reason it’s sexier to [fight for causes like] asylum seekers, Aboriginal  and gay marriage rights, than it is that of the disabled”.
Yep. But, taking a risk, sending my letter to your paper and getting the response that I did has given me hope that if I target this way, more broadly, it may just shift people a little.
Thanks so much, Herald team.
Diana Ryan
Walpole St, Bentley

Grey army sees red
MY question to members of parliament, of all parties is: how can they justify accepting a substantial increase in salary while expecting seniors and the less well off in our community to accept cuts to pensions and increases in fees and charges.
It is doubtful Barnett will lead the Liberals to the next election, either by design or because of a voter backlash.
However, any MP, of either party, wishing to retain his or her seat should take note the grey army will not forget those who turn their backs on them now. Later this month Simone McGurk, the recently elected Labor MP for Fremantle, together with the leader of the Labor party, Mark McGowan, have invited seniors and those adversely affected by cuts to pensions and concessions to attend a tea to air their views.
It will be interesting to hear their views justifying the increase to MPs’ salaries while expecting the rest of the community to accept pay cuts.
Bob Loftus
Beach St, Fremantle

Dirty word
HERITAGE is unfortunately now a dirty word at Fremantle council. Planning director Phil St John said this week there was no requirement for shipping company MSC to do an archaeological dig on its vacant development site in Cliff Street because “the available documentary evidence for the site did not fulfill criteria”.
But, the council’s own local history library (now Fremantle history centre) has a wealth of evidence contradicting him. Chauncy’s 1844 map shows that from the very earliest days of the colony there were stone stuctures on the site, and an 1885 photo clearly shows a cottage. Besides this the area was the site of the first Fremantle settlement from 1829.
Dr Shane Burke of the Univerisity of Notre Dame has a team standing by that will do the investigations for nothing. But, he is still waiting for a response from Fremantle council—he wrote to it last year.
In most historic cities archaeology is treated seriously and is part of the exciting understanding of who we are. This is not the case in Fremantle, where the council does not even maintain its own heritage buildings.
It is worth recalling that Mr St John was brought in as an investigator from a private firm in 2005 when Cr Les Lauder discovered that height and nightclub controls had been mysteriously removed from the council’s town planning scheme. No-one went to gaol for that criminal activity, but the controls were reinstated, before being altered again by the current council.
Here we are in 2014 with the council’s own policies repeatedly being ignored by the council. The abysmal Atwell Arcade proposal put out by council for public comment is so bad one wonders who is encouraging developers to buy properties and submit plans which don’t remotely reflect sympathetic architecture or adherence to policy.
Thank goodness for Dr Linley Lutton, the expert planner who resigned from council’s design advisory committee in dismay at how it operates.
He has stepped in and written a 10-page analysis of the Atwell Arcade proposal to help the community with submissions, which close next week.
John Dowson
Mouat St, Fremantle

Police help—noisy neighbours
THIS is a call for urgent police help to stop loud drunken parties.
Loud noise and drunken parties are a hidden root cause of many road accidents, assaults on police officers, and assaults on residents.
A vivid picture of a person bashed beyond recognition appeared in the daily paper recently—the assaulted father of two had asked his neighbour to keep the noise down.
I wonder how many times he had called the police, to no effect.
I have called the police 13 times in a three-month period, with the police attending just once.
Most time the police asked me to call every hour, and I’ve called three times and given up.
On some occasions the police asked me to call if the drunken youths actually jumped the fence—in which case I would call the ambulance, if I had time.
I have had to endure regular loud domestic disputes, drunken parties, racial abuse, harassment while on the road, from my neighbour.
I have taken costly measures to get legal advice to obtain a restraining order, increase security in my home and sound-proof windows.
All of these could have been avoided if the police attended to my concerns at the outset.
Just yesterday, a drunken party began at 10am and finished at 4.30pm, when the youths piled up in a car with bottles of beer and sped through the street where several small boys were playing on skate boards.
I called the police at 3pm and they arrived at 5pm.
Commissioner Karl O’Calloghan spoke last week about enhancing policing by increasing the number of police officers.
It is the method of policing that needs to be addressed urgently. The computer systems should flag up an emergency situation when a resident has called more than, say, three times in a week or a month.
If police attend that call, the offending neighbour can be instructed to wind up activities while they still have some sense (not drunk senseless), which will then avoid the situation where police officers are assaulted or drunken youths speeding down roads cause a menace to the public.
It is imperative the police take urgent preemptive action to stop loud, drunken parties if they are to make any headway into improving community safety and safety of police officers.
Name and address supplied
Beaconsfield

Annoying TV
I FIND it most annoying looking at some of the adverts on TV.
The one that makes me sick is a grown woman, letting a big dog lick her on the lips. Then there is the rude young person in a car at the traffic lights, making faces at an older driver. A bad-mannered young girl throws down her bike and pouts her lip at her parents—they think it funny.
Bring back Arthur Chance riding his bike; saying ‘it will never happen’ He was great. Then there was the blue heeler dog on the back of the ute who said ‘bugger’. Most of the beer adverts give you a laugh. Last, but not least, please no more cooking shows.
Frank Granger
Melville Bch Rd, Applecross

Learn 4Rs
BOTH Rockingham and Kwinana councils are planning the construction of a household waste incinerator. These have been marketed to the people as “waste to energy” or a green alternative to landfill.
The technologies carry names like “pyrolysis” or “gasification”; however the EU has declared these are just different names for the same animal. They are certainly not a new technology.
Problem 1—Energy: Waste to energy sounds excellent. The truth however, is that by burning only a fraction of the embedded energy will be released. When it is burned, new products need to be produced, hence a net waste of energy and resource materials. Western power already has an oversupply, so will the incinerators sell their energy anyway?
Problem 2—Waste: Some incinerator companies claim only five per cent of the initial volume will be ash. Ash is the fraction of the substance that cannot be burned. This will have to be dumped in landfill. Five per cent  is a very positive figure; 25-30 per cent is more likely. This ash has now become a health risk, because it can become an airborne pollutant. In many cases the ash is highly toxic. Attempts to use the ash in building materials have proven dangerous and a health risk.
Problem 3—Contractual obligations: Building an incinerator is very expensive, and the return on investment takes several decades. Council will have to sign up for a period of 25-30 years for a supply tonnage each year. That tonnage will have to be paid for, no matter whether it is supplied (so called put or pay). Councils will then most likely start to import waste from offshore locations. Instead of reducing waste, we are increasing it. This will also smother any action to reduce our footprint and live more sustainable.
Problem 4—Toxicity: When clean rubbish is burned, the exhaust gases and ash do not pose much of a problem. However, in practice it is very complicated to make sure any toxic input is avoided. Think of batteries, treated pine, plastics with bromide, heavy metals etc… Experience in Europe and the US have proven that many of these plants could not reach the restrictions on dioxin emissions, and had to be closed and dismantled. With an enormous loss of tax payers money.
By the way, don’t think the toxic exhaust is only a problem for Rockingham or Kwinana. Studies have shown that the current output of the Kwinana industry strip travels all the way up the coast, following the Fremantle doctor.
Finally, in the end our only sustainable option is to recycle, reuse, reduce and redesign. Anything else will create just another problem Is it easy? No. But it is surely possible. San Francisco already diverts 80 per cent of its waste away from landfill, so why can’t we do it?
Bart Verwilligen
Peake Way, Medina

Policy wrinkle
MR Abbott, You are punishing the seniors, when they have worked all their lives and paid taxes. Now you pay young women who bear children from the age of 12 and pay them.
Stop the baby bonus, and you will see how quickly you will save money. Seniors have worked hard all their lives and were paid just a couple of dollars for giving birth. Save our country now, fast just by stopping the baby bonus!
Jane Walsh
Cockburn Rd, Coogee