A desert. Rats!
WHAT a shame! Our once-beautiful green Esplanade park, the price and joy of the town, where families and friends met up on weekends and had friendly chats and picnics, is now a sandy desert.
Huge trucks now run all over the park and dead grass is the main cover. Nobody in their right mind would now picnic there and it is a crying shame this has developed under the watch of our local councillors and city staff.
Joan Kempthorne
Marine Tce, Fremantle

God save the ratepayers
SHAME on you, East Fremantle town council.
Last Thursday January 30 my beloved partner was farewelled at a funeral held at the  Swan Yacht Club, a club where we have been members for 15 years.
This is where he would have wanted to be farewelled and we had the ceremony at 10am so we would intrude on the least amount of the public and traffic in the area.
Brian was a well-respected businessman in Perth and the East Fremantle community, so there were many people in attendance, paying their respects. The SYC car park was, as a result, full so overflow mourners parked on the grass verge opposite the club. So what were these grieving people confronted with when they returned to their cars? Parking fines on every windscreen.
I know there are rules and regulations to be followed but every now and then a human, compassionate side can be allowed to appear. This was perhaps one such situation! No traffic was interrupted  and no-one was in danger. It was simply a matter of revenue for an already dying council.
Funnily enough, just today I found a man at our apartment block trying to gain entry through the security gates, wanting to go door-to-door to gain votes to “Save East Fremantle”. He actually asked if I was going to vote to save the council!
I told everyone I knew about this situation and hopefully each time I did it was one less vote to “save” the town. Plus of course many of the people the council were locals and they will have told their friends and families. Hopefully, the paltry amount the council gained will work as a negative exchange rate emotionally in the district and it will be out of business.
So to invoke the spirit of Gough Whitlam, “God save the ratepayers as nothing will save East Fremantle council”.
Dianne Westall
Riverside Rd, East Fremantle
The Ed says: Our condolences, Dianne, on your loss. However, you may be unhappy to learn East Freo looks to have beaten this attempt to snuff it out, with electors voting down the planned amalgamation with neighbouring Fremantle. Truth be told, we’re not sure you’d get much more joy from the parking gods of an enlarged Freo council.

A pimple on the arse of Perth
DEAR oh dear oh dear! I am absolutely amazed at the delicacy of the flowers who live in Fremantle. The whinging that has gone on for the past few weeks about the closure of the emergency department at Fremantle Hospital (Herald, February 7, 2015) requires the suspension of disbelief.
For the past four decades residents of suburbs as far east as Cannington have had to make the journey to Fremantle if needing emergency treatment. The boot now being on the other foot, with these citizens having a much reduced travel time to an ED, and the burghers of Fremantle having to travel for a whole 14 minutes to get to one, is clearly the end of the world.
Are the residents of the interior suburbs the children of a lesser God? Clearly so if you live in Fremantle.
Gordon Payne in last week’s Herald letters pages notes “if someone has heart or respiratory problems, or is bleeding heavily, the length of time to get to qualified help is crucial”.
Right on, Gordon. This is what the residents of Leeming, Willeton, Cannington et al have lived with for 39 years—without too much complaint as far as I can recall.
As for the statement from Roger Cook—Labor’s shadow health minister—that Fremantle “is an international city, a gateway to the state”, this is enough to make one choke on one’s coffee. What millennium does this idiot live in? The number of people who arrive in our state through Fremantle is miniscule compared to the number that fly in.
A pimple on the arse of Perth might be a more apt description.
Unfortunately, this is typical of the pathetically fatuous remarks we are accustomed to from our elected representatives.
Wasn’t the decision to construct Fiona Stanley Hospital—and the associated decisions concerning what changes would be made to surgical units south of the river—made by the previous Labor government? Or is this an inconvenient truth, conveniently overlooked in the grubby hunt for votes?
If I sound angry it is because I am: I have never suffered fools gladly.
Rod Shaw
Vigors Ave, Bull Creek

No-one puts library in the corner
I AGREE with Nerida Clarke (Herald letters, February 7, 2015) that the proposal to put Fremantle Library in the basement as part of the new Kings Square development is ridiculous.
Who wants to visit a library in a basement, however good the lighting? And who wants to work in a basement?
Libraries need to be able to be visible so they can interact with the community. How will they encourage more people to find and join the library if it is hidden in a basement?
Perhaps the Fremantle council could consider how it would feel if it was working in that basement?
Please think again on this decision. Fremantle Library needs to be in a prime position—it is after all an information service for the entire community.
Let’s see an icon such as the Cottesloe/Peppermint Grove Library which has shown by example how to be both community library and environmental leader.
Jackie Curtis
Bicton

Albany gets it
ON a recent visit to Albany on a cruise ship, it was pleasing to hear the passengers praise the residents of Albany for their welcome and friendship while the ship was in port for the day.
The first thing to impress us was a piper playing the bagpipes on the wharf, dressed in traditional clothes to welcome the ship. Another surprise was a free bus service to town and back that ran all day.
The passengers I spoke to were all impressed with the national ANZAC centre and all the other attractions Albany had to offer and felt they would make a return visit in the future.
It is great that some cruise ships are visiting WA ports and keeping our money in WA. It is more pleasing to know that the cruise ships are welcome.
It was disappointing to read a liquor licence was not granted to the owners of the Garrison fine dining restaurant at the ANZAC centre. The owners of the restaurant I am sure would not want to encourage drunks and anti-social behaviour, for short term gain and ruin the centre and the good name of Albany.
Frank Granger
Melville Bch Rd, Applecross
The Ed says: A bagpiper in kangaroo hide and possum fur? That’d be a sight to behold.

The people have spoken
ACCORDING to the Fremantle council website the CEO considers the East Fremantle referendum to be “highly flawed”.
He commented: “The irony is that if those that voted ‘yes’ had abstained, we would be proceeding with the amalgamation because the percentage turnout would not have been sufficient for a result binding on government. The whole poll process is therefore highly flawed.”
What a pathetic attempt to spin-doctor an overwhelming rejection of amalgamation by the voters.
Ian Brown
Irwin St, East Fremantle

Let’s get excited
IN response to Di Drachenberg (“Bike trail will wreck nature,” Herald letters, February 7, 2015) I can see the reasons for her concern.
Let’s face it, any human activity is detrimental to nature. In fact, much of the area in question has been destroyed by its previous uses over the past 100 or so years—including the limestone walking tracks and fire breaks.
Mountain bike riding does have its “dangerous” aspects but, as far as I am aware, this proposal does not include motor bikes.
I also believe there are ways to keep motor bikes out. We can potentially re-use the trails that exist now (with some improvements) and preserve specific areas so regeneration can occur. I don’t know all the details or plans but we can at least look at them before shutting the gate.
Mountain bike riding is a fantastic sport, and has become very popular over the years.  A facility like this would encourage bike riding of all ages and abilities—right in our neighbourhood. It encourages people to get outside and get some exercise in the great outdoors! I can almost see the weight falling off our obese society.
So yes, let the schools and clubs replant and care for the environment—let’s all do that. Then let us have some excitement by riding on a well-planned and organised track—minimising the impact on that environment.
Ian Loughton
(keen mountain bike rider)
Wood St, White Gum Valley

Improving amenity
GARY CRAWFORD (Herald, February 7, 2015) is right to stress the great recreational value of Troy Park.
But no amenity survives without active maintenance and, in the case of Troy Park which has a sensitive interface with an A-Class nature reserve, this has to mean more than an occasional going over with the mower.
I was drawn to volunteer with SERAG (Swan Estuary Reserves Action Group) when I saw a display of photographs demonstrating the effectiveness of their work in removing large incursions of kikuyu grass and climbing creepers choking the paperbark trees along that boundary and in planting sedges and other native species to replace them.
This successful project and others throughout the reserve have to be actively maintained if the total amenity is to serve not only the ongoing recreational needs of “senior citizens, mums and joggers” and other visitors but also the needs of the numerous birds and small animals which live there.
Patrick Guiton
Swan Rd, Attadale