The children thank you
THANKS so much to Main Roads WA for highlighting the benefits of Roe 8 Hwy in its full-page advertisement in last week’s Herald.
I cannot wait for my son to have to cross a six-lane freeway to access his school every day. The health benefits of that are enormous and breathing in diesel particulates and increasing the risk of asthma, respiratory disease or lung cancer are a real plus to his future health and well being (not!).
Thanks for a great campaign, using children to try to manipulate parents away from the very real concerns of this misguided project. To anyone who thinks this does not concern them, think again.
Think about access to your local shops, think about access to visit your friends or to your children’s school, trips that are made on a daily basis may need to be navigated by crossing a freeway that cuts through established suburban communities. Environmentally, there is the damage to valuable wetlands and areas where families ride recreationally and enjoy playing. If you cross Stirling Hwy bridge regularly on your way to work or enjoy going to Port Beach, think about the masses of trucks you will need to navigate your way through when the Roe Hwy ends at Canning Hwy.
Be informed about this project before it is too late.
Jody Lang
Hamilton Hill

Wasteful
I AGREE wholeheartedly with Gordon Hansom (Herald letters, July 11, 2015) regarding the way Melville councillors June Barton, Nick Pazolli and Susanne Taylor-Rees have been treated.
As a Melville ratepayer I have found these hard-working councillors to have the utmost integrity. They listen to and care about the residents they represent. I am shocked the council decided to spend up to $10,000 on a private investigator. This was totally unwarranted and wasteful. I would like to see an apology given to these councillors. They have my complete support.
J Curtis
Kanimbla St, Bicton

Beacy is better
I WAS surprised to read your front page article on the Davis Park area (“Beacy better?” Herald, July 11, 2015).
The South West Metropolitan Partnership Forum commenced working with local residents in May, 2014. Despite a few pleasant community activities in Davis Park and weekly visits from Buster-The-Fun Bus in 2014, I didn’t really notice any improvement in the area until this year.
The eviction of a local drug dealer by the Department of Housing, upgrading of the park by the City of Fremantle, combined with a more locally aware police team, has certainly quietened and improved the atmosphere around here.
Just need the locals to be more responsible about disposing of their rubbish correctly rather than just dumping it on the verge.
Margaret McKenzie
O’Reilly Close, Beaconsfield

Dying laughing
FIONA Stanley Hospital, what a laugh.
It is no laughing matter though, it. What do you expect when things are privatised and Serco is involved. Privatisation means cutbacks on all the essentials and this government wants to privatise everything. Fremantle wharf, electricity, water, gas, transport, highways, etc. Can you imagine the chaos? Nothing that is ever privatised ever turns out to be any good for the majority of the system.
Brad Capes
Miranda Cresc, Coolbellup

It’s a special place
I WENT for a walk around the West End this afternoon and it struck me how special this place is.
I think investors are starting to realise the potential of Freo and slowly but surely the developments are coming.
Everywhere you look there is something new popping up. I noticed a very funky new development happening in Nairn Street—is this another bar/restaurant similar to Bread in Common? I wasn’t aware of it.
The MSC national headquarters in Cliff Street and the Quest apartments are going to be great developments for the city. I never thought I would say this, but as the momentum builds (as I’m certain it will), we must hope the unique character of Fremantle remains. I think it will, because for some reason our city keeps attracting very unusual people!
Up the East End of town, things also appear to be gaining momentum: Caporn Young, The Mantle, Gesha, and the DHA cottage refurbishment at the Barracks have helped give the area momentum. Eleven Queen Victoria Street is about to receive residents and the big game changer, Heirloom has begun. I really believe Heirloom has the potential to change Fremantle forever and will become an icon of the city.
On a small scale, my company has just leased out our ground floor tenancy in Quarry Street to a WA-based retailer for six years and nearby in the old sub-station we have the latest Match apartment proposal (yet to be approved).
I don’t think it is widely recognised, and I know it is highly unusual to heap praise on any council, but this turn around is almost entirely due to the council under Brad Pettitt’s leadership over the past five years. It is an even more remarkable achievement because it has occurred with almost zero help from the state government (for obvious political reasons?). If you dis-regard the money spent on the port, there wouldn’t be one major activity centre in the whole metropolitan area that has received less funding than Fremantle over the past 15 to 20 years.
David Jones
Holland St, Fremantle
The Ed says: Who knew there was a David Jones in Fremantle!

At what cost, cost-cutting?
THE correlation between high density social housing and anti-social behaviour is well-known.
I worked for 24 years in waste management for the City of Fremantle. The units in Holland Street and at least four other complexes, I would visit weekly, often removing ute loads of trash to try and keep the peace in the street.
Social housing accounted for about 20 per cent of housing in Fremantle and about 50 per cent of the complaint calls I received. This should have been Homeswest’s responsibility as it owns the complex and knew who was living there and/or moving in and out. I ceased work three years ago due to illness and it seems no-one has taken up the task.
Delivering clean and safe social housing is not easy. What most people don’t realise is that unlike regular landlords, Homeswest is exempt of rates when properties are vacant. If you factor $2500 per annum in council and water rates per home, that’s about $200 a month. The public housing tenant paying $260 a month hardly covers the rates, never mind the maintenance costs. It’s a strange set up when it’s more profitable for a landlord to board up a complex than to lease it, especially with the long waiting list for housing.
In years past, every large Homeswest complex had a caretaker who in exchange for free rent would do work around a complex. They were removed in a cost-cutting exercise years ago—but at what cost?
Michael Whitworth
Caribbean Dve, Safety Bay

‘Free trade’  isn’t free
TWO weeks ago Melissa Parke was quoted in the Herald regarding the TPP (Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership), yet another “free trade” agreement eroding our rights.
Ms Parke appears to be one of the few people in parliament, together with Senator Nick Xenophon, who realises the damage this will do to our country, with its enablement of multinationals to override government legislation.
Needless to say Mr Abbott loves this as he has never met a multinational he failed to embrace, similarly he has handed China the opportunity to purchase large swathes of Australian farmland and mining areas, that enables them to bring in their own labour if it suits them.
Free trade agreements are never free, especially when the people who benefit most are the people we sign up with. Few of our politicians have the wit or intelligence to cut deals with businessmen and politicians who have been doing this for years and are experts at hiding the small print our mob will blindly overlook.
I fear it is too late now, but thanks Ms Parke for your battle on behalf of Australia.
Geoff Dunstone
Carrington St, Palmyra

Who was asked?
MOST will agree that a new auditorium to house Melville Theatre is needed. But why a new library (Herald, July 11, 2015), when only recently there were substantial refurbishments to the existing one.
How much was the cost of refurbishing and was this a waste? With electronic media taking off do we need to expand our library facilities? How many libraries do we need in Melville? Are we over-served? This seeems to be another example of no consultation with ratepayers before proceeding to make very significant decissions.
Is the proposed increase in rates related to these decisions? Just last year ratepayers were shocked to read the council was planning  to relocate the Melville Bowling Club, with the potential to sell this asset—valued at $20 million.
This decision it appears was inadvertently started by the club asking for funds to upgrade some of its facilities.This was refused and the relocation option was set upon. The bowling club serves the community hugely, its not just for the bowlers. It is used for many other public purposes and functions. Do we need another public “outcry” for the council to reconsider this decision to spend $38 million without consulting ratepayers not considering their priorities?
Karl Kelers.
Clydesdale St, Alfred Cove

Probe to nowhere no joy ride
THE country goes batshit crazy over Bronwyn Bishop spending $5000 on a helicopter ride but no-one seems to care that Melville council spent $10,000 hiring a private investigator to probe three of its dissenting councillors, with absolutely nothing to show for the expense. Funny, innit.
C Macleod
Bull Creek