An election in the air?
DEAR Rachel (“Eyes on a light rail future,” Herald, August 29, 2015) it’s great to hear from you again. There are some in town who say you are never seen nor heard until a month or two before polling week.
But I don’t subscribe to that. It’s obvious you have been hard at work on behalf of the people of Fremantle by the quality of your campaign platform. I’ll list it below:
• future fund to finance light rail — yes, yes, light rail is much better than heavy rail. You could also try medium rail. That way we get a choice of light, medium and heavy. And your fallback position of that old chestnut the parking fees can take care of it all — brilliant.
• making Fremantle walkable and safe — yes of course, we all wanna be safe, safe I say. If we can’t be safe then what’s the point in coming to Fremantle? There’s nothing worse than coming to Fremantle and not being safe. Well done, Rachel.
• improving the council’s general service delivery — err, umm, hmmm, you might do well to skip this one, Rachel.
• banning motor boats from South Beach — yes, yes. Those boats just have to go. Once those boats go from South Beach everything in our lives will change for the better. I’ll get the ball rolling with a sub-committee on that one. I just wish more people had your vision for a better Fremantle — awesome.
Oh, just one more thing. There’s a rumour floating around town that you are a bit of a political ideologue and that your local council involvement is just a leg-up for a future federal political career at ratepayers’ expense, but that is grossly unfair and I don’t subscribe to that.
Gary Johnson
Marine Tce, Fremantle
Lung cancer rolls on
ON Tuesday August 25 I attended a meeting that the North Fremantle Community Centre convened to discuss the Perth Freight Link.
Premier Colin Barnett (the local MP) and Professor Peter Newman co-presented the meeting. Mr Barnett empathised with the audience but was adamant the Roe 8 section of the link running between Kwinana Freeway and Stock Road and through the Beeliar wetlands—“the lungs of the south”—would go ahead.
On other aspects of the link, the so-called stage 2, he was less forthcoming. Those under threat of losing homes and residents concerned about air quality, loss of amenity and impact on local business must have found this galling.
With characteristic adroitness the premier emphasised the PFL, though not perfect, was necessary in the pursuance of economic growth.
What is evident is that 10 years of inactivity on the construction of an outer harbour has led us to this point and many residents are justifiably peeved at the seemingly last-minute ad hoc nature of this development foisted upon them: I suppose it is a question of priorities.
Quays and stadiums might be intrinsic to the changing shape and nature of Perth but they are far less important than that of the substantive infrastructure development that should have been underway during the recent period of unparalleled economic growth.
One can only despair at the prospect of valuable public assets like the port being sold to finance such second-rate solutions.
Mark Smith
South St, Hilton
Lung cancer rolls on
ON Tuesday August 25 I attended a meeting that the North Fremantle Community Centre convened to discuss the Perth Freight Link.
Premier Colin Barnett (the local MP) and Professor Peter Newman co-presented the meeting. Mr Barnett empathised with the audience but was adamant the Roe 8 section of the link running between Kwinana Freeway and Stock Road and through the Beeliar wetlands—“the lungs of the south”—would go ahead.
On other aspects of the link, the so-called stage 2, he was less forthcoming. Those under threat of losing homes and residents concerned about air quality, loss of amenity and impact on local business must have found this galling.
With characteristic adroitness the premier emphasised the PFL, though not perfect, was necessary in the pursuance of economic growth.
What is evident is that 10 years of inactivity on the construction of an outer harbour has led us to this point and many residents are justifiably peeved at the seemingly last-minute ad hoc nature of this development foisted upon them: I suppose it is a question of priorities.
Quays and stadiums might be intrinsic to the changing shape and nature of Perth but they are far less important than that of the substantive infrastructure development that should have been underway during the recent period of unparalleled economic growth.
One can only despair at the prospect of valuable public assets like the port being sold to finance such second-rate solutions.
Mark Smith
South St, Hilton
A personal capacity
YOUR August 22 issue contained two articles featuring my White Gum Valley neighbour Mark Woodcock, including the scoop he will once again be running in the Fremantle council elections.
I am sure Mark would want to make it clear he was speaking in a personal capacity and not as “White Gum Valley co-convenor” as neither of the topics covered has ever been discussed at a precinct meeting.
The precinct is a local residents’ group and is non-political. When White Gum Valley residents wish to express political points, they form a separate action group as they have with the “Rally in the Valley “ event on Saturday August 29, at Evan Davies Reserve.
Mark has consistently commented that members of Fremantle council are “members of political parties” and insinuated that council decisions are being made in the context of personal agenda. One must wonder how a regular citizen managed to get so much time with planners at Main Roads and then with the WA transport minister.
The tunnel idea outlined in the front page article is one that north ward’s Rob Fittock has been promoting locally for several years, so surely the Main Roads planners and the minister would have investigated it before they made their plans public.
I wish Mark well wherever he chooses to run in the council elections. But to be open and transparent, perhaps he should confirm his political party affiliations, as indicated by the Liberal Party sign displayed at his home during recent elections.
Brian Smith
Kellow Pl, Fremantle
Road rogues
I AM astounded by the utter hypocrisy on display by the City of Cockburn. On the one hand it opposes the long-awaited Roe 8 extension, and on the other it’s made a desperate grab for $290 million of funding for Armadale Road and the southern end of North Lake Road.
Cockburn has previously said it opposes roads as a means to deal with congestion — yet it would now seem it only opposes roads which fall outside its boundaries!
With the construction of the Murdoch and Bull Creek train stations, the Fiona Stanley Hospital and continuing population growth in this southern corridor, it is readily apparently that Leach Highway and South Street will be reduced to gridlock without Roe 8.
The costs of such gridlock are all too clear. Residents will face long delays and stress as they battle traffic to get to and from work on South Street. Businesses will face increased transportation costs as trucks grind to a halt on Leach Highway. And, most unfortunately of all, patients’ lives will be put at risk as ambulances struggle to reach the emergency department at Fiona Stanley Hospital.
By opposing the City of Melville’s long and hard-fought campaign to build Roe 8, Cockburn has shown utter contempt and disdain for the residents of Melville.
Cockburn, backed by the militant MUA, is attempting to mislead Melville voters into opposing vital road infrastructure. Now is the time for Melville residents to stand up to strong-arm tactics and union [pressure] and join the fight for Roe 8.
This opportunity has been 30 years in the making — we can’t afford to lose it.
Matthew Woodall
Leeming
From little things…
IT is not too hard to guess who Jack Cook (“You don’t speak for me,” Herald letters, August 29, 2015) is representing by attacking Fremantle Residents’ and Ratepayers’ Association interim chair Claudia Green.
Instead of attacking the issue Mr Cook attacks the person and the “little group”. Would not it be helpful, democratic and correct to tell all of us where Claudia Green was incorrect in her article?
Or could the conclusion be there is nothing to dispute in what she said, so the only thing remaining to attack is her and the “little group”?
I came to Australia almost 30 years ago through a refugee camp after risking my life while escaping communist Czechoslovakia. In there was a “little group” called Charta 77 — 14 million, compared to the one million Communist Party members who ruled the country. There was no shortage of “Mr Cooks”, giving Charta 77 all kinds of derogatory names. As we all may know from history, the “little group” was right while the one million communists were wrong.
With regard to my own position on the original issue: Fremantle council’s self-promoting advertising, I feel very strongly about the council increasing my rates by 10 per cent and using the money for self-promotion. There is very little this council does for its residents, and especially the ratepayers it is supposed to represent.
Most of its activities are in the area of playing “a visionary government in its own right” navigated by a single-colour ideology. We need more popular input, more colours in the city’s governance, more feedback from the residents, not less.
Petr Pacak
Member, FRRA
Rennie Cr, Hilton
Sunset clarity
THE applications for the J Shed tavern and live music venue overlaid with the application for temporary activation, commencing October 1, 2015, have raised many issues for residents who only had until August 28 to comment. FICRA sought an extension to the period for comment but was refused.
In the interests of clarity, we ask Sunset and the city the following questions:
• is it true the lease governing Sunset’s rights and obligations, including to pay rent, does not come into force until July 1, 2017 subject to Sunset having been granted a tavern licence?
• if this is the case, does this mean Sunset has no obligation to pay rent from the proposed commencement of the temporary activation (October 1, 2015) until the lease commences in July 2017?
In the absence of a lease covering the temporary activation period, what market-based commercial arrangements are in place between Sunset and the City to protect the interests of ratepayers in return for Sunset having control of a prime area of coastal real estate for eight months a year until its tavern licence is granted (or not).
Richard Mehan
High St, Fremantle