Marketing fail
ON the weekend, I realised that the invisible Fremantle Festival was on.
I was puzzled as I had seen minimal publicity about it apart from the occasional mention in The Herald but I had not seen a program: neither had my friends and neighbours when I asked them.
I checked online and found a vibrant but basically useless website with nothing to download except a timetable which did not give me the sort of information I needed to make a choice.
Finding out what was on was going to waste a lot of my time; so I decided to give the Festival a miss this year.
The question is why the council would not promote its festival by at least printing a program?
A local librarian told me that there was probably no program printed in order to save the environment.
Am I saving the environment then by not attending anything?
Fremantle itself, looks quite cheerless and there seems to be little input from traders.
The procession has been cancelled for logical reasons that add to the malaise. Let’s cancel the whole thing or next time do some decent marketing and promotion.
It is just another example of Fremantle losing the plot.
Priscilla Shorne
Lilly Street, South Fremantle

And…they’re down
ON November 7, many people will boycott the appalling cruelty of the Melbourne Cup.
The Melbourne Cup should be called “the race that shocks the nation”.
People still talk about the horrors of the 2014 event, when one horse fractured a cannon bone and was killed on the track and another collapsed and died in his stall after the race.
The following year, a mare lay on the ground with a shattered leg until she was killed.
But the headlines hide the extent of the carnage: from July 2016 through July 2017, 137 horses died on Australian racetracks.
That’s one every 2.6 days.
Horses used for racing typically weigh more than 500 kilograms, are supported by ankles the size of a human’s, and are whipped to make them run around tracks at speeds of more than 50 kilometres per hour while carrying humans on their backs.
They’re victims of an industry that is rife with drug abuse, injuries, and race fixing, and many of their careers end at the abattoir.
Few of these horses are retired to pastures, because owners don’t want to pay for a horse who doesn’t bring in any money.
We invite the 99 per cent of Australians who oppose cruelty to animals to help end this exploitative “sport” by refusing to patronise the tracks and informing their friends and family about the tragic lives that horses used for racing lead.
Desmond Bellamy
PETA Australia

Potty mouth
IN criticising the current Kings Square development, it is pity that the choice of words used by the late renowned Mr R M Campbell contained a “profanity” (which is unfortunately now in common use by social media and sometimes openly public open places) the Herald chose to include in full.
In my view, some minor edit of the article by the Editor, eg  instead use “F…..g “,. This would have still got his full message across, while retaining some semblance of sensitivity to readers who might find it offensive to read it in full on the front page of their local paper.
Brian Wadcock
Waddell Road, Bicton
The Ed says: As we read your edited version, our brains filled in the blanks, so really, what’s the point?

The common people
IT was great to see a seismic shift in the composition of the Melville City Council (“Election Roundup”, Herald, October 28, 2017) to counter the “group think” of the last term.
Though I was dismayed to read the comment of newly elected deputy mayor, Cr Matthew Woodall, “With many new faces around the table, it will take a while for all of us to get to know each other and find out where our common interest lie”!
Common interest?
There should be only one interest at the heart of all serving councillors – to deliver the best value for the ratepayers and residents of the City!
Colin Delane
Anscombe Loop, Leeming

Hypocrisy
HEAR, hear! to Tracey Donovan for writing in about the spraying of glyphosate on our parks (“Copping a spray”, Herald, October 28, 2017).
It is a well documented fact that this poison is linked with an enormous array of serious health problems to both humans and pets.
I would have thought that an environmentally focused council such as Fremantle would be fully across this issue and have come up with safe alternatives.
It is not ok for us to be walking our dogs, allowing our kids to play, or having a picnic on parks which have been poisoned by chemicals manufactured by the makers of Agent Orange.
Come on, Fremantle Council – you can do much better than that!
Julia Jackson
Holland Street, Fremantle

Melville maelstrom
The letter “Claims don’t stack up” (Herald, October 14, 2017), reminded me of a statement attributed to Abraham Lincoln 16th president of the United States: “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time”.
Mr Ross’s statement that “the vast majority of Melville and Perth residents — support the project” is verifiably not true.
There have been three public meetings run by the City of Melville relating to the Wave Park proposal at Alfred Cove.
The outcome of voting at the first meeting was void because the City of Melville did not register ratepayers and electors eligible to vote.
The second meeting resulted in a postal vote (due to the council not issuing enough voting cards to registered ratepayers and electors) – some 573 postal votes were received of which 75 per cent opposed the wave park.
Mr Ross told those present that the ‘wave park’ was only a ‘concept’.
At the third meeting some 800 eligible voters unanimously passed a motion opposing the wave park.
At this meeting Mayor Aubrey told attendees he personally supported the wave park project.
At a subsequent council meeting,  councillors voted seven to four for the CEO to develop a leasing agreement.
The financial burden on the City of Melville ratepayers emanating from this project needs to be transparent and clearly enunciated i.e., costs related to Tompkins Park, relocation of the Bowling Club, purchase of Crown Land, Atwell House Arts Centre parking, and the like.
It seems that the annual rental from the wave park is unlikely to fully offset these cumulative costs, leaving a financial deficit; so it appears likely sporting and other community associations could be required to contribute to any shortfall, in the future; this requires clarification.
Mr Ross threatens City of Melville ratepayers and electors with a “multi-million dollar law suit” if the project does not proceed.
This is an outrageous defiance of the Melville City community, particularly coming from someone who does not live in our city, but wants to use its river land for commercial gain.
Further, the ad hominem (personal attack) on “the vested, self–centred interests of the river front elite” is both insulting and farcical coming from Mr Ross who wants to build his wave park on the river front land of the Alfred Cove Marine Reserve on the Swan River!
Dr Graham Mahony
Warragoon Crescent, Attadale

Thank you
I  THANK all the residents who participated in the local elections – well done.
Thanks very much to the residents of the north ward who considered me as a worthy candidate and voted.
North Ward (south of the river)  has the resident numbers to elect their own candidate, bringing a balanced representation to the north ward for both north and south of the river.
In two years there will be another election opportunity.
I urge all residents to consider themselves as a worthy candidate to represent their community.
Participation is the catalyst for change.
Michele Corbo
North Fremantle