Category Archives: Local government

CEO defends boat ramp study 23/7/2015

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WORDS AND PICTURE BY GEOFF VIVIAN

DENMARK Shire ratepayers say they are unwilling to spend $12 million on a new acquatic centre.

X23ALB_022PHowever the Shire has just committed $26,000 in public funds to a feasibility study for a boat launching ramp near a favourite swimming beach.

A prominent coastal engineer tells me this would cost at least $38 million, and probably a lot more.

If he is correct, the shire is spending $26,000 to discover it can’t afford a boat ramp.

As both stories appeared on the same page I am posting them together.

[Great Southern Weekender, June 23, 2015, p22]

Birds face high water threat 25/6/2015

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THE decision by the Department of Water (DoW) not to open the Sandbar at Wilson Inlet could be depriving endangered migrating shorebirds of valuable feeding grounds.

Click on this image to read the story

Click on this image to read the story

Local resident and member of Birdlife Australia, Jesz Fleming, said a report prepared by Denmark’s Green Skills noted the water levels in the inlet have remained at an unusually high level in recent years.

The report says this makes it impossible for shorebirds to feed on animals such as molluscs and worms that usually lie buried under the saturated sand.

Great Southern Weekender [go to website]

Writing science stories can be tricky when you have a report before you and you are not sure of its scientific validity.

The author had not trained as a scientist and, while he may have been following the accepted principles of ornithology and ecology, I was not personally able to make an assessment of this.

Luckily I was able to contact a shorebird ecologist I had previously interviewed, who agreed to read the report.

She told me it was a good report, and she added some useful comments of her own.

Urgent need for new housing, says MLA 14/5/2015

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PICTURE AND TEXT BY GEOFF VIVIAN

Back story: Albany is short of housing for its most vulnerable citizens, including the elderly.

X14ALB_003P

From the Great Southern Weekender May 14 2015, p3.

The state government demolished an old block of flats on this site about a decade ago, while Labor was in power, and apparently it took some time for the City to publish its new precinct plan for the area.

I was concerned I was giving the local member a free kick til I double checked, and realised Council adopted that precinct plan 18 months ago.

The present government gave him the free kick, I just did the reporting. 

Meanwhile the region has more than 120 people on the emergency housing waiting list, and the state government is yet to commit to building anything on this land, which it owns.

The new state budget includes $560 million to house vulnerable people this year.

From the Great Southern Weekender May 14 2015, p3.

Developer revives plan for Frenchman Bay 19/3/2015

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TEXT AND PICTURE BY GEOFF VIVIAN

From The Weekender, March 19 2015, p7. Click on this image to read the story.

Click on this image to read the story.

I love to do development stories because most local papers neglect this important area.

What is done with our physical environment affects us all once it is built, and I think it needs to be in the news beforehand.

The former caravan park featured a popular little shop on a beach 21 kilometres from Albany’s town centre.

It was all demolished in the last decade to make way for a resort that never eventuated.

[From The Great Southern Weekender, March 19 2015, p7.]

Travelling dunes encroach on infrastructure, and reveal geological pattern 16/4/2014

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Recent research shows sand dunes in the Mid-West could easily engulf roads and buildings.

Guardian News 4 July 2014 p 35

Guardian News 4 July 2014 p 35

The strange phenomenon begins when a dune become separated from the beach, and begins to travel inland as prevailing winds blow it along.

It may end up many kilometres from the coast before it runs out of sand.

In the meantime it engulfs anything lying in its path.

Science Network WA [read this story]

 

Science and community pinpoint algal bloom causes 8/6/14

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Scientists say wastewater treatment by Broome Shire and the Department of Water is causing toxic algae blooms in Roebuck Bay.

Broome Advertiser 19 June 2014 P 13

Click on this image to enlarge it

A blue-green algae has been troubling Broome residents for 14 years.

Lyngbya causes bad skin irritations, and can kill small animals.

Scientists say it blooms in Roebuck Bay every wet season, thanks to the nutrients it gets in the runoff from the first rains, groundwater pollution, and the practice of dumping treated sewage water on local parks.

Science Network WA [read this story]

Broome Advertiser republished this story on 19 June 2014 – P13.

SEALING the OUTBACK – could the Tanami really become a toll road? February 2014

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020-026 FEATURE Tanami-1TEXT BY GEOFF VIVIAN

From Truckin’ Life February 2014

The most direct route from the Kimberley to central Australia is the Tanami Track.

About 800 kilometres of this important arterial road is gravel and dirt.

A Kimberley shire has a radical proposal to make it a toll way, charging road trains up to $2,000 to use it, so funds would be available to seal the road.

I explained how this would then open up a major trade route to south-eastern Australia.

Continue reading →

Venice trip was ‘arduous’ – 9/12/2008

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Midland Reporter and Kalamunda Reporter

TEXT BY GEOFF VIVIAN

A delegation of local councillors from Perth’s eastern suburbs copped a lot of flack over a European trip to learn about waste management. A team from one of the tabloid TV current affairs programs had shadowed them, portraying the trip as a “junket” in prime viewing time.

Reporter 9 Dec 2008

Click on this image to read the story

As a former local government officer I had the feeling they were taking a cheap shot, so I attempted to find out just how much of the trip was leisure and how much was travel and work.

The trip’s organisers didn’t help the PR effort. When I requested an itinerary, the office took a whole day to send me a four-day-old media release. They also put a gag on the delegates, leaving the media free to interview their political enemies.

Luckily one of the delegates decided to break ranks and talk to me. A few months later he became Mayor of his city.

Evicted from his home 20/11/2008

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The Kimberley Echo

Text and picture by GEOFF VIVIAN

Halls Creek has not had enough houses for a long time.

Click on this image to read the story

Many people live in caravans at workplaces and parked in other people’s driveways.

Halls Creek Shire had fallen into the practice of renting houses out to services it wanted to attract to the town.

Unfortunately this meant it was unable to fill important vacancies of its own when there was nowhere for outside applicants to live.

The shire evicted Russell Tremlett when it needed the house he was in for a new staff member.

From The Kimberley Echo

Vegie garden on the verge of a breakthrough 6/9/2008

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Text and pictures by GEOFF VIVIAN

Cottesloe council was set to demolish a friendly verge-side herb garden.

There hadn’t even been a complaint – rangers had reported it because it did not have planning permission.

Eventually common sense prevailed, but any new verge gardens will need planning permission and to adhere to a strict new set of guidelines.

These stories are from POST Newspapers 6 and 27 September 2008