THE Note’s eyebrows were raised somewhat recently when reading a press release from the City of Perth about the $316,000 purchase of a European-manufactured Schmidt CMAR NC300. It sounds high-tech. Perhaps the city needs to compete with the influx of luxury machinery driving up and down the terrace? The machinery is in fact world class, but it is a pavement cleaning machine bought to deal with the city’s "perennial issue of urban grime". Apparently Perth will be the first city to roll out the self-propelled cleaning machine. Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi reckons the grime buster will ensure Perth is streets ahead of other cities, in more ways than one.