Perth city elections – for whom the poll tolls

A PEDESTRIAN-FRIENDLY city is what council hopeful Tony Ransom wants to create.

The self-styled ergonomic, cost effective, environmentalist wants the city made safer and friendlier for all visitors.

One of his big bugbears is traffic lights without a walk phase. He had a win with the WA Government deciding to have walk phase installed in all WA traffic lights within 10 years.

“They say it will cost about $3.7 million to convert all of the traffic lights in the State,” Mr Ransom said.

“I’d rather they spent that than $40-plus million for a car park under the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre.”

Like many council candidates, Mr Ransom is disappointed with the way the Perth City Council has handled the convention centre issue.

“If they can have secret meetings on Saturday morning, the public should be asked if they want the convention centre on the Swan River foreshore,” he said.

“In fact, ratepayers should be surveyed to see how they feel about certain issues.”

Mr Ransom also wants walkways over the railway line, between Roe and Wellington streets, on King and Milligan streets, that go from both sides of Roe and Wellington streets.

Bill Bradbury

FOR the past five years, Bill Bradbury has been a regular spectator at Perth City Council meetings. Now he wants more than a ringside seat.

Mr Bradbury believes Perth still has a divided council, split into at least two voting blocs.

“Most of the city council is made up of suburban thinkers. We need city thinkers,” he said.

“The city has to become user-friendly and attract people in.

“I don’t think youth is included in the city. We have to get them involved.”

Mr Bradbury wants to see the council be a leader on environmental issues.

“We should get rid of the gas-guzzling mayoral limousine and replace it with a smaller, more fuel-efficient car. After all, the council area is only the size of a cow paddock,” he said.

Mr Bradbury believes council is development centric, not people centric.

“Council is not consulting the people,” he said.

“With the convention centre, council should be making use of the election as a chance to poll the ratepayers to see what they think of the issue – just like it did over the gay Pride parade.

“Is this payment to Multiplex going to drain council’s programs?”

Vincent Tan

THE city has to be reclaimed for the people. It should not be given up to the disruptive element, says Vincent Tan.

Mr Tan believes his decision to run is a natural progression from his presidency of the Northbridge Business and Community Association.

He also believes it is time Asians started giving something back to the Australian community.

“Many of us came here and were treated very well. It goes against Asian culture to speak out but I’m trying to change that,” he said

“Many Asians who come here have lots of expertise and contacts. They are resources that we need to make even more use of.

“We live in a multicultural society and Northbridge is probably the most multicultural part of WA.”

He believes the city has to be promoted more to give its shopkeepers a better chance of success.

“It has major competition from regional shopping centres that can offer free, convenient parking to shoppers. The city can’t do that,” he said.

Mr Tan believes the Perth Con-vention and Exhibition Centre will be good for Perth but he worries about how the deal has been struck.

“We need to make sure PCC ratepayers are not the losers, he said.”

Judy McEvoy

AFTER four years around the Perth City Council horseshoe, Judy McEvoy is ready to go back for more.

“I’ve enjoyed my time there. It blends in well with my pub business,” Mrs McEvoy said.

She said her pub was an easy location for ratepayers to find her if they had any concerns about city issues.

Mrs McEvoy believes the city needs a huge retail lift.

“About 20 years ago people came to the city for boutique shopping. Now they go elsewhere,” she said.

Mrs McEvoy believes getting more people to live in the city will be a huge boost to safety and security.

“There’s been a lot of residential buildings put up but we’re yet to see the benefit,” she said.

Mrs McEvoy said the biggest highlight of her council term was seeing the Woodside building go ahead.

“But with that coming, we’ll have to put a lot of work into the Hay and Murray Street malls,” she said.

Mrs McEvoy said her biggest disappointment was the time it took for council to do anything.

“I’ve been in business for 18 years. If I waited that long to make a decision, I’d have gone broke years ago,” she said.

Brett Wilkins

AFTER more than 20 years’ involvement with the Perth CBD, Brett Wilkins believes it is time he had more of a say in how it was run.

Mr Wilkins, once managing director of Hawaiian Investments – one of the largest private property owners in the city – and president of the WA branch of the Property Council of Australia, has also been a resident of Northbridge for the past six years.

He also owns property in East Perth and Northbridge.

“I’ve always had a heavy involvement with the capital city. More than 90 per cent of the council’s rates come from the private sector,” Mr Wilkins said.

“Now that I’m free of Hawaiian Investments I can take a role in council. I have a strong interest in the city and I’m not going to be shy about putting forward my comments about the State Government’s involvement there. We need a strong capital city.

“I want to see a strong focus on giving a financial and cultural return to the ratepayers.

“I also want to see residential developments suiting all demographics promoted further. Council needs to focus on its whole operation and interaction with the residents.

“There is also not enough focus on Northbridge and city businesses.”