Musing: Am I AMUSED or BEMUSED?

I find myself amused by the various claims made by the City of Perth and its Councillors for parts of the Town of Vincent.

Fifteen years ago, the City of Perth couldn't wait to be rid of its residential areas - and so the Towns of Vincent, Victoria Park and Cambridge came into being. The City claimed that the residential areas were being heavily subsidised by business in the CBD and that residents were not part of a Capital City (with Capital letters, no doubt).

Well, if there was subsidisation, it must have been very inefficient, for when Vincent was established we found a tale of sorry neglect of infrastructure and services over a long period of time.

Our major roads were seen simply as traffic sewers, to funnel cars and their drivers (very few passengers) into the city. No consideration was given to the business and residential communities that lined these roads nor of providing any visual respite from bitumen through streetscape improvements - with, to be fair, the solitary exception of Scarborough Beach Road, Mt Hawthorn, although even this was to require much more work - and involvement of the business community - before it really started to pay off.

The rear laneways around the Town were in a shocking state, many of them little better than sandpits. And our footpaths were a disgrace. Vincent Council had to establish long-term programs to improve these.

And before anyone takes me to task because their rear laneway is still like that, let me point out that many of these are still privately owned and the Town can only do work on those that it owns. We are progressively buying these laneways - but it takes time.

Our major parks were tired and run down. When I moved to Vincent Street in 1985, the general reaction of friends and colleagues was "why would you want to live there" - Hyde Park was best known for anti-social behaviour rather than being the family place and 'arcadian jewel' that it now is. Robertson Park was no better.

Sporting facilities in the Town were deteriorating. Perth Oval and Leederville Oval were poorly maintained as playing areas and the grandstands desperately need refurbishment. Compare that to today - Members Equity Stadium is the premier rectangular stadium in WA and Leederville Oval (Medibank Stadium) is the WA Football Centre of Excellence and hosts two WAFL teams that have won seven of the past nine premierships.

Other sports have benefited through redevelopment of the Loftus Recreation Centre to include the State Gymnastics Centre (replacing the decrepit Len Fletcher Pavilion that was literally starting to fall down.

So why do City of Perth Councillors want to take back parts of Vincent? Well, putting aside the fact that we were granted part of their territory last year (which is in the area they now seem to want from Vincent), part of the reason is probably pure jealousy of the extent to which Vincent has been able to partner with others and leverage funding to achieve worthwhile community outcomes. Now that we have done so much in this way, the City wants to take it back - to gain the glory without having to do the hard yards along the way.

I suspect they also have more than half an eye on the value of land in Leederville that will bring the private sector into partnership in the exciting redevelopment there - and make Leederville a real competitor to large parts of the CBD. With the railway from Mandurah to Clarkson running through Leederville and all three freeways providing access by car, Leederville is now the most accessible place in the Perth Region - with the possible exception of the core of Perth itself.

I am amused - yes - I am also bemused, that they have so little knowledge of the past that they seek to repeat its mistakes.