City of Perth Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi, who is being challenged for the top job, says the Perth Waterfront Project will be her next big focus if she is re-elected at this weekend’s local government poll.
“When I got elected in 2007 it was on a platform of get Perth moving … it will be a very different period as we will see the construction of the Perth Waterfront project take place in April 2012,” Ms Scaffidi said.
“The next term of this council will be very much about stakeholder communication to ensure people don’t lose sight of the bigger vision for our city.”
Ms Scaffidi is going head to head with King Street property manager Anne Bontempo, who decided to challenge the lord mayor for the position last month.
Only 6,500 residents out of 18,500 in the City of Perth were registered on the electoral roll, Ms Scaffidi said.
She attributed this to the number of people on 457 visas and skilled migrants living in the area, and residents who had not changed their addresses on the electoral roll.
Ms Scaffidi said she would need more than 2,000 votes out of an expected voter turnout of 3,500 to beat Ms Bontempo.
The lord mayor has also promised free wireless internet in Perth’s CBD if she is re-elected.
Free wi-fi is already on offer in the Northbridge Piazza and the lord mayor is optimistic the concept could easily be applied to Perth’s streets.
“It is the kind of service that will bring people in and create vitality in the city environment, as well as being a much-needed service,” Ms Scaffidi said.
“It will be easy to role out, it’s not re-inventing the wheel, this is something that is already in existence and a wider spread of this service would be a defining aspect for our city.”
Free wi-fi will be available for use by anyone in the wi-fi zone, including residents, students, businesses and visitors to the city.
Ms Bontempo said the wi-fi concept was an example of policy on the run.
‘‘The cost of implementation, bandwidth and daily maintenance, let alone security issues ... shows this has been dreamed up at the last minute for the election and is not a serious, well thought-out proposal,’’ she said.
Ms Scaffidi acknowledged that implementing the wi-fi could be costly and that the council would have to collaborate with service providers to offset that cost.
