That awkward moment when you find out your pregnant wife has been eating Chinese hepatitis A berries

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"Honey, I have to tell you something." 

"Oh yeah, what is it?" I say nonchalantly, as we enjoy the warm summer Geraldton evening at our local park. The dog is playing happily, chewing on a stick he's found, and the park is empty save a couple of tourists who obviously didn't want to fork out for a caravan park and have decided to park up for the night. 

"I saw something on Facebook the other day. I don't want you to freak out."

That's a great way to make your husband freak out by the way. 

"Oh great." A million scenarios run through my head. 

"Don't worry, it's not about your business," she says, insinuating that's the thing in the world I care most about. "Have you heard about those berries that have hepatitis?" 

"Yes." I was kind of proud that I had. But the truth is it was a fluke that I heard. I never* watch TV, read the paper, scroll through my Facebook feed, or turn on the radio. If news doesn't appear in my Twitter stream or on The Daily Show with John Stewart I don't hear it. About the only stuff I have time to keep up with is Geraldton news. (*rarely)

But I had turned on ABC News radio the other day in the car. I used to be addicted to it before EG launched and consumed my every waking moment. I caught a story about the poison Chinese berries and what I can only describe as perhaps the worst on air interview I have ever heard. A journalist was trying to bait a farmer from the South West into saying anything remotely sensational. All the farmer would say was that "it wasn't his field of expertise" and that he and other local growers probably couldn't meet the market demand via Woolies and Coles for frozen berries, and he was happy just serving his local region. I was glad we didn't have any of those horrid berries in our house. At least, I hadn't been served any desert with any berries recently. 

So back to my wife. "Well, we have some in our freezer. And I've been eating them."

"When did you find out?!" 

"Yesterday. I didn't tell you straight away because I didn't want you to freak out." 

"I don't freak out!"

I was freaking out.

From Patties Foods:

Patties foods has conducted a voluntary consumer recall for Nanna's Mixed Berries 1kg, All Batches up to and including Best Before Date 22/11/16, and as a precautionary measure, has extended this recall to include:

  • Creative Gourmet Mixed Berries 300g, up to and including Best Before Date 10/12/17
  • Creative Gourmet Mixed Berries 500g up to and including Best Before Date 06/10/17
  • Nanna's frozen Raspberries 1kg up to and including Best Before Date 15/09/16.

Patties Foods advises consumers not to eat the products detailed above, and return packs to the place of purchase for a full cash refund.

Any consumers concerned about their health should seek medical advice from their GP or Government Health Authorities in their state.

The consumer recall is only for the products listed above. No Nanna's fruit pies, crumbles, waffles or donuts, or other frozen fruit items are affected by the recall. No other products within the Creative Gourmet range are affected by the recall.

Class action law suite

Law firm Slater and Gordon are encouraging anyone who ate the berries and developed the virus to come forward, as a class action law suite looms. 

The supermarkets and distributors are advising people to dispose of the berries, but according to Channel 9 (link) compensation lawyer Mark O'Connor says consumers should ignore that advice as the product could become key evidence should they contract the virus. He advised people to label the packets "POISON" so they're not consumed. 


Hepatitis A

From health.vic.gov.au

Hepatitis A is a viral disease that affects the liver. Anyone who has not been immunised either by vaccination or previous infection, can be infected with hepatitis A. People can get the infection if they have direct contact with food, drinks or objects contaminated by the faeces (poo) of an infected person. The virus can survive for several hours outside the body but persists on the hands and in food for even longer and is resistant to heating and freezing. Heating and/or freezing food does not remove the risk of Hepatitis A infection.

For more information on Hep A click here: Link
 

Huge asset for the region; Geraldton Universities Centre now over 200 students

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One of the most disappointing things we witness each year in Geraldton is the talent drain that occurs as many of our best and brightest make their way to the big smoke to attend university. Some return, some don't. 

As an employer, it can be challenging at times to find staff who love living in the region and posses the necessary qualifications to carry out the job at hand. 

And as parents we want our children to have as many opportunities as possible, as well as the fantastic family friendly lifestyle living in Geraldton affords us. Often in the past we have had to pick one at the expense of the other. 

But that is starting to change, thanks in no small part to the growth the Geraldton Universities Centre (GUC) has experienced since its launch in 2002. 

Back then a humble 20 places were available, but this year GUC will crack the 200 student mark for the first time. 

Natalie Nelmes, who is the director at GUC, tells us that the number this year is around 214, up from approx 180 in 2014.

We asked Natalie about the make-up of the students, whether they're people who would have left for Perth, or people would have stayed in Geraldton anyway but just had less options at their disposal. 

We were told that it's a strong mix of both. 

She said a large portion are school leavers; around a quarter. In the past these students would have had to relocate to Perth, or study externally. 

About 20% are students who went to Perth for uni, not liked it, and returned to Geraldton. Without GUC operating, their uni life would have been over, and they would have had to choose other options. 

Some have come through TAFE pathways (Durack), and there's also a number of mature age folks, who are quite committed to region. They now have more options when it comes to learning and training. 

There are eight courses on offer at GUC at this point in time, and the offerings have been steadily growing. As the courses roll out over the coming years to include second, third and fourth year students in new courses, numbers are expected to continue to grow. New courses get added as industry and student demand becomes apparent. GUC is also looking at the possibility of post graduate courses in the future. 

Most Significant about the growth - The Campus Experience

While the growth at GUC is impressive in itself, Natalie Nelmes says the most significant thing about having this many students is that an entire campus experience is starting to blossom, which is very important for students. 

Ms Nelmes says: "The students are part of something bigger, part of a real university experience. We now have a student association."

The "social life" aspect of attending university is a big part of the appeal. The University of NSW says that students that have a good social life and a solid on-campus network often find academic work easier to accomplish.

Courses on offer include the Steps Bridging program (alternative Uni entrance course), Education (Early Childhood and Primary Teaching), Nursing, Accounting, Business, Communications, Phycological Science, Social work (first time this year), Engineering (2 year associates degree). 

For more info click here. 

National honour for Geraldton RSL president

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Geraldton RSL Club president Ross Davies next to the city’s World War One Memorial

Geraldton Returned Services League (RSL) President Ross Davies will represent the State for the handover of the Gallipoli Flame in Canberra on Saturday.

The RSL Gallipoli Flame is part of the 100th anniversary of ANZAC, being conducted by Camp Gallipoli, a Not-For-Profit organisation which raises awareness of our ANZAC heritage and raises money for the RSL and Legacy.

Mr Davies, a Vietnam Veteran, will represent the WA President of the RSL Graham Edwards at the Australian War Memorial. Mr Davies will bring back two torches – one for Perth and one for Geraldton.

The torches, which were originally lit in Albany on 28 September 2014, are  specially-designed for air travel and similar to that used by the Olympic movement.

“This is certainly a great honour and privilege,” said Mr Davies. “It may be that Geraldton is the only regional centre in WA that receives the flame, as I’m not sure if any other RSL club presidents are travelling east.

The Perth torch will tour the State and return to Albany for the inaugural Camp Gallipoli, which will bring together West Australians for an authentic ANZAC experience, camping outdoors under the stars from 24-25 April.

Mr Davies said the Geraldton torch would appear at various locations in the leadup to Camp Gallipoli at Bundiyarra on 24 April and on Anzac Day (25 April).

The 25 camps around Australia are for people unable to go to Gallipoli for the 100-year anniversary and will take place simultaneously on April 24 and 25 in six capital cities around Australia and several regional sites next year.

Beautiful Video of Greenough River breaking

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This fantastic video from Chris Lewis of ABC Open shows the Greenough River breaking for the first time in 2015. It's set to some great music and really is well done. 

Filmed Feb 9, 2015. 

Definitely worth a watch. 

Unearthed grave sheds light on Batavia shipwreck mass murder - ABC→

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Sarah Taillier from the ABC has a great write up about a new grave that was discovered almost 400 years after the Batavia was wrecked on Morning Reef, within the Abrolhos Islands.

Click here to read

"Nibbled by a small shark"

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This was just sent in to Everything Geraldton: 

"My daughter was swimming today about half way between marina beach and Mitchell & Brown with me and a couple more of my kids. I think she was nibbled by a small shark on her right big toe. She was floating on a boogie board about 10m off shore. There is definite rows of teeth marks and because she kicked wildly to get it off the teeth cut her fairly deeply."

"She is ok, a bit shaken, but willing to get back into the water when it's all healed."

Sheep's head causes power failures

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Info from Western Power

WESTER POWER RESPONSE:

Attributed to Western Power’s Regional North Manager Adrian Stewart:

“Western Power crews covered a vast area north of Geraldton yesterday to find and repair faults on the network that affected approximately 2,000 customers in the Shires of Northampton and Chapman Valley, and the City of Greater Geraldton. 

“When we experience periods of increased fire danger, as we have in the Greater Geraldton area in recent days, our crews need to visually inspect powerlines to locate and repair faults before power can be safely restored.

“Our inspection efforts yesterday included patrolling the network on the ground and from a helicopter. 

“After an exhaustive search the crew located what appeared to be a sheep’s head on power pole equipment. It is suspected that the remains may have been dropped by an eagle.

“Many customers were without power for up to 15 hours before electricity supplies were safely restored last night.

“We know it is frustrating to lose power and we apologise to our customers for the inconvenience and thank them for their patience, but it is essential our crews do everything necessary to ensure power is restored safely.

“We encourage everyone that if you see a fallen powerline or potential network hazard to make the safe call to Western Power’s 24/7 emergency line on 13 13 51.”

Towns affected 13 January 2015 (yesterday):
Mullewa, Tenindewa, Pindar, Wongoondy Moonyoonooka, Durawah, West Casuarinas, Bringo , Devils Creek, Ambania, Eradu South , Nunierra, Kojarena, Tardun, North Eradu, East Chapman, Wicherina Northern Gullym, Northampton , Horrocks, Binnu, Gregory, Nabawa, Nanson, Alma, Sandy Gully, Ogilvie Ajana, East Bowes, South Yuna, Naraling, East Yuna, Nolba , Yuna.

Mullewa today
“Western Power crews were called out to locate and repair a fault that affected approximately 770 customers in Mullewa.
“30 customers have been reconnected at 2pm today, and crews are working as safely and quickly as possible to restore the remaining 740 customers in the Mullewa area this afternoon.

Thank you to Barry Anderson for the information. 

15 year old in Police custody following Geraldton fire

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Geraldton Police say that a 15 year old is in custody and assisting them with inquiries following bushfires today (Saturday 10/1/15) in Strathalbyn, Webberton and Spalding. 

Various pics from community members

Study Confirms Earthquakes In Ohio Were Triggered By Fracking

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Via IFL Science:

A new study, released by the Seismological Society of America on Monday, has confirmed that a series of small earthquakes experienced in Ohio were triggered by fracking activity. This seismic sequence, which took place in March 2014, comprised five recorded earthquakes, ranging from magnitude 2.1 to 3.0.

Click here to read the full article. 

Full press release from the SSA

SAN FRANCISCO – A new study links the March 2014 earthquakes in Poland Township, Ohio to hydraulic fracturing that activated a previously unknown fault. The induced seismic sequence included a rare felt earthquake of magnitude 3.0, according to research published online by the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (BSSA).

In March 2014, a series of five recorded earthquakes, ranging from magnitude 2.1 to 3.0, occurred within one kilometer (0.6 miles) of a group of oil and gas wells operated by Hilcorp Energy, which was conducting active hydraulic fracturing operations at the time. Due to the proximity of a magnitude 3.0 event near a well, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) halted operations at the Hilcorp well on March 10, 2014.

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a method for extracting gas and oil from shale rock by injecting a high-pressure water mixture directed at the rock to release the oil and gas trapped inside. The process of fracturing the rocks normally results in micro-earthquakes much smaller than humans can feel.

It remains rare for hydraulic fracturing to cause larger earthquakes that are felt by humans. However, due to seismic monitoring advances and the increasing popularity of hydraulic fracturing to recover hydrocarbons, the number of earthquakes – felt and unfelt – associated with hydraulic fracturing has increased in the past decade.

“These earthquakes near Poland Township occurred in the Precambrian basement, a very old layer of rock where there are likely to be many pre-existing faults,” said Robert Skoumal who co-authored the study with Michael Brudzinski and Brian Currie at Miami University in Ohio. “This activity did not create a new fault, rather it activated one that we didn’t know about prior to the seismic activity.”

Using a technique called template matching, the researchers sifted through seismic data recorded by the Earthscope Transportable Array, a network of seismic stations, looking for repeating signals similar to the known Poland Township earthquakes, which were treated like seismic “fingerprints.” They identified 77 earthquakes with magnitudes from 1.0 and 3.0 that occurred between March 4 and 12 in the Poland Township area. The local community reported feeling only one earthquake, the magnitude 3.0, on March 10. 

Skoumal and his colleagues compared the identified earthquakes to well stimulation reports, released in August 2014 by the ODNR, and found the earthquakes coincided temporally and spatially with hydraulic fracturing at specific stages of the stimulation. The seismic activity outlined a roughly vertical, east-west oriented fault within one kilometer of the well. Industry activities at other nearby wells produced no seismicity, suggesting to the authors that the fault is limited in extent.

“Because earthquakes were identified at only the northeastern extent of the operation, it appears that a relatively small portion of the operation is responsible for the events,” said Skoumal, who suggests the template matching technique offers a cost-effective and reliable means to monitor seismicity induced by hydraulic fracturing operations.

“We just don’t know where all the faults are located,” said Skoumal. “It makes sense to have close cooperation among government, industry and the scientific community as hydraulic fracturing operations expand in areas where there’s the potential for unknown pre-existing faults.”

The paper, “Earthquakes Induced by Hydraulic fracturing in Poland Township, Ohio,” will be published online Jan. 6, 2015 and in print in the February/March issue of BSSA. 

Comet Lovejoy visible in Geraldton sky

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Here is a quick snap of C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy - Pic: Geraldton Astronomy Group

The moon might be a little bright at the moment to see Comet Lovejoy, but in another week or so if you look up at night you'll be able to clearly see a very rare event. 

Ken from Geraldton Astronomy Group tells us that Comet Lovejoy is quite visible with the naked eye, and he's taken some shots already. 

But with a pair of binoculars or a telescope you're really in for a treat, especially if you can get slightly out of town where it is darker. 

It's currently in Orion and heading to Taurus (if that helps at all.)

Below is a time lapse video of the comet, which appears green through a powerful enough lens. 

To stay up with the latest from the Geraldton Astronomy Group head to their Facebook page here. 

Click here to learn more about the comet.

Post by Geraldton Astronomy Group (INC).

Motor Home rolls through fence

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Pic  Coralie Potter

Everything Geraldton was contacted several times last night following an unfortunate incident in Rangeway. 

A motor home had rolled down a street and crashed into a fence. 

The incident happened on Howes St in Rangeway. 

According to reports from neighbours, this occurred around 10:30pm last night (1/1/15)

A nearby resident said they believed no-one was injured in the incident, and a crane and tow truck were required to remove the vehicle this morning. 

Hungry Jacks on Fire

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Just sent in to Everything Geraldton:

"Hungry Jacks on fire, everyone evacuated outside building."

Update:

The fire appears to have been minor. 

A manager of the store has contacted Everything Geraldton and advised the store will be opening tomorrow (New Years Day) at 7am. 

A person claiming to be familiar with the matter says the fire started when "a filter in the exhaust fan that fell into the chip fat and burst into flame."

Video: Sharks circling cray pots

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Sent in to Everything Geraldton:

"Hubby shot this video this morning when pulling pots. Just amateurs, hadn't even thrown any bait over the side either, the sharks just came swirling up with the pot as it was being winched up. The longest was about 8ft. Hubby said they don't normally do that and they seemed very hungry and angry today, and more so when the old bait was tossed overboard. He said he was glad he was safe in the boat."

Do you know what this is? Found at the bottom of the ocean

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Sent in to Everything Geraldton: My friend found this in the bottom of the ocean, it's very old, very heavy (cast?) and has been under water for a long time - just wondering if anyone out there could help us identify it? - Sarah

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Opinion: Regarding the current financial situation at the City of Greater Geraldton, and a brief overview of the last 8 years

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For those of you late to the scene, you might wonder why the Geraldton public are so distrustful of the local council. 

Flash back to 2006

A recommendation was made to the Minister for Local Government by the Local Government Advisory Board in August 2006 to amalgamate the Shire of Greenough with the City of Geraldton.

At that time the Shire of Greenough had a pretty good reputation in the community. They were fair to deal with and were very prompt when it came to building approvals and the like. 

The City of Geraldton did NOT have a good reputation, and many community members feared the mess that was the CoG would become the burden of the residents from the Shire of Greenough. 

But the policitians and bureaucrats felt they knew what was best for the simple citizens of the Midwest, and the Shire of Greenough residents had to petition for a referendum to be held. 

The Greenough electors managed to successfully petitioned for a referendum to determine whether the amalgamation should proceed. 

This was held on 2 December 2006, and of those who voted a majority of around 80% voted against the proposal.

However, the politicians and bureaucrats had a loophole. The Local Government Act 1995 (clause 10 of Schedule 2.1) stated as the vote did not attract 50% of registered voters, it did not meet the requirements for a valid poll.

The referendum only had a participation rate of 28.74% (much like councillor elections which still get counted).

So despite having an extremely clear picture of what a majority of people felt, those in charge at the time found a way to do what they wanted rather than what the residents wanted.

Trust was lost. 

Millions of ratepayers dollars was spent on the rebranding. Fancy new number plates were seen around town. 

But things weren't smooth in the newly created city. Building approvals banked up. Builders complained. Developers complained. 

City staff complained. Some of the good ones left. 

The mood in the town was "they don't listen to us any way", and animosity toward the council grew. 

GFC

Then after all that money was spent on rebranding and "gaining efficiencies" the global financial crisis hit and it emerged that the city of Geraldton Greenough had invested substantial amounts in sub-prime derivatives through Lehman Brothers Australia. 

Why on earth was our rate payer's money being invested in high risk complex securities? Geraldton residents were again furious, and no investigation was launched by the WA Department of Local Government. 

Council had invested $2.45 million.

Yes. Million.

Chapman Valley

After this there were discussions between the Shire of Chapman Valley and the City of Geraldton Greenough about merging. But this was under the looming threat of forced mergers from the state government. 

As soon it became clear there would be no forced mergers by the state government, the Shire of Chapman Valley said "Thanks, but no thanks". 

So like any respectful neighbour, the City of Geraldton Greenough tried to enact an aggressive boundary readjustment on the Shire of Greenough to get a chunk of rate paying land from them and of course the coveted area allocated for the Oakajee Port and Industrial Estate. 

The president of the Shire of Chapman Valley, John Collingwood, said the aggressive boundary readjustment would have destroyed the Shire of Chapman Valley, taking around 37% of the rateable income. He also told the ABC that the City of Geraldton Greenough was "trying to destroy us". 

Those were his actual words. 

So the City of Geraldton Greenough wasn't making any friends. 

The community was again in shock. Who ARE these people!?

More trust was lost. More people up in arms. People in Chapman Valley were vehemently against merging with Geraldton Greenough, and they made it clearly known to their council and the State Government. 

The border readjustment did not succeed by the City of Geraldton Greenough. 

Mullewa

Throughout 2010 and 2011 more negotiations were held. This time between the City of Geraldton-Greenough and the Shire of Mullewa, as to whether the two entities should merge.

After a long period of negotiations they decided to merge. 

A poll was requested by both communities and was held on 16 April 2011. 

Again, an overwhelming majority of voters said NO to the merger. 

In fact, in Mullewa it was 83.24% NO.

And in Geraldton-Greenough it was 72.39% NO.

It did not take a university education to realise once again the people who had actually chosen to make the Midwest home did NOT want this merger. 

However, as with EVERY local government election or poll, there was a lower than 50% turnout. 

So Mayor Carpenter, CEO Tony Brun and the rest of the team pushed forward with the unwanted merger. Because of that loophole mentioned earlier. 

The new weirdly shaped mega region was called Greater Geraldton. 

Most people were perplexed by the odd name. Greenough residents felt ripped off that their brand had now been permanently relegated to the annals of history and would no longer be a noun in daily use by the council and its staff. And many residents asked what we were "greater" than?

Surely folk who live in Mullewa don't tell their friends they live in the "Greater Geraldton" region.

It seemed the only thing the unwanted name had going for it was the ability to keep the same initials.

Most of that earlier rebranding was now money down the toilet. More was needed to be spent on the new rebranding.

The citizens of Geraldton, Greenough and Mullewa were told to drink their medicine because the educated bureaucrats knew what was good for us. There would be "efficiencies" and ultimately everyone would get more stuff for less money.

So to restate the obvious, Geraldton residents didn't want to merge. Greenough residents didn't want to merge. Mullewa residents didn't want to merge. Yet it was forced upon everyone anyway. 

The final straw

Trust toward the council and the city was at an all time low. No one believed the people at the city really had the interests and wishes of the residents at heart. It seemed like Geraldton was a grand experiment for them all to practice what they'd learned at "City Planning School". 

Then the icing on the cake. 

The 2012 rate increase. 

People were in shock. Their annual rates bill came in at a 27% increase. Some people and businesses saw increases up to 30%. 

The line from the city was that this increase was needed to cover the shortfall of rates that had been charged for years. Essentially council wasn't leaving enough money in the kitty to fix stuff, and now they needed to. And the best way to do that was put the rates up 27% in one year. 

Businesses were flabbergasted. Home owners were in shock. The Member for Geraldton Ian Blayney said he was speechless (an oxymoron to be sure, but you get the point).  

Yours truly at that point had two houses in Rangeway and a block in Wandina. In part because of that alarming rate bills along with the promise that rates would continue to increase by 7.2% for the foreseeable future, my wife and I realised we couldn't afford to keep those properties, and sold them all.

Many residents shared similar stories.

If people distrusted the council before this, they hated them with a passion afterwards.

Community groups formed. The Chamber lobbied. Meetings were held.

And the CEO Tony Brun, who was perceived as the main energy behind it all resigned and went to Perth. 

At the next council elections only 6 of the 12 councillors were up for a vote. All 6 were replaced except for Shane van Styn who was endorsed by the community group "CGG Ratepayers Demand Change" as he promised to fight for lower rates and reduced council spending. 

The position of Mayor was not up for reelection. 

 

That's a broad overview, but it brings us up to today. 

The $25million backlog

Now we're being told that decisions made by past councils and CEOs have left us with bills we cannot afford to pay. 

Never mind that the people of Geraldton complained loudly every time money was being wasted and were shut down with intelligent arguments about how necessary that particular piece of artwork or infrastructure was. 

The unwanted mergers that were rammed down our throats came with the promise of efficiency gains that never manifested. 

Instead the city is going to have to take drastic measures to curb spending. Redundancies will have to be made within the City staff. Every area of expenditure will have to be looked at to remove waste and the reduce rate payer burden.

But this is NOT drastic. It should be standard operating procedure. 

Ratepayers money should always be treated with the respect it deserves. It should have ALWAYS been the goal of the council and City staff to find ways to reduce the amount of money they need to take off us each year. 

Do we want sealed roads? Sure. 

Do we need yet another fireworks display funded by ratepayers? Not so much. 

Do we want our rubbish collected each week? Absolutely. 

Do ratepayers want to pay for free wifi for backpackers at the library when there's a perfectly good Internet cafe two doors down? Maybe not. 

The current financial situation

CGG CEO Ken Diehm (if you're not paying attention the CEO is the person who the councillors and mayor employ to run the city) understands this thoroughly. 

His media briefing regarding the CGG's current state of affairs was frank, thorough and humble. He should also be commended on the obvious care he has for the wellbeing of the employees of the City. 

It was clear that he understood that the proposed rate increases for the coming years of 5.2% are too high. He, the city staff and the council say they're going to do everything in their power to get them below that number. 

But he didn't over promise either. He was frank about the fact that there was no way future rate rises would be kept as low as the CPI (consumer price index), as the major costs incurred by the council, like power, were generally rising much more than the CPI. 

Moreover, Ken and his team had commissioned auditors to physically go out to the roads and parks, the highways and byways, to inspect all of the assets of the City.

What they came back with wasn't pretty. 

There's essentially a $25 million backlog of urgent maintenance work that needs doing. That's not the kind of news a CEO who's inherited a position following a 27% rate increase wants to hear. 

Worse than that is the projection for the future. In 2027 and 2028 there will be a spike in road infrastructure expenses that the current CGG budget simply doesn't accommodate for. It might seem like someone else's problem because it's so far away, but kicking the can down the road is what has led to the problem we have now. 

So they're facing the music. Which is something. It could all be buried in an obscure public notice  full of technical terms that would cause anyone other than an accountant to glaze over. 

But to Mr Diehm's credit they've chosen to let everyone know the actual state of the union. 

He also explicitly pointed out that every time we build something new, we inherit the costs of maintaining that item and that is hurting us. Even if the funding to build the new hotness comes from another agency, Geraldton ratepayers still bear the burden of maintaining the infrastructure. For every $10 million in new infrastructure, operating costs increase by around $300,000 a year. 

(Yes, this is logical and many of you have been pointing this out for some time.)

Crisis

I don't think this demonstrates a "crisis" like other media headlines have read. 

I think this actually represents a positive turning point in Geraldton's timeline. 

A "crisis" is having leaders who don't or won't listen to the public they're supposed to serve. 

What Ken is doing is showing he has been listening, and is prepared to make the changes needed to help relieve the burden on the ratepayers even if it makes his job a lot harder and a lot more stressful.

The "crisis" is what would happen in 10 years if we don't make some changes now. What the City is doing by offering its staff voluntary redundancies, going over expenditure with a fine tooth comb and aiming to keep rate increases as low as possible is not a crisis. 

It's good news. 

For the first time in a while it feels like Geraldton is in good hands. 

So what's going to happen? 

There will be cut backs at the city. Staff are going to be offered voluntary redundancies. Ken says these will only be granted where the job can be done by someone else, and won't be granted to poor performers. They're looking for at least 20, and will assess the situation in the new year. (To their credit, the city acknowledges this could be an anxious process for some staff members, and has a free employee assistance program in place. Also credit for announcing now and not a post Christmas shock.)

Then the city directors and managers are basically going to look at all the services that ratepayers currently fund. From the Aquarena, to the Queens Park Theatre, to your rubbish being collected, roads built and maintained etc etc. Everything. 

These services will be categorised into "mandatory" and "non-mandatory" services. Expect things like your bins being collected to be mandatory. But things like free wifi at the foreshore isn't exactly a mandatory service. 

Once it's clear what is mandatory, a budget will be done based on these services.

Then non-mandatory services will be rated in order of priority. The city says it will look for input from the community and city staff to do this. 

Any available funds, less around $7.5million needed to fill the gap immediately, will be applied to the non mandatory services in order of their priority. 

This is where it could get messy. One man's mandatory service is another man's waste of money. You might want more shows at the QPT. Another person might prefer more books at the library. Getting a cohesive list of priorities for non-mandatory services might be a challenge, but at least it's being addressed. 

Any services that are unfunded basically don't make the cut, and will be recommended to council for discontinuation. 

The city is also going to look at the "level" of services it offers. For example (and this is our own example, not a prediction) the city might deem the tip is important to keep running, but might reduce the number of hours it is open. 

In addition to this, the city will be assessing what it does with its current assets. In early January it will be reviewing all its assets to determine if they need to be replaced or can be sold or disposed of. 

New capital works (that's code for "building new stuff") will also be reduced, unless a prior community commitment has already been given. 

Revenue

Other non-rates revenue streams will be looked at. 

There are lots of services that rate payers are essentially subsidising at the moment which might be able to be charged for, and these potential streams of income will be looked at. 

So what does this all mean? 

For most of us, we won't notice a thing. The services we know and use will carry on, and hopefully any future rate increases will be reasonable and bearable. 

For some of us there's a chance a beloved ratepayer funded service may reduce or disappear. That seems to be the reality of the financial situation we currently have. 

But long term what would be most exciting is if a culture of genuinely listening to community feedback and acting on it becomes the pillar of how the City of Greater Geraldton operates. 

Video: Fire in Karloo

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This video footage was sent in to Everything Geraldton. 

It shows a fire burning on the corner of Abraham St and Assen St in Karloo, Geraldton. 

This comes on a day where a total fire ban was in place in the Geraldton area. 

Emergency services were alerted to the fires roughly 8:15 on Thursday evening, 11 Dec 2014.

While some local residents speculated that it was deliberately lit, we haven't yet had any official word on what caused the fire. 


 

Same location during daylight hours. Pic: Google Streetview. 

If you have an idea for something cool, you need to talk to these guys

/ Pollinators 184 Marine Terrace/

You may have heard of Pollinators. They have a building in Marine Terrace called CityHive. But not everyone in Geraldton knows exactly what Pollinators is. 

Why I joined Pollinators - by Jason Smith

One day in mid 2012 I was on Twitter and came across some odd organisation that had mentioned Geraldton. It was called Pollinators.

 They seemed interesting so I did a google search to find out why this group was visiting Geraldton.

To my surprise their website claimed that this group was actually BASED in Geraldton. I was a little puzzled. These guys seemed quite innovative and socially progressive. Why were they in Geraldton? I hadn't even come across anything like this in Perth or the Sunshine Coast during my time there. 

I jumped in my car and headed down to what I learned was their pilot "coworking" space called CityHive. I met the founder Andrew Outhwaite and he gave me the tour and explained what they did, but truthfully I was sold before I got there. Here was a collection of people trying new and innovative things and they offered different training groups, meet ups, and a place to park my laptop and work that wasn't your lonely home office. 

I joined Pollinators even though I had no business or even an idea for my next business. I just knew I wanted to be around folks like that. People prepared to take a risk to try something new. 

I would use the coworking space from time to time, mostly just to sit and blog or play with new software I had found. I got to meet a bunch of interesting folks I would never have met otherwise, who were working on creative businesses or in the digital tech space. 

After a few months the idea for Everything Geraldton slowly formed in my mind, and I set about building the platform, sometimes working from home, sometimes heading in to CityHive.

After our launch, Pollinators helped Everything Geraldton with contacts for all sorts of things. They helped me meet potential investors, gave me sounding boards to bounce ideas off, introduced me to people that could give appropriate advice, and of course offered facilities I could use like an office and coworking space. 

Two years on and Everything Geraldton has grown a lot, and we still get great value from being involved with Pollinators. 

If you have an idea, or you have an existing business or organisation that you want to see thrive, I personally recommend becoming a member of Pollinators. 

Today they're more or less the hub for everything innovative happening in the Midwest, and the future is very exciting. 

Why would I need Pollinators?

Maybe you've been sitting on a sweet idea for an app but you don't know how to code and don't know where to start. 

Perhaps you have a great idea for a business that's never been done in the Midwest before but you feel like you don't quite have all the skills you need to make it successful. 

Maybe you see a need in the community for a service, program or venue and would love some people around you for inspiration and advice. 

Or perhaps you just want to start making friends and contacts with folks who think a little outside the box. 

You should talk to Pollinators. Essentially, Pollinators is a community of entrepreneurs and innovators.

But it's also driven by an overarching mission, which is to help make the Midwest a thriving, resilient and vibrant place to live. 

What’s the difference between Pollinators and the Chamber of Commerce?

In a lot of ways Pollinators is like a Chamber of Commerce for people and organisations that are creative, socially focussed or involved with digital technology. 

They explicitly emphasise support and direct efforts to organisations that are more focused on community benefit than purely profit. 

But of course they support anyone who comes to their door. 

They tend to attract creative, social, and digital technology organisations, especially early stage organisations and those deliberately investing in innovation. 

A memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed by Pollinators, the Midwest Chamber of Commerce and Instusty and Arts and Cultural Development Council (ACDC) that recognised each organisation's main areas of influence. The Chamber being business, ACDC the arts, and Pollinators being social. 

What does Pollinators offer its members?

There's three main tangible things Pollinators offer. 

Space, learning and community.

Space

Pollinators run a "coworking" space called CityHive, it's their home on Marine Terrace. CityHive includes 

  • private offices you can rent
  • a permanent coworking area
  • a casual coworking area
  • board room
  • meeting rooms
  • kitchen facilities
  • restrooms
  • printers, scanners etc
  • very fast internet

Learning

Throughout the year Pollinators runs different programs that help you get your idea off the ground, or develop your existing organisation. There's also guest speakers on a myriad of topics, and many of these events and courses are free for members or very affordable. 

Community

Bouncing ideas off others, sharing advice, making connections with people who can help each other, and just generally being inspired by likeminded people is hard to put a price on. Sometimes our well meaning friends and family are the last folk we feel like running our ideas past because we know they'll shoot us down. 

Being part of the Pollinators community gives you an instant network of people trying new things, taking risks, and trying to make the community a better place. 

Why is coworking a good thing?

  1. It's a more flexible and affordable way to have an office. 
  2. It gives you acess to people, resources and ideas that you wouldn’t know about otherwise. 
  3. In many ways entrepreneurship and innovation is a team sport. Sitting alone at home makes it harder.

How many members does Pollinators have?

150 and counting. 

Can anyone join?

Yes, anyone can join. 

What if I don’t have a startup or organisation or even an idea but I just want to start hanging around innovative and entrepreneurial types of people?

Lots of people do that actually. They love it and get a lot out of it. 

Pollinators have a building at 184 Marine Terrace called CityHive. They don't mind if you just drop in and have chat. A host will show you around and answer any more questions you might have. 

Call them on (08) 9965 5371

or visit their website: pollinators.org.au

 

Video - Time lapse of tower crane being installed

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Timelapse of the Reds Global tower crane being installed at the CBH silos.

Ken Lawson Photography took this interesting time lapse of a tower crane being assembled at the Geraldton silos last week. 

Video - Blues for the Bush 2014

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Blues for the Bush was held at Charles Darwin Reserve in Perenjori in October. This wonderful video prepared by Cineport gives you a great feel for what it was like.

www.bluesforthebush.org.au