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ALICE SPRINGS NEWS
March 27, 2008. This page contains all major
reports and comment pieces in the current edition.
Click here for results of the Alice News online survey, What Alice Wants.
The agony of running Alice accommodation. By ERWIN CHLANDA.
There are many reasons that have nothing to do with racism for accommodation houses to turn away certain visitors, according to Rob Watling, manager of the the Swagman's Rest apartments on Gap Road, a veteran of 25 years in the industry in the NT, including 18 years in Alice Springs.
He is speaking after the town suffered a global public relations fiasco, and allegations of human rights breaches, triggered by a disagreement between the Haven backpacker hostel in Alice Springs, and a group of women from Yuendumu.
National and international media have condemned Alice Springs for the incident, described before any investigation by Territory Chief Minister Paul Henderson as discrimination: speaking on ABC television on March 11 in response to their news reports Mr Henderson said: "It is absolutely appalling that these women and children were discriminated against."
In a separate report on March 12 Tourism Minister Kon Vatskalis was quoted as expecting the controversy to cost the town millions in lost bookings.
But the Haven management claims the facts of the incident have been badly distorted (Letters to the Editor, Alice News, March 20).
Mr Watling says he frequently has to deny admission to people, but says it is never on racist grounds.
And Steve Smedley, who leases the Whitegums resort nearby in Gap Road, says he constantly has to be on guard against over-crowding of rooms booked for just a single person, or people leaving rooms in a state requiring extensive and expensive cleaning and repairs.
"It's not a black and white issue," says Mr Smedley. "It's a hygiene issue."
After 48 years in Alice Springs, where he arrived at age 10, and having run a string of businesses, Mr Smedley and his wife Dianne have bought a house "down south" and will soon be leaving town.
He says anti-social behavior "is getting worse and worse. "I've never seen it as bad as this."
Mr Watling says his test for admitting guests is whether "you would invite the type of person into your home".
"Someone who spits on your walls and floors and who also defecates on your bathroom floor or shower recess because someone else is using the toilet.
"Someone who spills or drops food on the carpet and then simply treads it in rather than picking it up and cleaning up the mess.
"Someone who won't shower or wash, but insists on sitting on your lounge and sleeping in your bed and leaves the most foul pungent smell of stale urine, feces and body fat, all over your sheets and furniture.
"Someone who insists on smoking in your rooms despite the sign saying 'NO SMOKING'.
"Someone, who although you have only allowed one person to stay, insists on inviting five, six, eight, up to 15 people into your accommodation without asking you, and then when you ask them to leave they start yelling and screaming at you in some language which they certainly didn't use when they asked could you let them stay.
"Someone who allows their children to run naked, urinate in your pool, defecate on the poolside tiles and drop nasal mucus in the water and on tiles."
Mr Watling says a woman and her grandchild were booked in by a local government agency and on first impressions, the woman appeared to be clean and quiet.
Strict instructions were given by both the agency representatives and Mr Watling that she was to have no visitors.
But by midnight a noisy grog-fueled party of some 15 people, who had "snuck in" was in progress, with the child crawling on the floor amidst broken glass, vomit and discarded food.
Mr Watling managed to evict several people before two drunken men "had a go at me," he says.
"Fortunately police arrived and helped me in the removal not only of the unwanted guests, but also the grandmother and child.
"The government agency paid for the damage and lost revenue caused as several other guests cut their stay short.
"They said they were extremely intimidated by the fracas that night."
Mr Watling says whilst "a large majority of decent people do not carry on like this, there appears to be a culture here in the Territory which makes certain people believe that they have a right to be given accommodation regardless of how they present themselves.
"Whilst the Anti-discrimination Act will cover definite racism, they do not have any set guidelines to cover the above problems."
There is a sign on the reception door saying "no shoes no entry" and people with "dirty and smelly clothes" may be refused admission.
"This applies to everyone," says Mr Watling.
He and his wife have managed resorts, hotels, motels and apartments throughout Australia and in New Guinea.
"I'm certainly not a racist," he says.
He says he has numerous regular indigenous guests, who stay at the Swagman's Rest: "They are welcome, as they always present themselves in a decent and civil manner," says Mr Watling.
"Some of these guests have commented that they were ashamed of the behavior, attitudes and appearance of their mob."
Mr Watling let 17 rooms to Aboriginal people from the AP lands near Marla who were in town for last year's Finke.
That group hired its own security guard to stop unwanted visitors and "rellies" from "gatecrashing and humbugging".
Mr Watling was employed for two years as operations manager by the company contracted to the Aboriginal Gagadju Association, which owns hotels in Kakadu National Park, including the Crocodile Hotel in Jabiru.
He says: "They never had any of the problems and issues that are so obvious here in Alice Springs."
Who may be coming through the resort's front gate – fortified, topped with barbed wire and locked from 7pm, with guests supplied with electronic keys – is only one of the worries for Mr Watling.
The other is what comes over the back fence, separating the small resort from the town camp known as Abbott's Camp: screaming of people in drunken fights in a place supposedly under an alcohol ban; the din of cars being smashed up; rubbish blowing across from refuse that has been piling up in the south-western corner of the camp for weeks; the putrid odor of two dead dogs left for days; and smoke from illegal campfires that is sucked into the hotel's evaporative air conditioning, rendering it inoperable.
He says he had to fit a "Stalag 13" style barbed wire fence around the property, at the back to keep out intruders from Abbott's Camp, and at the front, youth gangs roaming the Gap Area.
"On Monday at 12.30am I woke to the sounds of screaming and yelling out near our front gate.
"I went out and found two guests from a day bus trip to Uluru, being accosted by a group of 20 or more drunken Indigenous males and females, demanding money.
"I managed to escort the elderly couple from interstate inside the property and call the police.
"Another guest told me that the group had been pulling out trees and kicking over rubbish bins for some 30 minutes before.
"Police attended some 15 minutes later but on arrival appeared to have been called to a more 'serious' problem and they did a U-turn and sped back towards the town centre."
Mr Watling says: "It's clear to me that the Indigenous football carnival is part of the reasons for these disturbances.
"For the first time in 18 years I now retain Talice Security to patrol our property at night and this cost is on top of the security gates and barbed wire."
While all that goes on next door, with the authorities clearly turning a blind eye to the overt health risks, the NT Government's environmental Health officer is demanding six lots of repair work to be carried out at the resort, including these:-
FLICKED
• Remove toilet paper from bathroom ceiling in [a] room: Mr Watling says a guest had flicked a wet piece of paper onto the ceiling, thought by the cleaners to have been a tiny crack in the paint.
• Seal cracked tile in kitchen of [one] room: note – one cracked tile, Mr Watling says it's a "minute" crack.
• Repair damaged door [in another] room: it has a small hole at the base where it connects with the doorstop.
The other three complaints are equally minor, petty issues.
At the Whitegums resort Mr Smedley says it sometimes "costs us a fortune to get these rooms ready for new guests.
"We have to wash the curtains, bed spreads, get the carpets professionally cleaned."
He says it's not unusual to get a call from an Aboriginal community to book in one person, "then the missus and four kids are turning up and four or five people are in the room."
Mr Smedley says he received a letter from the Equal Opportunities and Human Rights Commission, regarding potential clients he turned away.
He had received an internet booking for one person.
However, a man, his wife and three children from the Pitjantjatjara lands arrived.
None had the name of the single person for whom the booking was made.
He told the commission that the family was turned away because false information had been supplied, and the case was dropped.
LETTERS: Recycling becomes an issue.
Sir,- The amount of litter around the town after the Easter holiday break has prompted me to [lobby] the NT Government to introduce container deposit legislation, similar to that of South Australia or better, to support a move by Victoria and NSW for a comprehensive Federal CDL.
South Australia has recently increased the CDL refund to 10cent for every drink container sold and Victoria is considering following the same line.
I will be working to ensure this and kerb side recycling is on the first page of the agenda of the new council.
Our landfill is being clogged with recyclable glass, PET, and paper.
It is time for real accountability in finance, anti social behaviour and in waste management.
Every candidate should give the community an undertaking that they are committed to a full term and not just using the Alice Springs Town Council as a stepping stone to further their political ambition.
I have given the community that undertaking and, as Mayor, an undertaking that it is a full time job.
Alice Springs has a tremendous future with opportunities in the tourism, mining and pastoral industries that can really happen with a team commitment to serve out the full term and not put ratepayers to the added expense of a by-election.
Damien Ryan
Sir,- Only the Greens, [that's] myself, teacher Lisa Hall and Physiotherapist Lenny Aronsten, offer a commitment to improving the environment of Alice Springs in the long and short term.
• Kerbside Recycling – Local government is the ideal body to implement changes which reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reduce waste through recycling.
• Community Gardens – We are working with groups to implement two of them. Each will have a community focus including seasonal celebrations, accessibilty for all and ongoing educational opportunities.
• I opposed the recent sell-off of a park in Gillen to provide carparking. If a carpark is needed, leasing rather than selling off would have been preferable. Selling means losing use of the land forever.
I have worked with community groups to assist with provision of shade in their parks, for example, Spicer Crescent, and I will push for further improvements.
Jane Clark
Sir,- Last Thursday's lead article "Sparks fly" clearly demonstrates that the "I'm alright Jack" approach is still alive and well in some corners of the establishment.
Mr Ryan quite clearly believes that a softly-softly "shut up and say nothing" approach will eventually lead a mellowed and condescending government into giving us what we want.
I firmly believe that the Alice has sat back and allowed itself to be directed at the whim of the Territory Government for far too long and, in so doing, has earned both their disrespect and eventual disregard.
After months of blatant denial leading to the protest at last year's parliamentary sittings, our government finally admitted that police numbers had been allowed to dwindle to nearly half our actual requirement.
That was only the first step, now we have to carry that attention forward. Not by appeasement, nor necessarily by confrontation, but by firmly pointing out the issues, and what we, the people of Alice, see as the solutions.
To suggest that we should have said nothing shows a complete lack of moral judgement. The damage was done to our local industry by the bashings of tourists and locals, not by pointing out it was happening.
There have been some efforts towards seeking a resolution using the soft options, such as changes to the liquor act, but there has been no real effort at all to tackle the hard underlying causes. This has resulted in a whole host of new problems from litter to driving the drinkers into suburbia.
Saturday's election must elect a council that is prepared to tackle these issues head on, using both its own powers where it can and demanding the assistance of government where that is needed.
Alice is at a turning point. We have to say "no" to those who believe that we as a town have neither the talent nor the integrity to run our own affairs.
Sir,- This is the first letter I have written to a newspaper, which shows how strongly I feel about the upcoming council elections.
Much has been said and written about the Greens candidate Jane Clark, and some about David Koch from the CLP.
But what about the Labor candidates – there is John Rawnsley who worked for Labor's Alison Anderson; Miguel Occiones who has been handing out Labor how-to-vote cards for as many elections as I can remember; and Damien Ryan, who must be the only candidate to receive recognition and praise from the Chief Minister and his staff as well as, apparently, attending a Labor fundraiser recently!
I have voted Labor in the past but I don't want Labor in Canberra; Labor in Darwin; and Labor in Alice.
I will be voting for Murray Stewart because I think he is truly independent and will stand up for the Alice, in stark contrast to the outgoing mayor.
Mrs M Patterson
Sir,- I read the article "Council out in cold on masterplan" with great interest (Alice News, March 20). This is another example of the fundamental communication problems of our current council.
Alderman Robyn Lambley expressed "total confusion and dissatisfaction" while fellow Alderman Van Haaren said "how could it happen?"
The now hapless CEO Rex Mooney would have us believe that the Town Council is in fact leading the whole process. If you find Mooney's prognosis believable then you would most likely swallow Alderman Murray Stewart's line – hook, line and sinker.
Mayoral aspirant Stewart asks us to accept that the Town Council has "piloted and promoted" the CBD revitalisation process from day one!
I agree with the Alice News that this is yet another example of the problems our council has with the NT Government but the problem goes deeper. It is a prime example of the conservative attitudes which hold back the progress of our town.
The new town council will be obliged, in acting in the town's interest, to forget past grievances and to get governments onside.
If that can be quickly accomplished, and we can also clean up the embarrassing communication problems within our council, then the town will go forward.
I proudly challenge anyone going for council to have a better working relationship with indigenous people than that which our family has proudly built up over many years.
May I be so bold as to make a few predictions?
In a few days we have a chance to vote out the old council. In the wake of Rudd's victory, we have a real opportunity for renewal where it really counts, that is in local government.
The enduring bond between the CLP and town council has broken down. It will not be rebuilt – sad for some but the old Alice has gone.
In a matter of months our dry town legislation will be up for review. This will be preceded by Rudd's promise of a review of Howard's intervention. These two rethinks provide great opportunity for our town to get our wheels out of the sand.
David Chewings
Sir,- This council election campaign is the most savage we have experienced in Alice Springs.
I am particularly amazed at the calls of some lobbyists and the promises of some of the candidates that are not in the realms of council responsibility, business, or capability. It's a wonder some of them have not promised to make it rain!
Council could never do anything about "cheap affordable land" unless it was going to give away community parks.
I am far from happy with many of the decisions of the Development Consent Authority (DCA) but I respect the process for its high-level independence and transparency.
Just because councils elsewhere have control of town planning in no way justifies a change.
We have an independent chair of the DCA, and the fact that he does not live in Alice Springs makes him even more so.
There is already local input on the DCA from four locals, two who come from nominations in the wider community and two who are selected from nominated aldermen (who don't represent the position, if any, of council).
The Planning Act allows most planning applications to be determined by the DCA in Alice Springs, usually the day of the hearing.
More significant applications, such as rezonings, are heard by the DCA locally on behalf of the minister. The final decision is that of the minister, who is not precluded or obliged to taking the issue to Cabinet first, but would be very brave to make momentous decisions independent of his or her colleagues.
There is a Territory-wide Planning Scheme with plenty of scope for local variance. When this scheme was initiated a well-advertised public meeting was held in May 2003. There were only three members of the public there.
When the public Hjearing for the NT Planning Scheme was held in mid-2006, again the public was noticeably apathetic.
Last year council officers prepared a report on the costs of taking on local planning [suggesting] some $1.5m per annum.
Finally our own council has a history of some "less than altruistic" aldermen. It is our responsibility as voters to weed them out before they get onto council again, because they will need more than a cold shower if they are elected.
When council still can't competently deal with "rates, roads and rubbish" it's a long way short of tackling the bigger picture.
Rod Cramer
Sir,- Will our new council be led by a man of experience, or by a vision-impaired man of vision? Will the photographer or the union rep get up, or will it be the architect, the health mandarin or the most verbally articulate alderman of them all?
Will our new council be colour-coordinated?
Meanwhile the council's CEO may move to a house on the hill while Aussie travelers are turned away from hostels in the centre of town. Alice's town camps have been offered second-rate electricity connections by the NT government, and flower-beds in the northern end of Todd Mall are being filled with bitumen.
Sometimes dogs roam the streets in the hours before sunrise.
Most mornings around four am I ride a bicycle from the Gap to the Old Eastside. Often I pass homeless people looking for what they can find in the bins in the Mall.
When sober, they never seem threatening. They just seem tired and, well, homeless.
In all likelihood urban drift will continue to play a part in our future, and we are woefully short of temporary accommodation.
Truly the town's unsung heroes are the council workers who each morning sweep up the night's litter of broken glass and discarded food and drink containers.
They sweep up other things as well, and without their efforts Alice would not be as clean as it is at the start of each day's business.
Alice is a captivating work in progress, and on Saturday we elect a new town council. We need to elect a good one.
Hal Duell
Sir,- As a constant reader of your paper and a long term resident of Alice Springs, I would be absolutely amazed if the residents of this town did not give their support to Murray Stewart for Mayor this Saturday. Letter after letter to your paper over the last four years has called for genuine change and strength in leadership.
This bloke Murray Stewart has been the shining light in this respect and never stops having his say which I believe to be for the betterment of our town, and he needs to be given the top job and a chance to forward our economic and social aspirations.
If he were to be elected, I for one will raise a glass in celebration. I believe Murray Stewart will lift the spirits of this town in an immeasurable way.
John Guy
Sir,- One of the hottest issues in the Territory right now is the NT Government's mismanagement of local government reform.
Mayors, whether they be the leaders of municipal councils or otherwise, should be signalling to their potential voters what they think about the Territory Government's heavy handed approach to this issue.
Their mishandling of the issue has already caused one minister to resign in disgust and has caused ructions in the community.
It is still not clear what the effect of these changes will be on municipal councils and it would be interesting to hear what candidates think about the issue and whether or not candidates have even read the legislation that they will have to work with should they get elected.
The CLP's position is that we support reform but only with the support of the communities affected by the reform process. We do not support the heavy handed approach of the NT Government.
Matt Conlan
Shadow Minister for Local Government
Tangentyere's woman in council? By KIERAN FINNANE.
She's a candidate for alderman like no other: she lives on a town camp, Mt Nancy; is an "active member" of Tangentyere Council, founded originally to deliver municipal-type services to town camps; and is a member of a politically powerful Aboriginal family which has particular sway over the affairs of Tangentyere.
Barbara Shaw (pictured with daughter Danae, aged 3) has also made a name for herself in recent times as an outspoken opponent of the Federal Government Intervention, and in particular of the blanket quarantining of Centrelink incomes.
Now she's having a tilt at council: "If the town wants to develop and grow it needs an Aboriginal voice on council."
She says a lot of racism has emerged in town in the post-Intervention political climate, but she believes Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people "can learn from each other" and should "cooperate to get the job done".
She values her mainstream education – at Alice High and Catholic High – and also her family's historical involvement with the town camps – she's a "fourth generation town camper".
But a lot of of the issues on which her background should lend her candidacy interesting perspectives are quarantined from our conversation.
She is campaigning on the introduction of town-wide recycling and wants Alice to be recognised as a "Tidy Town", but she won't speak about rubbish collection on the town camps.
Town Council CEO Rex Mooney told the Alice News that negotiations with Tangentyere about the Town Council taking over responsibility for rubbish collection on the camps broke down last year.
This came in the wake of the collapse of negotiations between Tangentyere and then Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough over his $60m "normalisation" proposals.
Mr Brough's proposals, in turning town camps into normal suburbs of Alice Springs, which had obvious implications for local government, were strongly supported by the Tenth Council – in their statements on the issue.
Would Ms Shaw like to see at least the local-level negotiations resume, and a more efficient rubbish collection service established?
"If I was elected onto council, it's an area I would look into" is as specific as she will get.
One of the issues in those negotiations was around funding of the service, as town campers do not pay rates.
Should they pay rates?
"Town campers don't pay rates because they are low income earners," says Ms Shaw.
That's true for her – she's on a quarantined Centrelink income – but some of her family members living at Mt Nancy are in full-time employment, aren't they?
"Only two."
The Alice News raises her statement to an anti-Intervention rally last year when she told the crowd: "We are as normal as we are going to get!".
Is this still her message?
"This [gesturing around her] is how I'm going to live, how I'm always going to live," she says assertively, though acknowledges that her children may choose "better lives".
But she'll make no further comment on "normalisation": "I'm not the right person to talk to about that yet.
"I don't have permission to talk about it."
From whom would she have to get permission?
"From my executive."
Of Tangentyere Council?
Ms Shaw apparently sees no problem in that for her Town Council candidacy.
Controversy in this election over the NT Greens endorsing candidates has quietened with it becoming clear that the potential Green mayor and aldermen would not be told by the party how to vote on issues – a "conscience vote" every time is a matter of national Greens policy, they say.
Ms Shaw would appear to be far more fettered by her allegiance with Tangentyere – feeling the need to seek permission to even discuss certain matters.
This severely compromises the appeal of her campaign slogan, "Local knowledge, local solutions".
It also implies that she would feel obliged to act in council on behalf a specific interest group, rather than in the best interests of the whole town – which is the purported ideal of local government.
The News asks her whether she would push Tangentyere Council to become more transparent including in financial matters, pointing out that, in contrast to Tangentyere, the Town Council's detailed budget is available for public scrutiny.
No, she would not.
For readers who have never been to Mt Nancy it's worth noting that it is one of the better town camps – its residents are mostly family members which makes for easier harmony, its houses and yards are in a reasonable state, it is not rubbish strewn.
In Ms Shaw's front yard there's a shaded grassy area, watered and mowed, with swings, well patronised by her children and their friends as we talk over a cup of tea in a breezeway alongside her house, hung with pot plants.
The News puts to her the advantage of Mt Nancy in terms of population density: according to the Alice Springs Town Camps Taskforce Report of June 2006, Mt Nancy has 13 houses for a population of 32 residents, a ratio of 2.4 residents to a house.
This compares with five houses in Abbots' Camp for a similar sized population (35). That's a ratio of seven per house.
Warlpiri Camp, just up the road from Mt Nancy, with seven houses for 80 people, is the most crowded, according to the report's figures, with 11.4 residents to a house.
Ms Shaw does not respond, deflecting the conversation to short-term accommodation for bush visitors, one of the planks of her platform.
This is essential to help deal with over-crowding in town camps and with anti-social behaviour, she says
She'll work with "stakeholders" to find a solution but is adamant that there is no room for the provision of visitor accommodation on town camps themselves.
"We are over-crowded already."
Some camps have more land than others – is there room for flexibility on this?
"Not at this current time."
What she would like to see on camps are official safe houses for children, with training for carers.
Her own is an unofficial safe house, she says.
Apart from her two daughters, three and nine, she has the guardianship of two nieces, 11 and 15 years, and her door is open to many other children.
She will also welcome adult visitors to her home but not if they're drinking: then she puts them "on the first bus available".
She's a non-drinker as the result of a health problem but she argues for a "living with alcohol" approach.
This is Tangentyere's policy, she says.
She is against the ban on alcohol in town camps: "People who work full time should be entitled to have a drink in their yards."
Only people who work full time?
She qualifies this to "responsible people".
She is against dry town legislation but says the 2km law should be enforced.
People breaching the 2km law should be referred to rehabilitation, she says, not fined.
As "the average man works 9 to 5" she says bottleshops should only be open after "everyone's knocked off".
Should there be an alcohol free day? This is something the Tenth Council has been against, but that many, including mayoral candidates Meredith Campbell and Jane Clark as well as the People's Alcohol Action Coalition, are pushing.
She hesitates and then says no, because "if an alcoholic misses out on their drink, they get the horrors and that's the worst thing to do to someone".
"I'd rather support Aboriginal people to live with alcohol than turn the tap off on drinkers."
Council's lack of will on urban drift. COMMENT by KIERAN FINNANE.
Incumbent aldermen seeking re-election this Saturday have a significant area of unfinished business hanging over their heads: this is to do with the readiness of the town to deal with "urban drift" and increased visitation from bush communities.
The Tenth Council's record in this area, the current impact of which many voters as well as new candidates see as their greatest concern, could best be described as being continuously on the back foot.
"Urban drift" was featuring in the public discussion about the future of Alice Springs a decade ago.
In 1998 the Alice News was reporting on key figures nominating it as one of the issues the town had to grapple with.
John Baskerville, recently retired as Alice's most senior public servant and then Regional Manager of the Department of Lands, Planning and the Environment, was reported on February 4, 1998 to be heading up a project, known as "The Face of Alice Springs in 10 years", to develop a revised Structure Plan governing future development in the areas of, among others, "the urban drift of rural populations".
Bruce Walker, Director of the Centre for Appropriate Technology (CAT), on November 18 of that year was quoted in a lead article on a "grim and grimmer scenario" for Alice's future as "a welfare and service provision town, with the cost of those services, especially in remote areas, having risen, leading to an urban drift throughout the region".
"People being people, they will follow the services," said Dr Walker at the time.
"It's been a pattern worldwide.
"That scenario doesn't hold out a lot of hope for a lot of people.
"For business people it presents a local market that is fairly depressed in its ability to spend."
So a decade's worth of inadequate action cannot be blamed on ignorance: if you didn't know, you weren't paying attention.
The issue however was really "in your face" from early 2006.
Council's head ranger was outspoken on the "huge increase in itinerant people over the Christmas period, and it's still increasing", reporting that rangers were doing "five river runs a week, when possible", moving on illegal campers from the Todd and Charles rivers.
Rangers were talking to "80 to 100 people in a two to three hour period".
The head ranger also reported that he'd been told by a council officer to identify two areas in the town with the view of setting up camping areas for Aboriginal visitors (Alice News, Feb 23, 2006).
Had he been successful and had his searches been accompanied by some local networking on the issues, council would have been on the front foot when former Minister Mal Brough arrived with his gift of ex-Woomera dongas and promise of large amounts of money and immediate action on this issue.
Instead, council had prohibited its head ranger from speaking further on the issue and had complacently taken a back seat.
Former Territory Chief Minister Clare Martin was hitching a ride with Mr Brough on this one, and the Territory Government took over the role of finding suitable sites, farming out the job to engineering firm Qantec McWilliam.
The move was supposedly being overseen by the Town Camps Taskforce steering committee. Council had representatives on that committee, including out-going Mayor Fran Kilgariff, but they appeared to be perfectly happy with a rubber stamp role.
It was only when Northside residents were in uproar over the proposed location of one of the "donga camps" adjacent to their neighbourhood, that council reacted.
They wrote an objection letter to the Development Consent Authority, but only in relation to the Northside site, leaving residents affected by the proposals for the other end of town (on Len Kittle Drive, next to the dog pound) out in the cold.
On March 26, 2007 Mayor Kilgariff defended council to a public gallery packed with Northsiders by saying: "We had no input into the decision."
The Tenth Council also carried through its entire term a completely inadequate performance in relation to rubbish in and around town camps – the most visible sign of the apartheid experience of what it's like to live in this town.
The Alice News put the failure of the Town Council's Memorandum of Understanding with Tangentyere Council in relation to rubbish collection on the agenda in the lead-up to the local government election of 2004.
We were repeatedly told everything was just fine.
Once again it took Mr Brough to kick start a move towards equitable delivery of municipal services.
But with him gone, negotiations have collapsed and it's back to square one.
There appears to be no local political will in these areas. To go forward will take more than sitting on committees, writing letters and occasional grandstanding.
Could any of the aspiring mayoral candidates who are incumbent supply the political will and strategy? They haven't so far.
Except recently, as they tried to tie off loose ends from the term, they supported a motion to "call on Tangentyere Council, the NT Government and the Federal Government to urgently re-commence planning and negotiations for the normalisation of the town camps".
Could the non-incumbents? None have a strong public record of engaging with issues in this area.
It would appear that the best the town can hope for is new blood among the elected aldermen who'll pick up these balls and run with them.
Being at the table to deal with the short-term accommodation needs of bush visitors and planning across the board for increased urban migration, as well as delivering equitable municipal services for all residents could go a long way to reviving hope in a bright future for the town.
Town needs deeper debate on anti-social behavior, say council candidates from different backgrounds. By KIERAN FINNANE.
As an "older aldermanic candidate", Marie Harrison says her broad life experience gives her a valuable contribution to make.
She has raised four daughters, including the youngest who suffered from multiple disabilities. She's now a great grandmother.
The pull of grandchildren brought her to town as a "grey nomad" some 12 years ago.
Here she got involved in the National Road Transport Hall of Fame (she is one of Liz Martin's candidacy nominators, and conversely Ms Martin is one of hers).
She "fell in love with the town" as well as "a wonderful man" and made a second marriage and new life here.
Originally from Tasmania, she ran a small country general store there and in Alice works with her husband Barry in his painting business.
She seems to have passion for volunteering, having given her time to the Scripture Union bookshop, the Red Cross shop, Living Waters school canteen, the Dog Club canteen and the Old Ghan as well as the Hall of Fame, where she is secretary.
She sees anti-social behaviour as a top issue for council: she's got no silver bullet, says "eight [aldermanic] heads are better than one", but believes "the bandaids have to be taken off".
"We've got to look at the wounds underneath, what's causing the behaviour we're getting."
Parents have to become more responsible for their children; town campers should be given incentives to clean up and maintain their living areas.
A pet project is animal regulation which would see all dogs being kept on a leash in public areas: she says children and tourists, in particular, should not be subject to frightening experiences with dogs.
She'd also like to see council keep residents better informed about decisions immediately affecting them. She gives tree-planting as an example.
She saw a resident in Gillen uprooting a newly planted verge tree and putting it in his bin: if the resident had been consulted by council about the tree's placement or type, this could have been avoided, suggests Mrs Harrison.
Council could also give its attention to the accommodation needs of older residents, to keep retirees from leaving town, she says.
• Lenny Aronsten, who joins Jane Clark and Lisa Hall as an "endorsed" Greens candidate, is a physiotherapist.
He has worked in the Centre on and off, including in Tennant Creek and Ernabella (in SA), settling in Alice Springs with his midwife partner in late 2006.
He is now the allied health coordinator for Ngaanyatjarra Health, based in Alice, and travelling into the Pit Lands.
He joined the NT Greens last year, though was already an "environmental nut" 20 years ago. For instance he took part in the Wilderness Society's campaign to stop the damming of the Franklin River in Tasmania back in 1982.
He says climate change has moved environmental issues from the fringes to centre stage and he is fascinated by the range of people with environmental concerns and "almost an overload of information" who talk with him and other Greens at their market stall.
Taking his cue from the old environmentalist slogan, "think globally, act locally", he would use a position on council to push for Alice Springs to have sustainable urban planning.
He obviously welcomes Alice Solar City but says it will be "green wash" if there aren't changes to the ways the town is planned and its buildings constructed.
While planning powers may be out of council hands, he wonders how hard council has pushed for input into sustainable planning decisions and building practices in town.
"I'm not an expert," he says, though he has had experience in the building industry.
"But let's have this discussion."
He appreciates the concerns people have about anti-social behaviour: "People have lots of reasons to be worried. I've been assaulted, knocked out cold by a gang of youths in Darwin."
But he wants to put the debate onto a more positive footing: how to achieve "social cohesion".
Talking about the "negative symptoms of social disruption" can make "the many law-abiding people on communities feel more marginalised".
"I'd like to see a more dispassionate debate, with all the facts and figures.
"Is the situation really worse here than anywhere else, for example?"
The Alice News asked him about extension and enforcement of council by-laws.
He readily admits that he is not fully aware of council's rights and responsibilities.
"As a health professional I move to treatment following diagnosis.
"I haven't made a full diagnosis yet. I'd like to see a brains trust on this, including people who've lived here a long time.
"But it's often harder to be objective in Alice Springs, I think. We all live, work and play together, it's easy to hear the bush telegraph and go along with it."
Like the other Greens, he points to the honesty of being open with voters about political affiliations.
And like them too, he values the freedom the party gives its members to "cross the floor".
He has, for example, a far more flexible attitude towards the Intervention than the Greens Aboriginal Affairs spokesperson, Senator Rachel Siewert.
He deplored the manner in which the Intervention happened, but says it made a people realise the old ways weren't working.
Exhaustive preferential poll: you should be afraid to ask. COMMENT by ALEX NELSON.
The procedure for counting ballots and determining which candidates win and lose is probably a mystery for many and especially so in the town council elections.
This is because candidates can nominate for both mayor and alderman, and it is first necessary to determine who wins the mayoral race. This is determined by the standard preferential method.
All valid ballots are counted for first preference votes. If one candidate wins more than 50% of the votes – an absolute majority – that person is declared the winner.
The last time this occurred was in 1996 when Andy McNeill easily secured a second term as mayor.
If no candidate achieves an absolute majority on the first count, the candidate with the least number of first preference votes is "excluded" and his or her second preference choices are allocated.
This will result either in a candidate now gaining an absolute majority, or a distribution of third preferences; a process that continues until a candidate wins over half the votes.
This is why preference deals between candidates play an important role in deciding the eventual winner.
The method of counting for aldermen is essentially the same, but the contest is now for eight positions. The method is aptly named "exhaustive preferential".
All the ballots are allocated for their "number ones". If a candidate wins more than half of them, that person will be declared an alderman.
In practice this won't happen (and if it did the silly duffer should have run for mayor) because there is too much competition for first-preference votes.
Now here comes the first potential complication – has the person who won the race for mayor also run for alderman? In the current campaign there are six such candidates.
Let's assume one such has been elected as mayor; his or her first preference votes are excluded and the second preference votes distributed to the other candidates.
Now we have a mix of first and second preference votes for some, or all, of the continuing aldermanic candidates.
Let's assume there there is still no candidate with an absolute majority – the candidate holding the lowest total of votes will be excluded and preferences distributed.
Now this unlucky candidate scored a few second preferences from the candidate who became mayor. In turn the first losing candidate has his or her own second preference choices to be distributed plus the third preference choices from the alderman-come-mayor candidate.
If still no candidate gains an absolute majority then the next lowest-scoring candidate will suffer exclusion and the resultant spoils of third (and perhaps some fourth) preferences are distributed.
At last a candidate has gained more than half the total number of votes cast; this person is duly elected.
Now cop this – all the ballot papers are returned to their first preference choices, with the preferences of the winner distributed to the other candidates.
If there are insufficient votes for another winner, the count reverts to distributing the preferences of the lowest-scoring candidate as described before.
Alternatively, a second candidate wins an absolute majority from the preferences of the first winning candidate.
Either way, all the ballot papers return to the first preferences again, and commence the next round.
With the determination of each successive alderman, and taking into account that every alderman now elected is excluded from subsequent counts, the allocation of preferences becomes an increasingly complicated simultaneous mishmash of third, fourth, fifth and more preferences to be distributed.
If two candidates place equal last, whoever came lowest in the preceding round will be excluded; but if both shared the same number of votes the returning officer will write the names on slips of paper and select one at random. This provision has never happened to date.
The saving grace to this mind-numbing exercise is that the actual distribution of preferences is now done by computer.
There is method to the madness: exhaustive preferential voting is a surreptitious form of "block voting".
There are always two or more candidates that poll particularly strongly in the initial counts and, once elected as aldermen, their preferences tend to flow to other candidates of like mind.
Again, this is why preference deals are important.
Conversely, the method works against more isolated or independent candidates.
Vandals rampage on footy weekend.
Car windows were smashed, businesses and homes broken into, and alcohol, cash and other goods stolen in a crime spree over the Easter weekend.
On Friday night and Saturday morning vehicle windows were smashed in the Bojangles car park, outside the Post Office, in Poeppel Gardens and in Todd Street opposite the Civic Centre.
Another three had windows smashed overnight on Saturday, in the hospital car park, outside the Post Office again, and in Nelson Terrace.
On Sunday night two more vehicles had windows smashed, one in Kilgariff Crescent and one in the ANZ car park, while a car in Mallam Crescent was spray painted.
Meanwhile, on Sunday morning a security guard apprehended two men after they allegedly broke into the Northside Supermarket and stole a quantity of alcohol.
A third man is yet to be apprehended.
On Friday night / Saturday morning there was an attempted break-in at Smart Mart on Gap Road, and a break-in and theft of alcohol at the Touch Football canteen on Flynn Drive Oval.
On Saturday night / Sunday morning the Todd Camera Store on the mall had two windows smashed and the canteen at Arunga Park Speedway was broken into.
The canteen was hit again the next night, with entry gained by smashing through the ceiling and this time alcohol was stolen.
A cafe on Todd Mall had windows smashed as did Adelaide House.
Alcohol was stolen from the outside fridges of two residences, on Forrest Crescent and Cheong Street.
There was more alcohol stolen the next night from Melanka's Party Bar (a 22 year old was arrested) and from a house in Newland Street.
Cash and goods were stolen from a unit on Pedlar Avenue and personal posessions were stolen from a dormitory at Annie's Place.
There was an unlawful entry to a unit on Gap road and windows smashed at the Good As New boutique on Gregory Terrace.
A government without minders. COMMENT by ERWIN CHLANDA.
On Saturday you'll be voting for the government closest to the people, the town council, while the other two governments, the ones in Darwin and Canberra, are getting further away from us by the minute.
We'll have nine elected members who live here, work here, are committed to the town, love it.
The NT Government has two members here, Alison Anderson and Karl Hampton, who each represent a tiny sliver of Alice Springs, and whose main constituencies are in the bush.
And Canberra has one member here, Warren Snowdon, for whom The Alice is a small part of his electorate, and turned in a majority vote against him in the last election. Mr Snowdon has had a negligible local profile since that time.
We've had a taste of government by minders since Labor came to power in the NT in 2001.
And now after the Rudd landslide we have it in the Federal sphere as well.
For example, we asked the new Territory Chief Minister Paul Henderson, and the new Federal Minister for Indigenous Affairs Jenny Macklin for interviews about the planned transfer of ownership of our national parks to Aborigines.
From Mr Henderson we didn't even get a reply, continuing the conduct of his predecessor, Clare Martin.
When a government stonewalls for years questions about the disposal of the public's prime assets, its national parks, to a minority, then that regime doesn't deserve a place in the line-up of democratic governments.
From Ms Macklin we got a reply on the parks issue, 11 days after our request.
The response, which came via a minder, refused an interview, and contained this statement: "The Australian Government will move to schedule thirteen parks and reserves as Aboriginal land. This was agreed to by the previous government."
(Oh, does that mean the Rudd Government will do everything the Howard Government had agreed to?)
On March 6 the Alice News published a comment piece headed "National parks ownership a measure of Henderson's commitment to Alice" (it's on our website).
It was a 3600 word summary of the parks issue, detailing the massive local opposition to the loss of public ownership, and the disgracefully clandestine manner in which the Martin Government and the Central Land Council have been doing the deal behind our backs.
Eight of the nine town council candidates for Mayor want to keep the parks in public ownership – only the Green candidate doesn't.
The Town Council wants to keep the parks in public hands, and so do 75.6% (254 people) of the people participating in our website survey. Just 16.1% (54 people) were in favor of the hand-over; 8.3% (28 respondents) were indifferent.
We asked Ms Macklin's minder, would the Minister give an interview on the points raised by us?
No, but she would make a statement.
The following is not a printing error. This was Ms Macklin's response: "The Australian Government will move to schedule thirteen parks and reserves as Aboriginal land. This was agreed to by the previous government."
A parrot could have done as well.
Thank heavens aldermen don't have minders.
Local government members are accessible.
You can shirtfront them pretty well any time.
All of the encouragingly huge number of candidates were happy to be interviewed. Many promised to remain accessible to the public.
But all that's an advantage only if the council grabs the bull by the horns when it comes to be the principal advocate for the town.
There are mutterings that we need a Mayor who can get on with the government.
What exactly does that mean?
Clearly the relationship has to be civilized and professional, but "getting on" doesn't come into it.
We've just had a Mayor who got on very well with the Territory Government. She even wanted to join it as the Member for Greatorex.
Meanwhile The Alice remained starved for residential land, crime and anti social behavior were rampant, hundreds of productive people left town while unemployable people from the bush joined the urban drift, and the town remains exposed to catastrophic flooding – just to name a few of the issues on which the government is letting down The Alice.
Would the government punish the town if its Mayor didn't "get on" with it?
Can it get any worse? Maybe. Our tourist industry may collapse altogether as the ongoing mayhem in the streets frightens visitors away.
The Central Land Council, for one, isn't going to lose sleep over it.
It's director, David Ross, gave a glimpse of his vision for the town in February, 2003.
Poo-pooing a comparative analysis in this newspaper of Alice Springs and the French alpine town of Chamonix, Mr Ross opined: "The relevance of ... Chamonix to Alice Springs escapes me. The parallel is closer to the company town of Yulara ... Alice is a service centre for a range of industries and home to many not involved in tourism."
Does Mr Henderson agree?
Saturday will show if the worm is turning.
And the voters will send a signal on whether the government must work for them, or they for the government.
Everything old is new. COMMENT by ALEX NELSON.
On Monday last week an anniversary of sorts, relevant to the current council election campaign, passed us by.
It was on March 17, 1977, that a headline in the Centralian Advocate declared "Council will be increased to 10 aldermen in May", advising the burghers of Alice that we were to be blessed with the presence of two additional aldermen.
Alice Springs had a fast growing population of about 14,000 although town development had proceeded at such a rapid pace there was actually a glut of real estate on the market for a time.
Today we have a stable population about twice as numerous in a town largely stagnating yet with real estate at a premium for lack of available cheap land for residential development.
Meanwhile the Alice Town Council is reverting to its original number of eight aldermen.
In the current election and the one 31 years ago feature an incumbent mayor retiring from office, experienced aldermen campaigning for the mayoral race – and a prominent small businessman with no council experience also running for mayor.
In 1977 it was local jeweler George Smith who won the election – he became the Alice's first long-serving mayor, holding office for six years.
He oversaw the construction of the Civic Centre at its current site, which was officially opened on March 14, 1980 – another little anniversary date that has just passed us by.
The current election sees Mayor Fran Kilgariff stepping down from office. Perhaps the most notable event of her career in this expiring term was her unsuccessful tilt for the seat of Greatorex in the Territory elections of June 2005.
Who was the mayor who retired from office in 1977? It was none other than Tony Greatorex, the person whose name is commemorated in the electorate sought by Fran Kilgariff.
However, it was not for his role as mayor that Greatorex is chiefly remembered (he held that position for only one year); rather he had been the sole successful candidate of Colonel Lionel Rose's ill-fated North Australia Party in the Legislative Council elections of 1965. (Incidentally, George Smith was a co-founder of that party).
Greatorex succeeded the popular Harry Chan in 1969 as the president of the Legislative Council until it ended in 1974.
Chan was the first ethnic Chinese person in Australia to hold such an office, albeit of a legislature without effective power.
In 2005 Fran Kilgariff had sought to unseat the then Member for Greatorex, Richard Lim; and Lim was the first ethnic Chinese to be elected to a "lower house" seat of any parliament in Australia.
How the wheels of time and fortune turn … but why stop here?
There is another interesting link between the current town council election campaign and history – it lies with the date of the polls, March 29.
It was on March 29, 1901, that the brand new nation of Australia held its first national elections.
A minor party which had opposed federation held the balance of power in both houses of the federal parliament – it was called the Australian Labor Party.
In the Legislative Assembly general election of 1977 (the same year that George Smith was elected mayor of Alice Springs) the ALP campaigned heavily against self-government for the Northern Territory.
These days, of course, Labor holds power in Canberra and in Darwin and certainly isn't opposed to Australian federation or NT self-government any more – why, the ALP even seems to want to win control of the town council, too.
Oh silly me, I forgot – party politics doesn't enter into local government in Alice Springs.
ADAM CONNELLY: Silicon Valley is also in a desert!
Do you remember what we used to do without all the technology we have in 2008? Cast your mind back. What did teenage kids do with their time before SMS? How did we do business without email?
I remember going to the Sydney Cricket Ground to see a test match between Australia and South Africa. It was the summer of 1997-98 and a handful of cricket tragic mates and I were ready for a busy day of doing nothing but watching cricket, drinking beer out of plastic cups and queuing for overpriced hotdogs.
The day's play was great to watch. Glenn McGrath hit a couple of boundaries, then we ripped through the South African top order and after a rain break Shane Warne got his 300th test wicket.
It was sporting Nirvana at the SCG that day.
Strangely though, the most vivid memory of the day wasn't from the pitch. My most vivid memory happened in the crowd. When there is a lull in the play at the SCG the Hill is the first area to get restless. The Yabba's Hill is like the ADHD kid of Australian sporting venues.
I remember at a one day match between Australia and New Zealand in 1993 being showered in a storm of beer and hot chip cups during the Mexican wave on the hill.
At one point I looked at the tide of garbage heading in my direction and saw a small child had been thrown in the air as well. It was quite a sight to see a baby two metres above the crowd in a sea of trash.
Back to the test match. The natives were restless. Some of the crowd was attempting to get the fielders in the outer to wave at them, others were trying to get another Mexican wave up and running.
From a couple of rows in front of me, the sound of a telephone ringing. That's right an actual telephone ring – none of those polyphonic, crazy frog ringtones in 1997! Someone's mobile phone was ringing at the cricket.
A momentary silence falls over the crowd. Then, a violent verbal explosion – "Wanker, wanker!" was the cry, with everyone pointing at the man with the phone to his ear. As if you'd bring a mobile phone to the cricket!
Twelve months later I and most everyone I knew owned a mobile phone.
I've always been a bit late on the uptake when it comes to technology. I don't have a myspace page or a facebook profile. My mobile phone doesn't even have a camera and speaking of cameras I only went digital last Christmas.
So I may not be the most qualified person on the planet to say this, but Alice Springs should embrace the technological revolution. A group of business people in New South Wales who want upgrades to the Pacific Highway has turned to Facebook to rally support.
The Facebook group called "I Support Fixing the Pacific Highway" was launched earlier this week and already has more than 450 members. 450 in a week! It's the future. No more letterbox drops and petitions on the counter at the service station.
We complain so often that we are unheard when we want something done. Darwin and Canberra are as deaf as my great grandmother after a rock concert.
But if a camp teenage boy's plea from under the covers of his bed to leave Britney Spears alone can be viewed by millions, surely we can come up with something that will make the world look at Alice in the right way.
That's the challenge for you citizens of Alice Springs.
Just don't ask me to help. I'm still working out iTunes.
Back to our home page.


Why should I learn Python? Are there any advantages to learning Python over other languages?
It's one of the most popular programming languages with a massive community. This means help is readily available when you're stuck!
It's used in many fields and industries, like Web development, machine learning and AI, and data science, just to name a few. So once you learn the fundamentals, you can grow into the role of your choice!
Python is one of our most popular courses and is only getting more so. We covered the rise of Python in our Codecademy blog, check it out to learn even more about why Python is so popular.
Python was the fastest growing programming language in 2017. Surprisingly, its newest fans include business majors, analysts, and content marketers. Here's why.
Do you have any insights into why people should learn Python? Share them below!
FAQ: Learn Python - Python Syntax - Hello World!
You cannot do that in Python 2.
Whether you want to go for Functional programming or OOPs, Shell scripting or interested in Web Development, Desktop related app or Network related the one best choice we have is python. Because of its modularity, it becomes popular.
But of course it is possible, using encoding and decoding. I was forced to mess with that evil when I was writing a Chinese Shanghai weather bot for Twitter years ago.
I feel that Python has incredibly fast development times. I enjoy the fact that I can pop open notepad and have a decent script up and running for my work in minutes not hours.
One of the most useful languages with innumerable amounts of documentations.
when you begin to understand the process of programming and the language.
Python is really great for learning base computer programming concepts. I at least know in my experience in my coding class it was the easiest one for everyone to really jump into and learn. Coming from a newbie it really made it easier to adjust.
Well this analogy about why leanr python with that example its not exacly true… for example you can use php and use echo 'A'; instead of print('A') or directly println, in other commands. But well ok learning python is fun.
This is a bad way to compare the languages. Off course, the Python code is more short and friendly, but this language don't give us the control and usability of more robusts languages like Java and some others.
well, you are right but i would phrase it a little bitter. Java is a more verbose language, but has absolutely proved its worth as an industry strong language, its strongly typed, vast ecosystem with great (deploy) tools and much more.
It's verbose in annoying way, but it's what you said. Both languages have your advantages, each one in your proposals and goals, the discuss go beyond one print() and a System.out.print() hahaha. I like more Python, by the way.
Plus there's always PyGame if you want to go into making games, that's also based on Python 2, at least it was last time I used it!
because it is used to in many fields like data science , machine learning , app mobile , and web develop .
Regardless the language you choose or are convinced to learn, what is the field of your endeavor? That should be what determines your immediate learning need. Some fields are rife with Java code, others C++. Some fields are ripe for the taking with Python, such as robotics and controls. Pick your field, then choose the language that has the right fit. If Python is the right fit, then bring it on.
Back in the day, I chose JS as the language to learn. Then it branched to PHP. All I did was solve my own problems through that whole process, and came about with some pretty cool code. It's all gone now. Cassini has crashed into Saturn. Make whatever you write mean something in its day.
Hi, To be fair to py 2. I was only 5 mins into coding with Python and came across this issue. The error message is so specific and I got a solution straightaway by following the link.
Other languages like Java, or especially C++ may give more control over many low-level aspects of programming ('closer to the machine' is one way to say it) but they are not necessarily more "usable" than Python, as you write. As for being more "robust" (there is no "s" at the end) this means strong, healthy and in computer terms it often means less likely to malfunction or crash due to being stressed or pushed to the limit. And in this sense I don't think Python is any less robust than Java, and it probably depends far more on the specifics of a given program, like how well and how professionally it is coded. Of course, no language can provide the low-level control of Assembler, which is limited only by the capabilities of the CPU and its instruction set (e.g. Intel x86, Oracle/Sun SPARC, IBM POWER8, etc.).
I just started to learn Python. I know PHP well and out of curiosity, I start a new programming language. We'll see if I can get to know him well. The syntax seems simple.
Hi there. I also would like to learn Python and I also heard that it is easy language compared to Java for example. What do you guys think about it?


text:
"""The tests for the Ring switch platform."""
from homeassistant.components.switch import DOMAIN as SWITCH_DOMAIN
from homeassistant.helpers import entity_registry as er

from .common import setup_platform

from tests.common import load_fixture

async def test_entity_registry(hass, requests_mock):
    """Tests that the devices are registered in the entity registry."""
    await setup_platform(hass, SWITCH_DOMAIN)
    entity_registry = er.async_get(hass)

    entry = entity_registry.async_get("switch.front_siren")
    assert entry.unique_id == "765432-siren"

    entry = entity_registry.async_get("switch.internal_siren")
    assert entry.unique_id == "345678-siren"

async def test_siren_off_reports_correctly(hass, requests_mock):
    """Tests that the initial state of a device that should be off is correct."""
    await setup_platform(hass, SWITCH_DOMAIN)

    state = hass.states.get("switch.front_siren")
    assert state.state == "off"
    assert state.attributes.get("friendly_name") == "Front siren"

async def test_siren_on_reports_correctly(hass, requests_mock):
    """Tests that the initial state of a device that should be on is correct."""
    await setup_platform(hass, SWITCH_DOMAIN)

    state = hass.states.get("switch.internal_siren")
    assert state.state == "on"
    assert state.attributes.get("friendly_name") == "Internal siren"
    assert state.attributes.get("icon") == "mdi:alarm-bell"

async def test_siren_can_be_turned_on(hass, requests_mock):
    """Tests the siren turns on correctly."""
    await setup_platform(hass, SWITCH_DOMAIN)

    # Mocks the response for turning a siren on
    requests_mock.put(
        "https://api.ring.com/clients_api/doorbots/765432/siren_on",
        text=load_fixture("doorbot_siren_on_response.json", "ring"),
    )

    state = hass.states.get("switch.front_siren")
    assert state.state == "off"

    await hass.services.async_call(
        "switch", "turn_on", {"entity_id": "switch.front_siren"}, blocking=True
    )

    await hass.async_block_till_done()
    state = hass.states.get("switch.front_siren")
    assert state.state == "on"

async def test_updates_work(hass, requests_mock):
    """Tests the update service works correctly."""
    await setup_platform(hass, SWITCH_DOMAIN)
    state = hass.states.get("switch.front_siren")
    assert state.state == "off"
    # Changes the return to indicate that the siren is now on.
    requests_mock.get(
        "https://api.ring.com/clients_api/ring_devices",
        text=load_fixture("devices_updated.json", "ring"),
    )

    await hass.services.async_call("ring", "update", {}, blocking=True)

    await hass.async_block_till_done()

    state = hass.states.get("switch.front_siren")
    assert state.state == "on"

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Jūrmala is easily accessible from Riga by a six lane highway. However, this highway is paid in summer. After paying Jūrmala entry fee one may in theory park freely there, but in practice those free parking places are often filled with cars in summer weekends.
An alternative is going to Jūrmala the traditional way – by train. It takes from 20 to 40 minutes from Riga depending on at which of many Jūrmala train stops you will exit. While the trains stop at every station, some of them turn around earlier than the Western reaches of Jūrmala so if you go somewhere beyond the center see if your train goes there. The trains are fequent (at least 1 in 30 minutes ar Central Jūrmala, save for nights) and may also be used for local transportation. However, vans also traverse Jūrmala.
A train arrives to Dubulti station in Jūrmala. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.
Jūrmala is narrow, so basically everything revolves around rail and the main street. However, Jūrmala is unusually long for a city with size, a whooping 31 km in length, making walking and even biking often impractical (if the goal is beyond district). Bike rent, is, however, readily available.
E.g. distance from Majori to Ķemeri spa is 21 km, and from Majori to the skansen at Lielupe – 9 km.


text:
But smartwatches have the innovation advantage these days as most companies making such devices try to develop features that competitors don't have. As a result, fitness trackers have become a bit stale. And after wearing the new Charge 3 for nearly two weeks to see how well Fitbit's gentle marriage of smartwatch and tracker features turned out, it seems the form factor remains radically unchanged—but that's not a bad thing in practice.
"Sport watch" functionality often includes activity tracker features (also known as "fitness tracker") as seen in GPS watches made for training, diving, and outdoor sports. Functions may include training programs (such as intervals), lap times, speed display, GPS tracking unit, Route tracking, dive computer, heart rate monitor compatibility, Cadence sensor compatibility, and compatibility with sport transitions (as in triathlons). Other watches can cooperate with an app in a smartphone to carry out their functions. They are paired usually by Bluetooth with a smartphone. Some of these only work with a phone that runs the same mobile operating system; others use a unique watch OS, or otherwise are able to work with most smartphones. Paired, the watch may function as a remote to the phone. This allows the watch to display data such as calls, SMS messages, emails, calendar invites, and any data that may be made available by relevant phone apps. Some fitness tracker watches give users reports on the number of kilometers they walked, hours they slept, and so on.
If you like traditional analog watches and want just a few smart features, the Cookoo 2 might be more appealing than its more full-featured rectangular competitors. Behind its hands is a monochrome display that delivers basic notifications: incoming calls (with Caller ID), missed calls, texts, e-mail, social media alerts (for WhatsApp, Line, QQ, WeChat, Skype, Facebook, Twitter), and calendar alerts. Just bear in mind that it's a very basic smartwatch, with little configurability.
The watch faces themselves are classic Kate Spade designs. You get a sultry winking moon face with perfectly curled lashes, calling you a leading lady; cute bubbly balloons for a digital watch face with numbers; a speeding cab that reassures you that you'll be there in a New York minute; and a daisy that loses petals as the time ticks away in a classic game of "He loves me; he loves me not."
Wrist watches have been fashion accessories since they were first invented. The first generation of smartwatches were dull, chunky looking devices, more functional than fashionable. How things have changed. You can select from thousands of watch faces and even design your own. Wrist straps can be swapped out and designers have come up with clever quick-release clasps for them, knowing that the need to charge your watch regularly will see you needing to remove it quickly.
Still looking for inspiration? Check out the technology that everyone's talking about: Virtual reality headsets have arrived. Take gaming to the next level or experience your favourite characters in a whole new way. Our VR gear ranges from simple cardboard devices that works using your smartphone, to fully immersive headsets designed to transport you to another world.
Like previous Gear watches, the Gear Sport uses a rotating bezel and two side buttons for most of its navigation. This works better than you'd think by looking at it, and it's a boon to those who wear gloves for part of the year. In fact, we actually prefer this approach to Wear OS or the Apple Watch: Rotating through your home screens, notifications, lists of apps, or messages happens at remarkable speed for a tiny device. The screen is 1.2 inches and 360 pixels in diameter, but it's brighter than our pick's, and it looks decent enough while displaying most content, though text isn't as sharp as on the Fossil screens. The watch itself is not small, at 43 and 44 millimeters wide and tall, respectively, and 11.6 mm thick, but it's nowhere near as beefy as our prior pick, the Gear S3.
We pulled together a list of currently available smart watches that met these criteria from Apple, Android Wear, and Samsung. Our list included watches from tech brands like Apple, Asus, and Samsung, as well as fashion labels like Fossil, Nixon, and Tag Heuer. Then, we cross-checked with respected review sites, such as Tech Radar and PCMag, as well as tech retailer Best Buy, to make sure we weren't leaving out any hidden gems.
The LTE connection will cost you about $10 a month at most carriers, and the LTE model does cost more. There's a non-LTE version, too, if you're not interested in the new feature. Most people probably don't need LTE, frankly, unless you regularly go on hikes or long runs and you don't want to be weighed down with your phone. Still, it's a nice option to have.
Wear OS comes with a focus on fitness features, but unfortunately Huawei managed to simultaneously move too far in this direction and also fall short of it. It doesn't come with a rotating side button for navigation, which is a shame as we really love the button on the LG Watch Sport. It does, however, come with great battery life and a stellar feature set otherwise.
I have the new version Samsung Galaxy watch 46mm. It is excellent. I do not have to use spotify premium to play music. I can simply add tracks (and images too) saved on my Note 8 phone. Bixby can open the apps without turning the bezel. The battery life is not 6 days as advertised, if used all day to make calls, text, listen to music, play games, check emails, read the news, search the internet, etc, then the battery lasts at least 3 days before recharging. There are several free watch faces available through the Galaxy app. This watch can also be used to make sos calls which can be preset for 911 or any contacts you wish to add. Then these contacts can call you back on low volume mode and listen for an hour. You can use this feature with a timer so if you accidentally activate it, you have time to turn it off before it makes the call. Adding a GPS app to this phone can allow you to take a screen shot of your location and send it if in a crisis. Of course the google app for navigation is also available for travel. You can use a wifi connection without your phone, if you turn off bluetooth and select wifi connection to your watch via phone. There is no need to buy the most expensive Samsung Galaxy with the built in sim. Also samsung pay is available on the watch. Of course it has Accelerometer, Gyro, Barometer, HRM, Circular Super AMOLED (360 x 360) Full Color Always On Display, Corning® Gorilla® Glass DX+. There is also a feature that tells you when to take deep breaths while it count the duration of inhaling and exhaling. This is great when you need to stay calm. The workout features are better than on previous Samsung watches. You can monitor calories, caffeine intake, water intake, track your sleep. You can swim with this watch. There is a water lock feature. Once you are out of the water you can expel water from the speaker by tapping a button. This watch has several other functions but It's too much to write in a quick review. Of course you can add a security pin to your watch, use locator to find your phone or vise versa. You check youtube for more of the features. Samsung doesn't have everything listed in specs. I'm still keeping my Ferragamo and Versace watches but I think I'm selling the rest of watch collection. The Samsung Galaxy watch has all of the features I need and changing watch bands is easy. I still recommend buying a screen protector and a tpu/silicone case or shell in case you drop your watch. Some sellers are offering a 2 year guarantee which includes accidents but I have the 1 year Samsung warranty. I would love this watch more if it had a nano sd slot. Specs are 768MB RAM and 4GB Internal Memory.
Using your voice with the Google Assistant function built into the Q watches (and every modern Wear OS watch) is generally okay, though only roughly 80 percent reliable. The combination of a microphone on the side of your watch, a Bluetooth connection to your phone when you're away from Wi-Fi, your phone's cellular Web connection, and the imperfect acknowledgement of human speech by Google Assistant do not make for anything near a 100 percent success rate. When it works, Google Assistant makes you feel connected and advanced; when it fails, you can be seen as a person who asks their wrist about the capital of Malaysia. This is more a reflection of the state of connectivity and digital assistants than of the Q watches themselves—or any Wear OS watch, for that matter—although in our experience Wear OS watches fail on voice queries more often than Siri on the Apple Watch. That said, voice dictation on the Q watches is far more reliable, at least when it comes to recognizing words and phrases, than Google Assistant. If transcription fails, it's more likely to be because of the watch/phone connection than the watch mishearing your words.
Waterproof to 165 feet, the Versa handles swimming as well as any other exercise, with the screen surprisingly visible underwater. As is standard with many other non-smartwatch Fitbit models, heart rate tracking is built in, which allows for detailed sleep tracking. There's no GPS, though — if you want to track your running route, you'll need to carry your phone or pay the extra for the Ionic model.
Dealing with notifications on a Wear OS watch has gotten better as the phone version of Android has improved its already impressive notification system and as phone app developers have taken advantage of new interactions. Many apps now send notifications with action options: For example, you can check a to-do as done, approve a payment, respond to a message, or, most often, just acknowledge something. The Q Explorist and Venture are no different than most Wear OS watches in relaying notifications, but in our testing they rarely showed lag in processing them, nor was either watch's screen unresponsive to swiping or tapping options. Each watch's vibration motor provides just enough buzz and movement to avoid missing things while not feeling like electric collar training for humans.
This watch won't work unless you have an iPhone. However, it is hands-down the best smart watch for an iPhone. Other watches (including the Fossil Q Venture) will work with an iPhone, but won't be able to answer calls or respond to texts, and if you want to customize the apps on your watch, you'll need to navigate the Google Play store through the watch screen.
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First and foremost, the Movado Connect runs on top of the standard Android Wear specs package — a Snapdragon Wear 2100 processor, 512mb of RAM, and 4GB of storage. It also includes a 1.39-inch 400×400 AMOLED display, 300mAh battery, and a typical array of sensors including an accelerometer and gyroscope. There's also an ambient light sensor here and support for NFC, meaning you'll be able to use Google Pay with this watch.
It's also very bulky. Sitting at 46mm wide might not sound like much, but then you have the depth, and there's a lot of it here. In fact, if we had to pick one criticism of the Watch Sport it's that it crams so much in, it does so to its detriment. The size will be too overbearing for many, but the pay-off in size means that most of the great features of the Watch Sport have been discarded.
The three buttons on the Q Explorist are useful and responsive, although the middle crown's button action may be a bit too responsive. The newest versions of Wear OS allow you to set each of the two clicky side buttons (at the 2 and 4 o'clock positions) as a shortcut to any function on the watch when on the home screen. Clicking the center button wakes up the watch and brings you back to your "home" watch-face display, and holding it down activates Google Assistant. The Q Explorist's center button has a mushier action to it than the Digital Crown on the Apple Watch, and its rotation is stiffer (more on that below), but it works, and turning a crown is easier to do in more situations than continually flicking upward on a touchscreen. The Venture lacks the two side buttons, and its crown cannot turn through lists. While the turning crown is a helpful upgrade, the the Venture's push-button response is firmer and better than on the Explorist, and its screen response is fast enough to make the lack of physical input tolerable.
Samsung treads between smartwatch and fitness tracker, also packing in a heart rate sensor along with that GPS and its much-improved Samsung Health software. There's also the option of LTE (coming soon), if you wish for an untethered connection, with a standalone speaker for taking calls on the watch. It's now waterproof, too, adding swim tracking skills that are on par with the Watch Series 4.
If you wear the Q Explorist close to your hand, its case size and protruding center button can activate when you bend your wrist back, or if you're wearing thicker gloves. The worst that happens is that Google Assistant is activated, and it either does nothing or tries to ask Google whatever nonsense the microphone picks up inadvertently. That can be annoying, and may cause you to size your watch band a bit larger, so the watch sits up your arm a bit more, clear of your wrist joint. Sadly, Wear OS lacks a "left-handed mode" to allow for turning the watch and its gestures the other direction.
Most smartwatches are still more unisex than specifically made for women. Even though Fossil, Skagen, and Apple make very convincing unisex watches that women can actually wear, none of them are unapologetically feminine. If you, like me, have been waiting for the day when you can look at a smartwatch and say, "Oh my God! It's so cute!" your day has come.
Several of them also now support wireless charging which is hugely valuable as you avoid adding yet another cable and cradle to your dresser. Wireless charging pads are on the market that will charge your compatible iPhone and watch at the same time, and Apple is set to release its own official charging pad dubbed AirPower. Wireless charging is also available for Samsung smartphones and smartwatches.
Why we like it: Fossil's Q Explorist and Venture watches are good-looking watches with a decent range of case and band options, and decent responsiveness and battery life—this is high praise given the current state of Android smartwatches. They can track steps, control music playback, give you turn-by-turn directions on your wrist, and allow you to respond to messages with your voice or quick-reply taps. But these two models are not unique: The Fossil Group offers an array of more than 300 smartwatches under different fashion brands—including Diesel, Skagen, Tag Heuer, Kate Spade, and Movado—that have essentially the same internal components and software, so you can pick the watch design you like best.
Why we like it: Garmin's Vívosport fitness band gives you more (and more-accurate) fitness tracking features than a smartwatch, though you won't be able to respond to messages and notifications or use apps on your wrist. The Vívosport lasts up to a week on a single battery charge, while an Apple Watch or Android Wear device requires overnight charging. Its screen always shows stats during a workout, while smartwatches like the Apple Watch typically turn off when you're not looking at them. And you can wear a Vívosport while you sleep to get at least a rough view of how restful your night was without having to worry about charging it every morning. All these things give you a better overall picture of how active and healthy you are, and make it more convenient to wear one smaller device all the time: You won't have to grab a phone to track a run, you won't have to wear a large, utilitarian-looking GPS watch to work, and you'll rarely have to worry about battery life during a long workout. The Vívosport also tracks heart rates and GPS location nearly as well as a GPS watch (with some exceptions), but in a smaller and less noticeable package.
The TicWatch E uses outdated processors and arrives very late in the lifespan of this version of Wear OS—with a new Qualcomm chip arriving in early September, there's not a compelling reason to invest in an Android smartwatch from a lesser-known vendor right now. Beyond that, although it packs in a lot of features for less than $150, including onboard GPS, a heart-rate monitor, and a light-adjusting display, the TicWatch E looks and feels toylike, with an all-plastic body, matte silicone strap, and undistinguished look. It also has a single, non-turning button, which makes it less usable with the latest Wear OS interface. It runs Wear OS fairly well on its budget-minded processor, but Wear OS running even at its intended responsiveness is still not that exciting. The TicWatch E is not a bad budget entry as far as Android Wear watches go, but a better budget smartwatch, probably from the TicWatch's own maker, is likely in the making.
Aside from its display, the Ticwatch Pro is a pretty standard offering in the Wear OS world. It's powered by the same Snapdragon Wear 2100 chipset, has a 400×400 1.39-inch OLED display, and has a 45mm casing. There's also a 415mAh battery inside which charges with a magnetic charger. There's also IP68 water/dust protection, and NFC for use with Google Pay.
Samsung's three second-generation smartwatches arrived with real improvements and refinements. At $300, the Gear 2 is the most sophisticated—and expensive—of the trio. The Gear 2 Neo is basically a less expensive version of the Gear 2: It has similar functionality, but it's housed in a plastic body instead of metal and has no built-in camera. And the slimmer Gear Fit is a hybrid smartwatch and activity tracker.
Fitbit's Versa is a sleek, stylish smartwatch that works with both iOS and Android and costs less than $200, which makes it the best value smartwatch you can buy. The watch lasts four days on a charge, offers female health-tracking, advanced sleep-tracking and an app store with popular apps such as Starbucks and Pandora. You can even store music offline to listen to while you work out.
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Oracle - Get News & Ratings Daily
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Oracle Co. (ORCL) Receives $53.29 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages
Posted by Logan Wallace on May 27th, 2019
Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) has been given a consensus recommendation of "Hold" by the thirty research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $53.54.
Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. DZ Bank reaffirmed a "sell" rating on shares of Oracle in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Nomura reaffirmed a "reduce" rating and set a $42.00 price target (down previously from $53.00) on shares of Oracle in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Oracle to $57.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Oracle from $54.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Oracle to $54.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th.
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In other news, CEO Mark V. Hurd sold 1,200,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.83, for a total value of $64,596,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,664,227 shares of the company's stock, valued at $89,585,339.41. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dorian Daley sold 125,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.84, for a total transaction of $6,605,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,473,750 shares of company stock valued at $133,883,350 in the last three months. Company insiders own 32.00% of the company's stock.
Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Massey Quick Simon & CO. LLC boosted its stake in Oracle by 220.9% during the 4th quarter. Massey Quick Simon & CO. LLC now owns 600 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 413 shares during the last quarter. GWM Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Oracle by 56.9% during the 1st quarter. GWM Advisors LLC now owns 42,213 shares of the enterprise software provider's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 15,316 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC bought a new position in Oracle during the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. Investors Research Corp bought a new position in Oracle during the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Riverview Trust Co bought a new position in Oracle during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 43.89% of the company's stock.
Shares of NYSE:ORCL traded down $0.31 during trading on Monday, reaching $52.77. The stock had a trading volume of 9,090,777 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,800,129. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.13, a current ratio of 2.65 and a quick ratio of 2.65. The firm has a market cap of $218.45 billion, a PE ratio of 18.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.08. Oracle has a fifty-two week low of $42.40 and a fifty-two week high of $55.53.
Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 14th. The enterprise software provider reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.02. Oracle had a net margin of 27.14% and a return on equity of 34.03%. The business had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.83 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Oracle will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Oracle Company Profile
Oracle Corporation develops, manufactures, markets, sells, hosts, and supports application, platform, and infrastructure solutions for information technology (IT) environments worldwide. The company provides services in three primary layers of the cloud: Software as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Infrastructure as a Service.
See Also: Bear Market
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