Latest news with #NorthBeach
Perth Now
6 days ago
- General
- Perth Now
WA All Abilities footy volunteers honoured
The unsung heroes behind the WA All Abilities Football Association have been recognised with a prestigious volunteer award for their tireless work championing inclusive footy. The association, based out of Tuart Hill, received the WA Inclusive Volunteering Award at the recent 2025 WA Volunteer of the Year Awards. It was one of seven winners chosen from more than 230 nominations. Your local paper, whenever you want it. The WA All Abilities Football Association was created to promote and grow disability football across the State. It provides opportunities for people of all abilities to participate in Aussie rules, whether it's wheelchair football, Starkick junior footy, blind AFL, or through its integrated competitions. From coaching training sessions and managing match days to mentoring players with disabilities, a committed volunteer team comprising family, friends, and passionate community members has worked tirelessly to make footy accessible to all, regardless of ability or background. Sportsmanship was on full display in the Integrated football competition as North Beach took on Fremantle CBC. Credit: Kiara Blake WA All Abilities Football Association executive officer Hayden Marchetto said the volunteers were the true champions behind the success of disability footy across WA. 'Our volunteers are everything; they're the ones doing the hard work to make inclusion real at the grassroots level,' Mr Marchetto said. 'The award gives volunteers a moment to pause and realise they're part of something bigger that really matters. 'Knowing inclusion is being recognised and valued at a State level means the world to us all.' From Warnbro and Kelmscott in Perth's south to North Beach and the newly established Wanneroo team in Perth's north, more than a dozen football clubs have a dedicated all-abilities team. Kristen Stevenson from the Minderoo Foundation presents the Inclusive Volunteering Award to Hayden Marchetto. Credit: Supplied Not only have players in competitions run by the association gained the opportunity to play footy and be part of an inclusive community, but they have also enjoyed the rare experience of competing at Optus Stadium before an AFL match and travelling interstate for national events such as the Toyota AFL Open, where WA's inclusion team secured third place overall in last year's inaugural event. Mr Marchetto hopes more clubs recognise the value of all-abilities sports and believes inclusive teams should be embraced wherever possible. 'We believe every club should have a place for inclusion. If a club has 10 teams, at least one should be for people with disabilities; the club is better off with it,' he said. 'Sport should be for everyone — all cultures, all backgrounds, all abilities. If we get that right, society is better for it. 'Footy happens to be our vehicle, but any sport can create this kind of impact.' The Wanneroo Amateur Football Club Integrated Team joined the competition this year. Credit: Perth Football League / Facebook Mr Marchetto believes the interactions players experience by being part of a wider community and club are immeasurable — not just for them but for their families as well. 'When you've got 200 or 300 people from the one club connecting, forming natural supports, it might just be a passing conversation, but for someone with an intellectual disability that's powerful. They're not just in the club, they're part of it,' he said. 'Then there's the mental health benefit for parents, especially fathers — seeing their child included in a community sporting club, just like their friends' kids, can really make a difference. 'And all this wouldn't be possible without the dedication of our volunteers, who give their time and energy to support the programs.' Sport can benefit both players and their families. Credit: Kiara Blake Speaking at the 2025 WA Volunteer of the Year Awards, Volunteering WA CEO Tina Williams said giving back brings people together. 'Volunteering WA is proud to celebrate the 2025 WA Volunteer of the Year Award recipients, who exemplify the highest standards of service and altruism, proving that every individual has the power to create meaningful change,' she said. 'This year's winners are ambassadors for connecting communities and show us that with passion, dedication and selflessness, any one of us has the potential to make a real difference in the lives of others.'
CBS News
16-05-2025
- Business
- CBS News
San Francisco's historic Verdi building faces uncertain future: demolition or preservation
SAN FRANCISCO — For more than 100 years, the Verdi building has stood on the corner of Columbus and Union in the North Beach area of San Francisco. But today, it is a ruin, crumbling away. The building caught fire in 2013 and then again in 2018. The flames spared nothing inside, but the shell and the façade remain. Nobody wants to see it stay the way it is, but what to do with it remains the million-dollar question. Katherine Petrin is helping champion a possible Historic District Designation for North Beach. "It's at the symbolic heart of North Beach, right across from Washington Square Park. It's a busy corner," she said. "There is every reason to save the building. It still has the potential to be a thing of beauty and to recall the Italian palazzo that was the inspiration for the architects who designed it." Her ideal proposal is to bring the building back to life with new housing while preserving the historic façade. "For over a century, it has been one of the most distinctive architectural buildings in North Beach," she said. "It would be great if what is coming is the right scale, instead of like, a tower." "There's every reason to think that this building could be rebuilt using the existing walls," she said. A plan for that was in the works, but now, the Verdi building's part-owner, Jeff Jurow, has changed course. He'd like to demolish it and start from scratch. His proposal is a mixed-use site with retail, housing, a hotel, and a rooftop restaurant. He declined CBS News Bay Area's request for an on-camera interview, but did answer questions via email. "We respectfully disagree with those who believe demolishing the walls would destroy this corner of North Beach. North Beach is much more than four burned-out walls. The walls themselves are not particularly significant or unique," he said. "Preserving them would also cost millions of dollars that the family simply cannot afford. Our proposed project is far superior in every way to a burned-out building that has remained in its current condition for far too long." Jurow believes he's fighting against time to get the project underway, as the state considers the Historic District Designation, saying, "We see no path forward if the historic district is put in place." "We've wanted to start building since day one. The proposed historic district doesn't change that, but we should see it for what it is: nothing more than an anti-housing measure masquerading as an effort to preserve North Beach," Jurow said. "North Beach is in no danger of being redeveloped, as there are already very strict laws protecting rent-controlled housing from demolition. If a historic district is established, it's very unlikely there will be a path for us—or anyone else—to build new housing in North Beach." "We intend to utilize pro-housing state laws to help expedite our project," Jurow added. Those laws could include SB 423, which streamlines multi-family housing approval if there are enough below-market-rate (BMR) units in the proposal, and, SB 330, which locks in a site's development rules to the date an application is filed. "I don't know what the proposed project looks like for this site, but I do know that a 24-story tower would be allowed, and I just don't think that's the right solution for this site," Petrin said. "This is not an anti-housing stance. It's just a very symbolic building and symbolic corner, and that would not be the right project at this site." Petrin believes a project needs to push forward, but says the site's future shouldn't push its past aside. "Buildings like this will never be built again," she said. "I think we should do everything we can to save it, restore it, and return it to its former glory."
