With fewer festivities in August, it is great time to take a closer look at our city.

The garden city is a myth at midnight. Vomit, blood, urine, litter, syringes and graffiti… Canberra’s nightlife mess costs taxpayers more than $2 million a year to clean up.

The city may also be a world of free advertising. “CityNews” finds it startling that the ACT Government is providing free street advertising to just about any business that cares to apply. Plenty of businesses welcome the gift, and confuse the poles of street signs all across the town.

South-side residents complain about the series of new speed bumps in Manuka, which are supposed to calm traffic and reduce crash incidents, according to Territory and Municipal Services.

Political Commentator Michael Moore complains about “the creeping blight of school fences” on the urban landscape, while the ACT Government is determined to install more security fences at schools.

But it really depends on your perspective. With an eye for human holy beauty, photographer Maiko Yoshimoto has already been besotted with the city after just two weeks in town.

Canberra will be home to a new Ronald McDonald House, great news for families with ill kids. An appeal has been set up to raise funds to build a new house at Canberra Hospital, providing a home-away-from-home for families whose seriously ill child is being treated in hospital.