project signature 12 tonearm rest

Just setup a project signature 12 turntable and so far has been a wonderful sounding turntable, but the tonearm rest a magnet? Why would they do that with a uni-pivot tonearm, for those of us in the real world with grand kids and cats this seems to be a recipe for disaster. Has anyone found a solution to this issue besides the twisty tie that I'm currently using.  I have not been able to find a dust cover for this unit as of yet either.

Thanks