Re: Re: college green/ o’connell street plaza and pedestrians
Now there’s a notion! Something that is desperately needed in Dublin. Public space and the lack and/or presentation thereof is probably the most pressing issue in the city centre at the moment after transit issues.
Regarding the above BoI works, we got some action in respect of the rusty setts, which have been dug up again around the chainsawed line (I’m sure the contractors were delighted), and the newly laid setts integrated with the old as they should have been. Thus the scar is no more. Wasn’t too difficult was it? Alas the kerbstones and the paving slabs abutting them remain an incoherent mess.
Over at Trinity, the beautiful curved pavement is being nastily treated with more red tile slabs, upon the apparent wider insistence of the National Council for the Blind of Ireland on the specification of street paving, in spite of nearly every other historic city getting by just fine without them. Not only do they destroy historic paving, look awful in all contexts, but they’re also a pain in the foot to walk on, especially where they ridiculously extend the full way back to the rear of the pavement. Why on earth?!! College Green is turning into an uncomfortable nightmare in decent shoes. So yes, they are also a crime against comfort and fashion! I know of a number of people who hate them for this reason. They are also an inconvenience for buggies, prams and, ironically, wheelchairs.
We also now have no less than six traffic signal/telecoms boxes sitting over outside Fox’s and Halifax, in addition to all the other junk. Also, why the considerable time, expense and visual chaos of finnickily faffing about attempting to accommodate the trees on both College Green and College Street, when both spaces would have been better served by just hacking the scrawny yokes down, is completely beyond me. One can only take it that this was purely a PR gesture – nobody has the guts, vision or determination to take on O’Connell Street Round II. What a crying shame.
As a final note, I observed this evening that even the grey tiles (if still uncomfortable and ugly) on the very odd part of O’Connell Street are far superior to both red and fawn. So yet another missed opportunity.
