Re: Re: well what about the developments popping up in the shannonside ?
My father used to work in the post office building, he’d always lament the destruction of the hanging gardens, no doubt all we’ll get back will be a beer/smoking area, pity.
Henry street has shown it is possible to re-energise streets in Limerick city, indeed, if Bedford Row succeeds, it may revitalise that entire area, especially with Bedford Row at one end and the Foreign Affairs by the Red Church. A huge site still in bad need of redevelopment is the ESB buildings, such a prime location simply cannot afford to be messed up (or indeed) left undeveloped.
I’m just back from a brief visit to Riga and Tallinn and was enormously impressed with their preservation of their “old towns”, it’s left me thinking about how we’ve neglected our own medieval heritage and how we can redevelop it properly. I would like to see a special rates/tax breaks for Nicholas street (much like what occured in Shop street in Galway) to encourage the kind of shops tourists like to visit (ie arts, crafts, the usual), I would like to see old (or old-style) cobbles re-laid on the main streets and the entire area pedestrianised. Also, and this is a huge one, I’d like to see the old medieval townhouse completely re-built, as it would have been (within reason). It would be a huge project, but done right, it could be a great addition to the city.
How would people deal with Moyross? It clearly isn’t working and to be sadly honest, seems to be getting worse, as opposed to most areas in the city always improving. How do we make it harder (from an architechtural sense) for anti-social behaviour to thrive? Should we look for a Ballymun-esque redevelopment of the entire area, perhaps reducing the overall population and concentrating on the “good apples”? Build proper pitches, facilities etc and give them to local sports clubs to maintain. For example, the GAA recently designated Limerick city as a hurling blackspot in Munster, give them a few redeveloped pitches and invite them to start local initiaves (just one example).
