Alek Smart
Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
@missarchi wrote:
It seems like the RPA don’t want to allow the kids a play ground at college green…
Probably because they’d be lured from College Green around the corner into Westmoreland Street and KIDnapped in the utter blackness which enfolds this Street of an evening…
DCC appear to have decided that Old Caluctta represents a far better comparator than any EU City and so therefore have implimented a “Black Hole” policy here,with only the Westin Hotel daring to challenge Official City Council Policy….damn their impertinence I say !!
I wonder if the City Manager gets a “Top-Up” for this type of initiative…..?
@StephenC wrote:
Dublin City Council’s ‘Odds n Ends’ Department (Lighting) strikes again. IMO THE worst department within the Council. Continuously wallows in mediocrity.
I rather fear,StephenC,that the Public Lighting section merely takes it’s lead from what purports to be Senior Administrators in Civic Offices.
As most compos-mentis users of Dublin as a functioning Capital City,will readily attest to,the recent activities (or lack of same) all point to a Senior Civic Management Team which has taken,lierally,to a windowless fallout shelter,from where it’s “Professionals” issue an ever increasing stream of manic instructions in the manner of May 1945 Berlin.
Just take a mid-evening ramble later on,around The Kildare St/Merrion Row/Stephens Green Luas BXD “Site” for a very significant underlining of whats missing “on the street”….it’s mainly down to a lack of INTEREST !!!! :thumbdown:
At this point in time,with the Darkness of Winter approaching (NOTE to DCC…Winter evenings = Darkness……Hint-Hint ? ) I would be satisfied with bunches of Burning Oil Soaked Rushes tied with wire and hung from some of the forest of poles used for every friggin purpose EXCEPT facilitating the Public’s safe passage into and out of the Portaloos …..If there are any Photo-Hogs on this forum,how about a Nightime Photo Montage of the West side of Westmoreland Street…the dark side between College Green and Fleet Street….?
Hard to friggin believe that its over Three YEARS since I posted about the stygian blackness of Westmoreland Street ,It now WORSE than ever !……DCC’s long game is obviously working as it appear they are waiting on the Electric Tramway Company to light the place up….But perhaps I’m expecting a bit much from DCC….as the arrangements surrounding the Bus Diversions at Merrion Row quite clearly show…..The REAL power base now is obviously the Taxi Driving Fraternity…… :crazy:
@StephenC wrote:
However, despite the rhetoric of that lofty Public Realm Strategy…these improvements seem to have been drafted by the Roads Engineering Team. I would be very interested to be corrected on that.
It would seem so….the biggest give-away being a somewhat semi-incredible revelation that,when the SSG project is complete,even with wider footpaths,build-outs and much else there will be 3 additional Car Parking spaces available on SSG….from 84 today to 87 tomorrow.
I’m just in awe at the previously unknown abilities of DCC to go into Tardis mode when it comes to road-space…
Can’t wait to experience the broad open spaces of the veldt concept for myself…..bring it ON. :thumbup:
@missarchi wrote:
Has luas cross city got any new plans?
Well if they have,I do hope it includes enough € for a few bulbs to fit into the dark,unused,redundant,Public Lighting fittings adorning the facades of Westmoreland St (surely Dublins darkest,least inviting major thoroughfare ?) O Connel St and D’Olier St.
I sincerely hope Mrs O’Bama does’nt express a desire to stroll as far as Temple Bar,cos if it’s after dark,she’ll run the risk of getting lost.
I’m now reduced to a forlorn hope that some Candlestick Maker can be found to sponsor a few burning rushes along Westmoreland St,or failing that we could appeal to the reps of the late U.S General William Westmoreland for “assistance” in deposing the current City Governance regime ?
I note that following their Britannic Majesties departure from our shores Westmoreland Street continues to remain in Stephen Hawking mode…It appears Dublin City Council,the City Manager and in particular the Public Lighting Manager are lifelong fans of the Black-Hole theory….I’d appreciate it somewhat more if they subscribed to the Big-Bang theory instead.
And just to underline the cack-handedness of what purports to be a modern EU Capital City’ s Admintration,the wholesale deforestation of College Green for Mr Barrack H Obama’s speech from the dock,has resulted in the Westmoreland St syndrome spreading to College Green…yes folks stygian blackness from Grafton St to Church lane……mind you it could also be a cunning plan to force the BoI to surrender their Portico at a bit of an oul haircut….I’m all in favour of inviting Fidel Castro to speak next…..I can’t see him making things any worse than this gang of twittery larks have managed to do….Is it any wonder the country is fc’uk`d
@StephenC wrote:
Looks like Cavendish Row is next for the bollards
I wonder if,given DCC’s rapidity and effectivity with erecting bollards,they might purchase some with little LED fairy-lights built in ?
Then they could install them at various darkened location’s around our glorious City (WESTMORELAND St springs to mind) thus short-circuiting the Public Lighting Section’s long running inability to illuminate these places….
In the absence of this type of thinking,we the People,must rely,once again,on the House of Windsor for a bit of salvation !!! :crazy:
Perhaps with Fingal Co Co dispensing with the Fry Model Railway,some enterprising fellow,perhaps a foreigner,could see some benefit to relocating it to one of the many empty spaces which border the “Plaza”.?
“Also,and this will sound awful, whislt the Jameson Distillery development and Smithfield Market are finished off very well, they were always basically islands of affluence surrounded by ghettos. I know thats harsh, and many of the original inhabitants of the area are really decent upstanding people but there are also alot of “scumbags”, for want of a better term. Just look at all the behavior outside the childrens court…not to mention the horse fair!! That is not going to attract anybody.”
Thebig C sadly does have a point,which is not Smithfield specific but can be applied to many areas of Irish Life.
For sure the Luas people have a battle on their hands to reclaim their system from the clutches of a substantial number of those who see no value in respecting proiperty or other individuals rights to integrity.
No amount of Architectural innovation or flash design will make any difference in the absence of a functional social framework to support it…currrently Smithfields framework is tenuous at best and prone to sudden collapse with the usual results.
Sad yes,but it’s where we currently are and ,it would seem,where we wish to remain.
It’s now reached the stage where I’m actively considering petioning Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of our nearest neighbours,to see if She may take the Westmoreland St Blackout case on.
I suspect that Dublin City Council’s Public Lighting Section may be fearful of breaching the blackout regulations and allowing the Street to become a target for Boche Bombers or such fiendish types.
I drop in here on an irregular basis,but I retain the hope that someday I shall be able to post a “First Cuckoo of Spring” message and refer in glowing terms to the City Councils recruitment of a Lamplighter and a supply of rushes which could be placed in some framework,perhaps attached to the Portaloos to allow the peasantry to see where to pee,so to speak.
Westmoreland St,up to last week remains in a sea of deep darkness once the Westin turn off their own lights.
Not only is it a depressing sight,but equally it is a Dangerous one,particularly for pedestrians attempting to cross it`s splendid wide aspect.Incredibly,there are lamp units (albeit horrible but functional industrial units) affixed to frontages but which have not been functional for years,yes YEARS.
With 2016 rapidly approaching,I’m wondering if the street was better lit a century ago than it is today ?
I listen on a regular basis to impressively titled Public Representatives and the likes telling us all about the Knowledge Based Economy and our incredible potential to be innovative and attract Googles,Facebooks,and EBays to our City……perhaps the last-named one might be a source of cheap, working,light-units which some passing African Missionaries might endevour to connect up for us in our hour/century of need. :crazy:
GrahamH,bad and all as the Ulster Bank lighting has turned out to be,even this level of illumination would improve matters 200% at the College Green/Westmoreland Street junction !
This junction is now a VERY dangerous place indeed during the hours of morning darkness when the total absence of Public Lighting combined with the equallly dark facade of the AIB building combine to significantly increase a pedestrians chances of serious injury or death…Begging the question of exactly what we are paying Mr John Tierney €189,301 per anum for….?
A quick perambulation along a thoroughly blacked-out Westmoreland St last evening revealed only a single functioning Public Light fitting on the East-Side of the street.
This shining beacon is tacked on to the facade of the,now empty,former EBS building.
Of itself it`s a fairly brutal fitting as it certainly sits like a zit on the end of a nose,however it is at least working.
The City Council policy for the remainder of that side appears to revolve around the Westin Hotel being good enough to put some candles in their windows as there are NO other public lighting fixtures in place.
The West-Side fares somewhat better with at least two fittings functional,however their output is diminished considerably by the surrounding dense foilage.
What a thoroughly depressing night-time vista this once rather splendind street now presents as it spurs citizens and visitors onto racing through it,lest they experience a mischief.
All the LAP`s and assorted high-sounding plans programmes and intentions do not count for diddley-squat if the Civic Authority do not possess the simple damn interest to take a walk around their own City now and then….after dark that is 😡
The overgrown trees are the culprit here
Sorry StephenC,but them Trees are in the clear on the main charge anyway.
It`s a rather simpler and more fundamental issue of DCC`s long running aversion to providing a reasonable level of street lighting on Westmoreland Street.
Currently the Westin Hotel provides much of the illumination at the southern end whether by accident or design.
Now whilst those darn trees do have a negative effect on the Light,but when there`s hardly any of it in the first place then it`s a moot point.
I did notice,however a recent burst of new street lighting installation along the Drumcondra Road adjacent to His Grace`s Palace….rather unusually this was accompanied by a burst of long overdue tree pruning…I wonder how they managed to integrate those duties…..
Another fine example of the benefits of pruning one`s bush (:eek:) can be seen as we speak along Cowper Road by Milltown Golf Club,where for the first time in years the light can shine down upon the strollers….!
Prune for Ireland I say !!! 😉
Has DCC got some form of aversion to providing any streetlighting in Westmoreland Street ?
The southern end around the BoI and Fleet Street is blacker than Calcutta`s hole,,,Why should this be so ?
Straying a wee bit off topic,I`m keen to find out if DCC have some form of Blackout policy in force for Westmoreland Street…or is it an attempt to take the spotlight(!!) off the somewhat inapropriate siting of the Weekend Portaloo`s ….:rolleyes:
The Black Hole of Calcutta must surely have been a brighter prospect that the College Green end of Westmoreland Street !! 😮
Droool?…sounds like the most bnoring load of old tripe. Who on earth would visit a Legal Museum?
Perhaps….perhaps Not….
One of the best visits I ever made was to the Museum of Irish Music and Culture which had a brief existence in The Chief O Neill`s complex.
It was IMO the best interactive and informative exposition of Irish Music to be found in this City.
Sadly,it died a death due to all of the Smithfield Factors so accurately depicted in this thread.
The final nail in it`s coffin came when the Museum`s creators were asked to “Funk it up” and consider allowing it to be used as a Nightclub in order to stimulate night-trade income.In the current economic and social climate it is debatable whether Smithfield can in fact be saved from the Sandyford effect…ie: demolition and the return of the land to largely agrarian purposes…. 😉
This really is Las Vegas style stuff… :confused:
I must assume that some form of punishment,either in this life or the next will befall those responsible….It makes Dr Quirkeys look like an example of restrained decency……
It must have taken a Brown Envelope the size of Mayo to slip this travesty through the extensive and exhaustive Planning Processes which DCC preside over…
IAP my ass ! 🙂
Re: Carlton Cinema Development
When I walked down OCS last night there was feverish work on the Carlton, almost like it was intended to reopen it as an amusements or some such. Anyone know about this?Crikey notjim,I`m not surprised it was feverish…I would imagine the philistines needed to finish their work and get back across the State Line before certain contributors to this forum could get them.
There are NO words in the English language which can adequately describe what has become of the Carlton….. 😮
Is there a mechanism in the Constitution whereby City Managers can be repeatedly dunked in the River Liffey in order to decide for once and for all if they are actually Witches or Warlocks ?
