fjp
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“Young” Fine Gael? Do they actually matter? Perhaps they’ll matter at some point in the distant future, but judging by that article I don’t think they’ll matter very much.
ouch
fjp
Bummer – Reuters are quite popular you know…. 😉
But surely you can pass some blame??? At least for just not mailing you enough reminders or not automatically charging your card. And passing the blame will make you feel a lot better (it’s medically proven to be quite therapeutic).
Good it’s back though.
fjp
(and I personally look forward to a street with giant trees on one side and tiny ones on the other)
I did raise an eyebrow when they replaced all the “old stone posts with metal bits on top”. Th old ones were wrecked, but that’s because (I presume) they were very old.
fjp
(very uninformed this morning)I’ll try some responses, but they’re off the top of my head so quite open to discussion (ie, I might change my mind iof presented with reasonable points).
1 – Yes- tall buildings would only be “part†of the solution. But at the moment they are not part of the solution at all.
2 – Yes – a Georgian chimneyed skyline looks nice, but they’re more or less gone. Right now there’s just a big mixture of stuff, which often looks messy (although you can’t see the mess until you’re actually up high). So you’re right on this one….sort of.
3 – Yup – it’s tricky to do. But right now we have a low quality medium height skyline and terrible housing shortages. How about we just say “screw it†and actually have homes people can afford.
4 – I meant well designed tall buildings. Not ugly ones. This same logic of “they usually look bad†could be applied to any apartment construction in the city at the moment. So I don’t really accept this point.
5 – That’s a social question which I feel doesn’t really come into it. I’m an atheist, and right now most of the tall structures represent a false religion as far as I’m concerned. Get my point???
6 – Polarisation already exists, you’re simply saying we should keep these people as far away from each other as possible. Let them work it out or hide behind their car park gates (which they’re already doing all over the city).
7 – Yes. A policy would be need, but we’re adults, so we should be able to work this one out using our brains.
8 – was that point for tall buildings or against them. Yes – we must think of the future, and right now the future involves the city expanding outwards, huge traffic, unaffordable houses.
9 – That’s a technical point. I’ve no idea.
10 – What’s an MSc????
Yeah DaveR – plenty of us are non-architects (inc me). I even spell the damn word wrong sometimes.
This means that I’m a member of your glorious aforementioned public, and I don’t agree with what YOU just said, or the attititude you’re taking towards people posting on these boards (though I imagine you didn’t read too much before you posted).
Hands Off – interesting concept. Do you mean leave O’Connel Street as it is (inc litter, fast food, general shabiness at ground level)??? Or hands on until something you don’t like is encountered – like the trees. Then it comes down to our opinion versus yours. Your opinion seemed to be “leave them there because we like things as they are”.
Once again, we are the Public too…
fjp
If tall isn’t working, what about deep??? I’d love to see what would happen if someone planned an inverted office block for Dublin (like the underground government building in London).
On the serious note – tall versus sprawl and traffic. It still seems obvious that if we’re out of room and everything costs a fortune, we should go upwards. And the views would be pretty. We need an eccentric millionaire to take a civil suit against the planning people.
fjp
Well whilst the south end does seem to be treeless in the 1940’s, this photo shoes that the north side from the pillar does have some pretty old trees on it.
The last photo show public toilets which are also of historical importance. They have railings which might be ideally suited for chains.
Still though, if I were them I’d be more concerned with the street being a shithole in general. I rang them and they’re emailing me their press release. Here it is (I’m not fixing the bad word wrapping):
GREEN TDs CHAIN THEMSELVES TO O’CONNELL STREET TREES
In Protest At Destruction
Green Party TDs chained themselves to trees in O’Connell Street, Dublin
this
afternoon in a last ditch attempt to save the remaining trees along the
capitol’s thoroughfare. The trees are due to be cut down to clear access
for
the construction of the new city centre Spike monument.Green Party Environment spokesperson, Councillor Ciaran Cuffe T.D., said
that
the Green Party felt that they had no alternative but to hold this protest
to
highlight “this criminal destruction of Dublin’s heritage”. “We believe
that
the cutting down of the O’Connell Street trees is an absolute scandal. We
have
been inundated with calls from the public to see what we can do.”“The Green Party believe that it is possible to achieve the aims of the
O’Connell Street plan and still retain the best of the remaining trees.”Deputy Cuffe said that the Green Party had raised the issue in the Dáil
earlier
today calling on the Minister for the Environment to intervene immediately
and
call a halt to this wanton destruction.Mr. Cuffe said that the Greens were also appealing to the public to make
their
voice hear and help save the trees. “We are calling on members of the public
to
write to the Dublin City Manager John Fitzgerald at the Civic Offices, Wood
Quay
and urge him to save the remaining mature trees which are due to be cut down
to
make way for construction work.”Last April the following Motion in the name of Councillor Ciarán Cuffe was
moved
for report by Dublin City Council:“That the City Manager ensure that the venerable one hundred year old Plane
Trees on Upper O’Connell Street that witnessed the Easter Rising in 1916 be
retained as part of any plan to rejuvenate the area.”Ciarán Cuffe T.D. 087 265 2075
Stephen Rawson, Press Officer 618 4088 / 087 235 7551Hi bloke,
Well ta very much, although since we’re going off the point a good bit I’ll keep it short.
Yup – dates like 020416 indicates 16.4.2002. The first way allows the computer to sort the files numerically.
Updates: whenever I can, which isn’t really that often. The Latest Additions show an examples of updates in the past.
But glad you liked it and thanks for the post,
fjp
(ps – sorry for the mini-hijacking paul, but seriously – a speedboat right between the bridges!!!)
Hmm…
Then there’s this school of thought: we’ll always have bad traffic. The alternative is to allow public transport to move feely and then entice people onto it with shorter journey times. If the traffic were to disappear, then some people on the busses might simply get back in their cars. So the actual “ideal” is stuck cars and moving busses/trams. Becasue the cars will probably never learn…
Long Bendy busses: the extra length is only about the same as two cars. Or maybe this is Dublin bus getting revenge. Also, there’s less chance of them getting sued by people falling down narrow steep stairs, the driver can see more, etc, etc.
And standing in the middle on the join is seriusly good fun….
fjp
When you put it like that, we must consider that public transport will only cost more money, and potentially loose revenue from the taxes of the ever-increasing car market.
I remember talk about the bad traffic a full ten years ago now. They should just enforce bus corridors, get a tonne of new busses (so that people won’t have to wait 15/25 mins at rush hour) and actually DO that park and ride thing they lied about ages ago. A couple of consecutive no car days for the city centre (real no car days – not till 9.30 and with FREE bus access for all) would soon let us see what it could be like.
If only those reclaim the streets people weren’t useless. I’d love to see them declare certain days bus only and then just block the roads. As long as Dublin Bus could handle the popularity.
fjp
Participants in today’s conference were attempting to overcome motorist scepticism that this is all technological tinkering at the edges, rather than dealing with the congestion problems.
The motorists are right. The government (in my mind) seems to be still avoiding any real and lasting solution to the traffic/location of houses problem.
fjp
I see this building from the bus occasionally, and it’s strange how quicky it disappears into the trees of the surrounding area. But yeah – it looks huge and I’ve never head any major public discussions about how awful it is to live there (in fact, google says people will pay 1550 EU per month for a two bed apt).
No prob about the link, you’re more than welcome. At the moment my real problem is german people hotlinking pictures of dogs for fake pet sale advertisements (it makes no sense).
And yes – this means the liberty hall photos are up:
come visitfjp
(ps – they include weirdness like this:
I want up that crane. I really do. Despite the fact that my Liberty Hall shots are causing me great pain to stitch together (and we’re making a movie too – god bless DV cams and iBooks).
Sounds great though. I must try and scab a better camera. And hats off to Paul, at least his photos are actually organised!!! (and he has a forum, and a proper search function, usefull accurate information, etc etc etc)
fjp
Yes – they still have the tree cutting bus. Saw it a few months ago.
fjp
(screw it, I’m bored – here’s a photo of the damn thing)
I do look forward to the giant metal thingy, although I don’t look forward to seeing the first retard’s name scrawled on the base….
fjp
Hmmm. I’m far from being an expert on this, but is it possible to begin construction on a project whilst there are still outstanding planning objections. I would have presumed that since the foundations are extremely advanced, the spike itself would follow to it’s planned schedule (and therefore be fully erect by Christmas, if that’s the intended date).
Seerski, are you certain these objections will cause further delays, or are you (like me) speculating??
fjp
I also have no car, and last night realised once more that the walk from the Point Theatre to the bus is quite long. Although now punctuated by the completely lit space towers at Georges Quay (sooooo sweeeet).
Helix – saw all the TV promos yesterday. Interesting stairs. Bear in mind that bus users have to get two busses to get the from the south side, and not everybody on the south side automatically has a car.
But seriously – fair play to them for going ahead and actually building it. It sure as hell beats discussing making something for ten years and then doing nothing.
fjp
Interesting, although I don’t recall them opening the centre doors even when conductors were still around. Surely with a conducter and a driver this wouldn’t be that hard to manage….
And all the busses were full this morning (becasuse it rained). Full busses are certainly the best advert for driving into work.
fjp
