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@ctesiphon wrote:
And what was the scrolling screen advertising? Why, it was advertising ‘advertising’!- with a (fake?) trade journal showing different ‘celebrities’ from the advertising world..
Ah, but did you not know –
@Dublin City Council statement in Irish Times wrote:
Dublin City Council has exclusive use of all JC Decaux advertising panels at no cost, for public information campaigns until August 31st
Indeed.
I noticed a number of these myself last weekend, in effect advertising advertising space to let – which is curious when you consider that apparently –
@cobalt wrote:
It’s also stated here that “one side of one of these panels in a prime location costs €2500 for a fortnight”
Indeed, again.
@ctesiphon wrote:
I have heard anecdotally that a number of organisations and companies are reluctant to advertise on the boards due to the almost exclusively negative press they’ve received.
It’s not just anecdotal – AFA O’Meara (the state’s largest hirer of billboards) are avoiding them according to Colin Coyle – see post 436… I’m hearing of others – with some concerns relating to the ambiguity of legal liability and any issues that may arise therein…
The whole thing’s a total mess – I agree 100% with what Paul had to say in the archiseek release –
@Archiseek wrote:
it has become apparent that the scheme is an unmitigated disaster and epitomises what-not-to-do when engaging in urban planning . . . Already some of the units have been withdrawn, having been blatantly unsafe and manifestly hazardous.
Slammed as a “dodgy deal” by a govt TD, JC Decaux really won’t like it that advertisers are boycotting their bogey billboards…
But the real question is, who in Dublin City Council management does the buck stop with? 😡
The thing to do is to keep posting details here so that transparency may prevail – and dangerous units are outed
@lostexpectation wrote:
Does €100m worth of business in return for 450 bikes AD up?
that’s not really the deal is it?
It is indeed lostexpectation – or at least one estimate as to what the revenue is worth… Still no declaration as to what the contract contains – despite it having been agreed 2 years ago… Is it any wonder why people think it is all well dodgy?
From todays Evening Herald, front page – Archiseek gets another mention as it did last weekend…
The last line is the best –
@Dublin City Council wrote:
it will carry out a cost-benefit analysis once the bicycles arrive
Ah, just like the safety analysis 😡
Apparently the Parnell Street west sign referred to by Archiseek in the Irish Times has since evaporated…
So that’s Rathmines, Synott Place, and now Parnell Street each removed following public complaints on grounds of safety. It seems self evident that the thing to do is to keep asking the questions – and keep posting up here any photos or details of suspect units. Anyhow –Two other news clippings also follow.
Does €100m worth of business in return for 450 bikes AD up?
By Cormac Murphy
Thursday August 28 2008DUBLIN City Council should make public a contract in which advertising space is being exchanged for bicycles, a politician has said.
The call comes as controversy continues to surround the deal struck between the local authority and outdoor advertisers, JC Decaux.
Billboard sites worth an estimated €100m are being handed over by the council in return for 450 bicycles.
The bikes, which will not be available for another year, will be provided free of charge to members of the public for short journeys through the city.
Labour’s Sean Kenny, who is chair of the council’s transport committee, said he would like to see more transparency surrounding the deal.
“I know there is commercial sensitivity but I sometimes do not buy that line. I would be in favour of the information being made available to the public,” Mr Kenny said.
Priority
But he said a priority should also be getting the bike scheme up and running.
“It has been a success in Paris and Barcelona. There is a need for it. I would like to see that moving forwards quickly,” he said.
Stuart Fogarty, of AFA O’Meara, Ireland’s largest advertising agency, has questions about the deal.
“They will be the most expensive bicycles in the world. Those advertising sites are worth at least €100m and we are swapping them for a few hundred bicycles, a few advertising panels and some signage for tourists,” he said.
“There are too few bicycles to make any real impact on traffic, so what’s in it for Dublin?”
His reservations have been echoed by An Taisce, the Dublin City Business Association, the National Council for the Blind in Ireland, popular architectural website Archiseek and a number of city councillors.
In exchange for 450 bicycles, Decaux has been given 72 lucrative advertising billboards, which have already sprouted up around the city.
Labour’s Andrew Montague, who is chair of the council’s Cycle Forum, agreed with Mr Kenny that the agreement should be made public.
“The terms of the deal are not public. All we know is that there were five companies that put in a tender. (JC Decaux) was the best tender so it seems like it was a good deal. If it was such a bad deal why would someone else not have had a better deal?” he said.
Comparisons have been made with another city with a similar bicycle scheme.
As part of the Velov scheme in Lyon, JC Decaux has provided 3,000 bikes in exchange for exclusive advertising opportunities in the city centre at 350 sites. Mr Montague said the French city’s initiative has had a positive impact on traffic.
“Their scheme started with 2,000 bikes and there are now 3,000, which is testament to its success. It’s disappointing that we will begin with just 450,” he said.
Price
His Labour colleague Emer Costello said: “We’re paying too high a price. We’re selling our streets for a few hundred bikes and we have no idea how much JC Decaux is making.”
She accused the council of failing to carry out a cost-benefit analysis.
“The project was brought in through a strategic policy committee but it was never voted on by the entire council,” said Ms Costello.
“The unsightly signage has been placed disproportionately in the north inner city but its local area committee was never consulted.”
The council has said the JC Decaux deal was the best on offer after competitive bidding. It said it will carry out a cost-benefit analysis once the bicycles arrive.
– Cormac Murphy
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
From The Irish Times a fortnight ago, and also a short piece from the Sunday Times
Advertising space for rental bikes ‘a dodgy deal’
Monday, August 11, 2008OLIVIA KELLY
THE AGREEMENT between Dublin City Council and international advertising company JC Decaux to provide rental bicycles in exchange for advertising space estimated to be worth €1 million annually is a “dodgy deal”, Green Party TD Ciarán Cuffe has said.Mr Cuffe was speaking at a Dublin seminar for international architecture students yesterday. Asked by a delegate what proportion of the Government transport budget was spent on cycling infrastructure, he said: “almost zero”.
He outlined the arrangement whereby JC Decaux is to provide a bicycle rental scheme in exchange for outdoor advertising space at around 100 locations in the city.
“The advertising has gone up, but we’ve had no bicycles. It’s been estimated that the advertising will be worth about €100,000 to JC Decaux per bicycle. It’s a dodgy deal between the city council and this advertising firm to get free bicycles,” Mr Cuffe said, adding that advertising structures mounted on footpaths were an obstruction to blind people.
A spokesman for the council said there was nothing untoward about the deal with JC Decaux.
In addition to providing 450 bicycles, the council had free use of all the advertising panels until the end of August, after which 38 of them would be allocated for its own use. JC Decaux also agreed to remove a number of its large advertising hoardings around the city, the spokesman said.
The bicycles would not be available to the public until late spring or summer 2009. The council was reviewing locations of some panels in collaboration with the National Council for the Blind, he said.
© 2008 The Irish Times
This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
From Page 15, opposite editorial, printed Irish edition of The Sunday
Times, August 10, 2008.ATTICUS by Colin Coyle
Littering the city with billboards to promote tidiness is rubbish idea
If you behave like a piece of filth, that’s how the world sees you,
Dublin city council’s latest advertising campaign warns. The message
would be more convincing if it wasn’t delivered via JC Decaux’s
oversized, unsightly “metropole” billboards. If Dublin city council
sees fit to befoul the streets with these advertising eyesores, why
should the litter-bugs behave differently. Ciaran Cuffe, the Green
Party TD, described the hoardings last week as “a blot on the
landscape” and “the biggest litter blight we’ve had on the city’s
streets in a long time”. The advertising campaign is funded by the
Department of Environment, which has contributed €200,000 to the
initiative. Maybe Cuffe could raise the issue with his party colleague
and minister for the environment, John Gormley.@Sue wrote:
I have indeed. Fair enough, a “drinking den” is a slightly provocative statement but a “cultural quarter” it ain’t. Other than the Irish Film Centre, there is no cultural institution of any note or value.
Ah now Sue, methinks you are stirring it up :p
A massive bus depot where Temple Bar is would have been awful.
Granted Temple Bar is more a stag party west bank than it is a left bank, but apart from the IFC, there is the Print Studios and artists studios, the Button Factory, the Childrens’ Ark, and some other worthwhile stuff – Green Building, though now dated, was nonetheless a good initiative…
Meanwhile this is all letting Dublin Bus off the hook – [gets on soapbox] – Dublin Bus are simply the worst land users imaginable. They have absolutely no cognisance as to how to use their sizable land bank effectively and efficiently – anytime during the day one can see how their buses choke up Parnell Square and Marlborough Street, meanwhile up at Broadstone during the day, it looks like this:
… and over at Summerhill, it appears like this:
Note the empty deserts of tarmac. Apart from idiotic land mis-usage Dublin Bus are also far from exemplary custodians of important architecture within their care, with Skipton Mulvany’s fine Egyptian Revival essay at Broadstone left like this – squalid, semi-derelict and covered with litter:
Truth of it is, far from another depot where Temple Bar is, it would be much better to get Dublin Bus to manage their own existing facilities in an accountable manner. This also includes cutting archaic working practises dating from the time of trams which left workers taking their break in around the pillar. The pillar is long gone, and so too should be consigned to the history bin any reactionary unions that try to stop the city from functioning for their own selfish ends…
@Dept of Environment & DCC as stated on billboard wrote:
LITTER IS DISGUSTING, SO ARE THOSE RESPONSIBLE
Indeed.
Shame on John Gormley & his department for being the first to hire these units to lecture the citizens about despoiling the environment.
Absolutely f***ing disgraceful. :mad::mad::mad:
Sinn Féin’s Daithà Doolan said it was good to see a project that was “trying to do something with the Liffey”.
I’ve a suggestion for Doolin; why doesn’t he organise the World’s 1st Liffey Swim With Concrete Flippers – he can be first in…
@tommyt wrote:
Nice quote work- Have you anything from ‘The Hard Life’ to eulogise the newbie on Warrington Place by any chance?
You never know tommyt, you never know… 😉
Mr Boland… had wanted the cable cars to be in the shape of a pint of Guinness, but this violated advertising codes.
OMG 😮
I am just after noticing this now. Who said that this was a pointless gimmick…
@CC105 wrote:
Hopefully this one is a dead duck, lets get some buildings up before we start building items like this, it reminds me of Alton Towers in England
It hasn’t gone away you know…
From yesterday’s Irish Times –
Cable car project to seek city council sanction
THE DEVELOPER behind the €90 million “Suas” cable car project for the River Liffey is to seek planning permission from Dublin City Council for the scheme, after failing to secure fast-track planning approval from An Bord Pleanála.
Details of the Suas, which would run from Heuston Station to the docklands and involve the construction of 80m (262ft) towers along its length, were yesterday presented to city councillors ahead of the submission of a planning application.
Developer Barry Boland, formerly a planner with Dublin County Council, last year sought to have the Suas considered under fast-track planning rules which allow strategic infrastructural developments to be determined directly by An Bord Pleanála.
However, the board decided the Suas did not qualify as strategic infrastructure, leaving Mr Boland no option but to apply to the city council.
The Suas would be a tourist attraction rather than a public transport system, Mr Boland said.
“We’re trying to create the equivalent of an Eiffel Tower, the London Eye or the Sydney Opera House – the sort of iconic thing that Dublin currently lacks.”
Each cable car could carry 30 people and would run every 20 minutes. A round trip would cost €25. Two 80m towers – 20m taller than Liberty Hall – would be built at Marlborough Street and Wood Quay, and 60m towers would be located in the docklands and at Watling Street to support the cable. Mr Boland estimates that one in every eight visitors to Dublin would use the Suas.
Several councillors said they were interested in the project, but stopped short of endorsing it.
“My mind was quite closed to this project, and I would still have a certain scepticism, but my mind is perhaps a little less closed,” Labour councillor Emer Costello said.
Sinn Féin’s Daithà Doolan said it was good to see a project that was “trying to do something with the Liffey”.
Mr Boland said it was up to the planners to decide if it detracted from the skyline. He had wanted the cable cars to be in the shape of a pint of Guinness, but this violated advertising codes.
Mr Boland said he would be ready to submit his planning application within weeks. However, because the city council owns some of the land on which the entrance to the Suas and the towers supporting the cable would be built, he needs to be given permission by the city manager to lodge an application.
A Dublin City Council spokeswoman said Mr Boland would need to seek a pre-planning meeting with the council to detail how he intended to deal with certain issues including access.
The Dublin Docklands Development Authority said it supported the project in principle, pending a decision from the council.
The Irish Times
It looks great.
Such an improvement on the nasty cheapo 70s block that was there before.
Cool crisp and clean lines, with the tinted glass envelope alluding to the placidity of the canal in front, and welcoming open skies above.
“O unworn world enrapture me, encapture me in a web
Of fabulous grass and eternal voices by a beech,
Feed the gaping need of my senses, give me ad lib
To pray unselfconsciously with overflowing speech
For this soul needs to be honoured with a new dress woven
From green and blue things and arguments that cannot be proven.”From Patrick Kavanaghs ‘Canal Bank Walk’
Anybody else see the One Warrington Place, just down the way – and again a vast improvement…
While the Celtic Tiger may not have delivered massive Gerkin-style icons, here as with the Harcourt Building, the city has benefited from some good quality decent commercial buildings 🙂
Dublin City Manager’s refusal to conduct an independent Health and Safety Investigation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyYqE6lv2M8&feature=user
Dublin City Council’s treatment of the visually impaired:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Azi0NqSKrMA
Sham, sham, sham.
And so the circus continues. From today’s Irish Times.
The last line is probably the most telling – “The council would shortly be meeting NCBI and JC Decaux to discuss any concerns in relation to the panels, he [DCC spokesperson] said.” I.e. go away blind people and don’t bother us – we’ll take the flak in the media for a while, sound reasonable, it’ll eventually drop off the headlines and the units will stay.For the record, NCBI were initially contacted by DCC but weren’t too enthusiastic… then didn’t hear anything again until the media hoo-haa during the appeals last Oct.
Sham, sham, sham…
Why has the mandatory safety audit not already been done; how is at “review stage” if assessment is not complete?
Review my hole 😡Dublin City Council to review ad panels over risks to blind
OLIVIA KELLY
DUBLIN CITY council is to review the new advertising panels erected by JC Decaux as part of the city bicycle scheme following reports from the NCBI that the structures are unsafe.The National Council for the Blind of Ireland (NCBI) says the panels, which stand on the public path, are a danger to the visually impaired who risk walking into them or being cut by their sharp edges, because they are unsuitable for people using canes.
NCBI chief executive Des Kenny said the organisation did advise the council in relation to proper finishes for the structures and appropriate placement of the signs during the planning stage, but the advice was not followed in several instances.
“The edges are finished in steel which have not been rounded and if people hit themselves off the edges they will be cut,” Mr Kenny said. “Also, they don’t go right down to the ground so a cane can travel under them before people meet the wall of glass.”
NCBI was calling on the council to order JC Decaux to retro-fit the signs to ensure that they reached the ground and were properly finished, and to ensure that all future signs met these standards.
The council said yesterday that it had already ordered JC Decaux to remove a bus-shelter sized panel on Dorset Street because it obstructed a pedestrian crossing and the views of motorists.
A spokesman for the council said: “We are currently examining whether the signs have been erected at each site in accordance with the conditions attaching to the grant of permission in each case.”
The spokesman added it was in the conditions of the planning permissions granted that the advertising panels would not impede pedestrian movement, road signs, traffic lights, pedestrian sight lines, pedestrian crossings or any other road infrastructure.
“In the event that any of the approved signs have been erected and do not comply with these conditions, JC Decaux will be instructed to take corrective action,” said the spokesman.
The council would shortly be meeting NCBI and JC Decaux to discuss any concerns in relation to the panels, he said.
© 2008 The Irish Times
@thewillow wrote:
Could the City Council object to the change of use?
Lol given the junk that DCC have been letting through, do you think they’d care?… And even if they did, why should they?
This is one where I’d refer you to Paul Clerkin’s post – “No problem with Lidl – unlike Spar / Centra / Londis, they seem to respect heritage buildings.”
Lidl is in fact one of the very very few (with the exception of NCAD) on Thomas St that are actually somewhat responsible. As ctesiphon said, to which I’ll add a “+ 1” (:p), “If they get the treatment and finishes right – agreed, signage is key – then I have no issues.”
We must face facts. There must be convenient low-cost good-quality fresh fare available in the city centre if we are to cater to the new immigrant populations, indigenous post celtic tiger professionals, and any young families that we might aspire to have living city centre side.
Tut, tut, what am I saying – “convenient low-cost good-quality fresh fare available in the city centre”; that would require a revolution!…Or do we stick with the same over-priced shite from frequently non-compliant providers, where you have as much chance of a good selection of fresh veg as winning the lotto…
Up with Lidl College Green, is what I say – Viva la Recessionistas! 😀
This was all not just predictable – it was predicted.
Think it’s a mess what the blind have to suffer, than just wait until the first accidents occur. The only question is when – this month, next month or after? Then again, it’s only the fatalities that are likely to be reported – it’s highly likely that accidents (non-fatal) have already occurred, and will have to work their way through the courts before they become a matter of public record… And when the LA is found responsible in derelicting in their duty, will it be officials that will foot the bill, like shite – it’ll be the tax-payer, i.e. you and me 😡
Link to Radio 1 lunch time news:
http://www.rte.ie/news/news1pm/
The RTE Six-One news piece is 38 minutes in, for anyone that’s interested.
I am hearing a lot more as to defects and problems with these, which I am not as of yet in a position to post up here – but I will before too long… In the meantime, Blood on your hands, DCC 😡
@cgcsb wrote:
In relation to your flatmate, That is just the reason why I think there should be circle line bus that travels along the grand canal interchanges with both luas lines and cross the new Becket bridge (2010) stops near grand canal dock, Connolly and Drumcondra stations. Interchages with the propsed Metro and luas line D, continues along the North Circular Rd., into the park and across Island Bridge, stopping near Heuston and continues along the Grand Canal
This is in fact an excellent idea… Yet it would be a real challenge to figure out how to give buses priority owing to limited space…
Must say I also like the idea of routing the metro through the tunnel – if for no other reason, than as a good example of a lateral thinking discussion point which this country should have more of. Less reactionaries, more lateralists 😉
@notjim wrote:
I went to the Metro North Mater Stop information meeting this evening; no big surprise; 400/398 NCR, the two red bricks on the Mater site will be demolished for an entrance, there will also be an entrance the other side of the current vehicular entrance, this will be connected to the larger hospital building which will line the NCR. Perhaps surprisingly this is it, it isn’t intended to have entrances on Eccles Street, the guy I spoke to said that this was much requested and so would be considered. There will be two houses demolished on Leo Street, by the Mater Private, for emergency exits and ventilation. Although the box looks huge, there isn’t going to be retail inside. They hope to build this towards the end of next year, after the Railway Order but before they TBM goes in. It all looks very impressive.
Afaik The current plan for this stop simply proposes to have the entry and exit point onto NCR. NCR is of course a very heavily trafficked road with narrow footpaths. It is absolute madness not to have access onto Leo St/ Synott Place, which has a lot less traffic and would be very useful for people going onto Dorset St – particularly as they are demolishing 2 houses and constructing access points anyway. 😡
Don’t hold your breath about Eccles St having access – the RPA’s excuse here is that it would disturb patients in the cancer section of the hospital.All in all, to date I regret to say that I have found the RPA to be seriously inapproachable as to any reasonable suggestion, while they excel at minimising pedestrian access to what is a major investment. I wouldn’t trust them with a toy train set, never mind a 5bn scheme; overall I am left wondering whether RPA stands for Really Pathetic Agency…
Still, thanks for the update notjim
@alonso wrote:
http://www.jcdecaux.co.uk/development/healthsafety/
At JCDecaux, Health and Safety is of paramount importance and we are committed to delivering the highest levels of safety. Due to the nature of our work, we have a responsibility and obligation to not only ensure the well being of our staff but also that of members of the public.
Clearly :rolleyes:
