kefu
Forum Replies Created
- Posts
This is an absolute bulls**t objection and will quite rightly fail.
This is quite clearly predicated on some nonsensical notions about globalisation as Mr Duffy’s attempt at wit fairly clearly shows: ‘May they continue to grow and thrive and dominate the world as they are doing.’
A new Insomnia went in up the road without a whimper. The nearby Spar and Centras have all been granted licences to sell booze to drunks, which is a far more questionable practice.
Do these people honestly believe we should exclude new businesses from Ireland on the basis of their nationality?
What’s more insulting is the clear anti-Americanism implicit in this. It’s unacceptable for this non-historic building to be occupied by a major US chain – yet it would have been fine had it been an English or French coffee chain.
It was also perfectly acceptable for two of the city’s finest banking buildings (both just across the road) to be occupied by a pub and a furniture shop respectively.
There isn’t even an argument that this will somehow erode existing historical coffee retailers as Bewley’s are already gone and all the others are of very recent vintage.
And what does Mr Duffy even mean about the site being earmarked for a quality restaurant? Since when have restrictions like that applied anywhere.The Irish Independent’s new printing press in Citywest is extremely attractive.
There’s an indicative picture at http://homepage.eircom.net/~istructeroi/news/news10/papers10.htm
and another at http://www.groganengineering.ie/homepage.html
The Irish Times plant isn’t too far away in one of the business parks but is pretty innocuous looking. There’s also another huge News International plant at Kells (I think) – it looks pretty much like the largest corrugated iron shed in the world.
The New York Times also has a very cool printing press in Queens.
You can get some pictures of that here at http://www.polshek.com/indus_nytimes.htm
Not sure if this is what you’re looking for.
There aren’t really any other media buildings of recent vintage in Ireland. Both the Irish Independent (already moved) and the Irish Times (moving) are going into new office blocks, but neither was purpose-built for newspapers as such.
Nothing of note has been built in RTE over the past ten years while TV3 is in a warehouse in Ballymount.I never heard Thomas Davis was to move.
There was, however, some talk about doing something with the Wolfe Tone statue up at St Stephen’s Green as part of the general rejigging of traffic and so on up there – can’t even remember what was proposed.
Both are by Edward Delaney, so perhaps that’s where the confusion arises.It would be pretty easy to get rid of all private cars from Westmoreland Street between the Westin Hotel and O’Connell Bridge.
Getting on to Westmoreland Street directly from Pearse Street, Nassau Street and George’s Street is already banned.
So once the Port Tunnel opens [and the trucks are gone] all remaining cars could be sent up to Christchurch and around onto the north quays.
This would leave the area available only to taxis and buses. It would make the traffic worse around the Christchurch area but apart from that, I wouldn’t foresee any other difficulties.
Full pedestrianisation would, in my view, be extremely difficult and probably counter-productive for Westmoreland Street.
If Luas is to travel down this way, I guarantee this will be what happens with only limited access for private cars to some of the multi-storeys.Also, I’d say pure logic came into play and the ease with which you can remember it.
Considering it’s the most complicated road system in Ireland, calling it the M33 or whatever would probably just add to the confusion if you were trying to give someone directions.It’s following in the footsteps of the American highway style. I presume they’re going to be rolled out right across the M50 where there is still some very poor signposting.
The whole M1, M50, airport junction and interchange is a particular blackspot. It’s fine if you’re used to it and know roughly what direction you should be going but I can only assume it’s very confusing for visitors.
Also, there was an interesting letter in the Irish Times the other day pointing out that you can find the M50 northbound from the Dundrum Shopping Centre using the road signs, but that there is nothing indicating how to get on to the M50 southside.Here’s a picture of them:-
They tend to be safer, giving you a bit more notice of your turnoff/destination.The same reason that the footbridge over the Stillorgan dual carriageway at Foxrock is made of gorgeous stone and the rest of them look like temporary military Bailey bridges.
Also the same reason why the southside has two Luas lines with none on the northside.
Equally, the same reason that the Kildare commuter line has only two stops in West Dublin and half the trains don’t stop there.As far as I know, this only applys to vehicular traffic passing on that very small bit of Mary Street between Jervis Street and Wolfe Tone Street, which looks like it will be paved over. Hardly any cars ever went this way so will have very little bearing on anybody.
That argument about the Enfield bypass is pretty spurious.
That road was built purely as a temporary measure and the traffic lights have no significant bearing on the throughput, changing very infrequently to allow traffic go to Edenderry. The reason it can be quicker to go through the town is because it’s a far shorter distance.
That bypass will be unnecessary within two to three years when the Westroute motorway is complete. Although a roundabout would have been marginally better, there would have been no possible justification for a flyover.
I think most people would argue that as a temporary measure, the Enfield bypass has been a resounding success.
The reason it still gets backed up is because the Galway road does not have the capacity to deal with its traffic volumes at peak times.Maybe we should all be realistic here. As already said, worthwhile ideas like the figure of eight, going through Trinity and running the two Luas lines end into end at Macken Street are not even being given consideration.
Absolutely childish suggestions like going down George’s Street and Parliament Street, main thoroughfares for half the bus routes and taxis in the city, are being included just to make up the numbers.
There’s even talk of bridges between Capel Street and Butt Bridge, and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if that actually appears in the RPA submissions and isn’t a Business Post cock-up.
The mind has already been made up on this one. If it goes ahead – it’s going down this Central Corridor.
And I hate to repeat myself but where exactly is the terminus going to be:- on O’Connell Bridge.
I think it’s a disgrace that the RPA are pretending that they are going to link the lines when from what I can see this is not physically impossible.
The only way to join them is at a major interchange area (at the O’Connell Monument) or run them right into each other a la the Macken Street solution.
With that in mind (and based on the presumption that this project will go ahead regardless), why do you need to leave the lines ten yards apart.
Why not run the Sandyford line as far as College Green and leave it at that? That two-hundred yard walk would be shorter than the journey anyone undertakes while transferring from Metro to Metro in Paris or Tube to Tube in London.
It would probably save a bomb and also stop them destroying O’Connell Bridge and Westmoreland Street.
As has been said time and time again, the cost-benefit ratio on this link-up is an absolute disaster.Regarding the Ormond, you could find there is a big campaign to save it coming closer to the time of the demolition.
For whatever reason, many conservationists here – Green Party included – wait until the planning process is long complete before starting their lobbying. All it does is provide great ammunition for the likes of Minister Dick Roche, who’ll claim that the conservationists want to have it every way.It would have been the finest tall building in Dublin. Liam Carroll probably scrapped it because architecture was never really his bag. If he could put up a series of twenty-storey concrete towers on his sites, he would.
It’s a bit gimmicky but almost to be expected in a city, which puts in a temporary beach along the banks of its river.
One of the many beauties of a city like Paris is that it is so dependent on tourism that beautification projects take on a significance that is rare in major world cities.Here’s one interesting idea for Luas particularly for this park area you are referring to:
http://www.tramway.paris.fr/evenements/L4.aspModular Man, the planning process presents the bare minimum of guidelines which have to be adhered to by any developer. Huge amounts of money can be saved by doing the bare minimum or indeed chancing your arm at not even meeting those standards. As a result of this and particularly the lack of willingness by many councils to encourage high quality, bad projects are constantly getting planning permission. Good planning costs money … and many modern developers are only interested in making profit. Developers are favoured in this process because Fianna Fail and Fine Gael support the developers and control many of the councils. I don’t even mean this as a political statement – it’s more a statement of fact. At times, An Taisce can be frustrating objecting to what seem like perfectly good schemes. However, in an An Taisce-less Ireland, planning would be even more disastrous than it already is.
Roche is so arrogant that he makes Martin Cullen and Padraig Flynn look positively meek by comparison.
The only saving grace is that people like him always end up hanging themselves because of their almost cosmic belief in their own (in)ability.
His “attack” on the New York Times article about Wicklow’s lamentable environmental record was another dinger. It just beggars belief that he can be a Minister, let alone Minister for the Environment.
This is from his website:-“Dick has castigated Deputy McManus and Councillor DeBurca for comments in the New York Times & International Herald Tribune in which both portray Bray and County Wicklow in the most unflattering terms.
Deputy McManus and Councillor DeBurca seem incapable of avoiding a cheap headline even when, as in this case, serious damage is inflicted by their actions.
Both articles portray Bray and Wicklow in the most unflattering terms.
McManus suggests that the place is run by some form of Mafia, odd coming from the Deputy Leader of one of the political parties controlling Bray Council.
It is true that there is a major problem with the old dump at Bray Harbour. Bray is by no means the only town in this country or elsewhere with an old dump that requires attention. New York State, for example, has had more than its fair share of problems with major landfill sites and toxic dumps over the years, problems on a vastly greater scale than anything encountered in Ireland or indeed in Europe. Yet McManus and DeBurca have chosen to portray Bray and county Wicklow as being uniquely despoiled by litter & waste. There are certainly problems in county Wicklow and indeed in Bray but the problems should be addressed by the local councils and in particular, in the case of Bray by Bray Town Council which is controlled by McManus & DeBurca. A solution to the problems in Bray can and should be found in the local council. It will certainly not be found in the pages of either the New York Times or the international Herald Tribune, Minister Roche said.
The hypocrisy of McManus and DeBurca is demonstrated by the fact that neither have made any positive contribution in support of the creation of a modern waste infrastructure in Ireland. Yet both decided to criticised the position in this country in the international media.
There is a reference to the not in my backyard syndrome in the New York Times article. DeBurca and McManus would know a great deal about that syndrome. Both, for example, have opposed the idea of creating proper landfill space in Ireland and both also oppose the idea of creating proper heat treatment facilities for waste. Neither have added any constructive contribution to the problems of dealing with the waste issues in county Wicklow. Both have been long on criticism but short in
terms of solutions.
The most hypocritical aspect of McManus and DeBurca’s comments is that their parties have combined to take control of Bray town Council. Yet DeBurca and McManus had done nothing positive in Bray to deal with the problem. Bray town Council is unique in that it was offered government funding last year to build a recycling centre and to date it has failed to do so when much smaller towns up and down the country have built modern well used recycling centres.
The comments from Deputy Mc Manus are particularly damaging from the point of view of tourism in county Wicklow and from the point of view of attracting foreign investment into the county.
McManus portrays county Wicklow as being like something out of the Sopranos. Suggesting that county Wicklow is run by the Mafia might grab Deputy Mc Manus a cheap headline but it does absolutely nothing for tourism in County Wicklow and even less for industrial development.
Over the last few months we have had the usual hand wringing from the Labour Party about jobs in county Wicklow. Deputy Mc Manus has put headline grabbing ahead of the interests of people who are trying to encourage inward investment into county Wicklow. The New York Times and the International Herald Tribune are papers which are widely circulated in the United States and which are read by the business community, the
very people who make investment decisions. Suggesting that county Wicklow is run by the Mafia or that the county has problems which it cannot control will undoubtedly do damage to efforts to encourage the same US industrial leaders to invest in this county.
McManus has also done irreparable damage to tourism in Co Wicklow. Bray Chamber of Commerce, Bray Tourism & County Wicklow Tourism has been making huge efforts in recent times to encourage more tourism into County Wicklow. What tour operator in the United States reading the comments from Deputy Mc Manus would put Bray on a tourism route? Again Deputy McManus’ insatiable appetite for headlines has put her personal interest ahead of the interests of people who are trying to do something positive for County Wicklow.
The people of Wicklow are entitled to an apology from McManus & DeBurca.”This picture is from the thread on All About Buses and gives you an idea of just how stupid putting a bus stop on a bridge is.
Crestfield, I think it would have been a nice idea but the expense involved could not be justified so soon after actually finishing the line.
Considering that it is a Luas only street, you could still integrate the Croppies Acre and Museum.
However, i’d say the real issue in not opening up that area more, especially the park is because of a fear of anti-social activity.
The eventual aim should be for an open public space running from the quays up through Collins Barracks with permanent access to Arbour Hill rather than sending people around and down Montpelier Hill.
It’s actually shameful that the Luas (which 95 per cent serves the southside) only moves on to the northside here and then doesn’t even provide ease of access for the residents of Stoneybatter (the only significant northside population who get any use out of it) who are forced to walk the long way around instead.
