[source]

Just to let ye know, the extra Garda presence is due to a new shift system brought in at the end of April.

Gardai now work 10 hour shifts with units overlapping at busy times. Apparently the layout of the roster isn't great for the members working it, but the effects from the publics point of view are obvious, given the last few posts in this thread.

[seachto7]

Yeah, it was plain to see the increased number of Gardai around. At least it kept the scum on their toes......

[pigtown]

Originally Posted by ZombieBride

I'm not sure when the last time I read any of the local papers, the free papers don't get delivered to my house (and I'm only as far away as Corbally), I can't stomach to listen to 95fm, the events page on http://limerick.ie/living/whatson/ is ok, but how many people know about that?
Do we have an email newsletter of events on in the city? As there are an amount of events on all the time that I have no clue about until the pictures appear on facebook. What if we had a one stop drop for people to put their events, like on limerick.ie and advertise the hell out of it.

The city centre is dying, but only we can make it better, we are the someone. If we don't shop, then shops close, then jobs are lost, then there is no money to shop, it's a vicious circle.

I have actually noticed an increase in gardas on the street, it is such a welcome, but if I have to walk past another "homeless" person shaking a cup I'll scream. That and chuggers are what make me avoid the city centre, I hate being accosted while walking.

I do agree that advertising events in the city has to change. I too can't stand Live95fm but the Post and Leader do give a good round up of events. This isn't enough obviously and I can never figure out why events in Limerick don't get promoted nationally. On Riverfest weekend the magazine in the Independent had a list of 10 things to do in the country that weekend and Riverfest, supposedly our biggest festival, wasn't mentioned. Even the small things, like the event listings in the Irish Times Friday magazine, often have twice as many events listed for random places like Leitrim or Carlow than for Limerick. I'm sure all it would take is for the Comunications Office to issue press releases to publications such as these.

[europa11]

Originally Posted by pigtown

I do agree that advertising events in the city has to change. I too can't stand Live95fm but the Post and Leader do give a good round up of events. This isn't enough obviously and I can never figure out why events in Limerick don't get promoted nationally. On Riverfest weekend the magazine in the Independent had a list of 10 things to do in the country that weekend and Riverfest, supposedly our biggest festival, wasn't mentioned. Even the small things, like the event listings in the Irish Times Friday magazine, often have twice as many events listed for random places like Leitrim or Carlow than for Limerick. I'm sure all it would take is for the Comunications Office to issue press releases to publications such as these.

Don't ever expect anything positive about Limerick getting a mention in The Irish Independent.
Don't know what their problem/agenda is, but as far as that organisation is concerned, we're bad news central.

Maybe the Bean Baron, Sir Ant'ny had a scrum collapse on him one time down here.

[VanV]

Originally Posted by pigtown

Can't really argue with points 1-4 but not sure if your last two are all that fair.
5. As far as I know the problem with access to the Shannon is that it's quite difficult to sail to it. The marina at the Custom House suffers from silting which is the responsibility of Waterways Ireland and the council have tried and failed to get them to fix it a number of times. I assume you're talking about Shannon Bridge. I don't know what Waterford have done to their bridge but anything that would improve the look of Shannon Bridge would be welcome. In fairness though the council are working on restoring Sarsfield Bridge at the moment. And after upgrading the two strands on the west bank I'm pretty sure work has started on the new boardwalks on Harvey's Quay. Just because you think the council should flatten a city block to build some cafes doesn't mean they should. They are clearly working on establishing a cafe quarter from the Market area, through Chapel Street, Little Catherine Street and Thomas Street. As you said yourself there's only room for so many shops with 20'000 unempoyed in the city. WRT the statue, it looks terrible but I don't think there's anything wrong with the size. How big did you want it?

6. I think the people of Limerick do care. Just look at the Local Limerick Heroes and the thriving arts scene. How many galleries are in the city now? Also the Leader has been quite vocal about the lack of jobs and investment in Limerick. I'm not sure exactly how you think we can shame the government into taking action but if you organise a march I'll be there to support you. I do remember the fairly highprofile march organised by the Collins family which was extremely well supported so I do think the people care, but at the end of the day what can they do.

Sarsfield Bridge is a restoration/preservation job. Completely different to what I was talking about. The bridge in Waterford and the various bridges in Dublin are top class. Unique designs, and superbly lit at night both of which makes them great landmarks, which of course gives the city a profile, a presence and boosts tourism. They need to do something similar with Shannon bridge.

Regards Steamboat Quay, can you give me any reasons why it SHOULDN'T be flattened? The building is an eyesore, a lot of the apts are badly designed and the Euro car park underneath is probably the worst in the country. On top of that you have the anti-social problem down there, most of it linked to drugs. I've heard it has slightly improved on that end as a lot of foreign families are apparently moving in there now, but it still has it's issues. You can buy an apt there for peanuts, despite the fact these are apts next door to the landmark Clarion and over looking the river. That doesn't add up I'm afraid.

The suggestion of flattening Steamboat Quay was to make use of it's riverside location. Knock it and rebuild a better piece of architecture, with the emphasis on building around the Clarion with restaurants, bars and cafés. The Market area is fine, but it's not riverside, is it? I think everyone appreciates the Locke bar area on a sunny day and the crowds it attracts. We need to be replicating that around the city where possible, and Steamboat Quay is one of those few areas.

The Richard Harris statue should be twice the size it is. I've never seen a statue so small and small time. It's hardly a landmark is it? I'd be embarrassed to even include it on a tourism guide.

Regards marches/demonstrations/rallys - as another poster has pointed out, there are plenty of local mouthpieces with their mugs in the papers every week. Plenty of councillors with plenty to say. We have a co-ordination office that throws it's clothes off any time something negative about Limerick is said on a national level. Yet, what are they actually doing to galvanise the people of Limerick to do something pro-active? Nothing. Not one of them is worth a s**t, they spoof their way through their jobs and get paid handsomely for it.

What Limerick needs is a democratically elected Mayor who has to earn his crust. A situation where say, the local chamber of commerce or other business groups could put forward candidates who might actually know what they're doing as opposed to the cosy clique of morons who are there at the moment.

[phog]

With tourisim in mind and trying to make the city a bit more attactive, with very little money being spent Shannon Heritage and the local authorities could add a boardwalk from Thomond Bridge to the green area near City Hall, that would connect a river walk around the three bridges.

Add lights to the city side of the castle, even one to illuminate the tower closest to City Hall would make a huge difference.

Compare this



to something like this





Restore/repair the lights to the city side of court house.



Each St. Patrick's weekend Limerick hosts and Band festivel, why not build on that during the summer and encourage bands to play in the city parks during the day, different types on different weekends.

Imagine the impact of having bands positioned along the river playing at the same time, one on O'Callaghan's strand, one opposite in "Poor Man's Kilkee", one closer to Shannon Bridge on the memroial to the dead seamen, one behind Shannon rowing club, one on Arthur's quay, one on each of the parks near Strand barracks and one on the lawn near City Hall, all playing the same tunes, on a day like today that would be super.

[kilburn]

There are lights around the castle that were used to light it up like you show in the picture, where you can see the inside of the castle lit up.

Problem was the little knacks kept breaking the lights, so they put mesh over them, then the little scumbags started banging sticks through the mesh to break them.

For the life of me I cant understand why people would want to wreck their own city and make it look like a kip.

[phog]

Originally Posted by kilburn

There are lights around the castle that were used to light it up like you show in the picture, where you can see the inside of the castle lit up.

Problem was the little knacks kept breaking the lights, so they put mesh over them, then the little scumbags started banging sticks through the mesh to break them.

For the life of me I cant understand why people would want to wreck their own city and make it look like a kip.

A light could be put on a floating buoy on the river that would illuminate the tower, the lights at the courthouse are working at one side but not the other side. Seems to me it would be worth the few bob to repair the broken ones.

[vkid]

Originally Posted by europa11

Don't ever expect anything positive about Limerick getting a mention in The Irish Independent.
Don't know what their problem/agenda is, but as far as that organisation is concerned, we're bad news central.

Maybe the Bean Baron, Sir Ant'ny had a scrum collapse on him one time down here.

http://www.independent.ie/national-n...t-3119756.html

[krudler]

Originally Posted by kilburn

There are lights around the castle that were used to light it up like you show in the picture, where you can see the inside of the castle lit up.

Problem was the little knacks kept breaking the lights, so they put mesh over them, then the little scumbags started banging sticks through the mesh to break them.

For the life of me I cant understand why people would want to wreck their own city and make it look like a kip.

because Limerick scumbags are a different breed altogether, you see scobey tracksuit wearing mongs in every town in Ireland, in Limerick they're something else.

[pigtown]

Originally Posted by VanV

Sarsfield Bridge is a restoration/preservation job. Completely different to what I was talking about. The bridge in Waterford and the various bridges in Dublin are top class. Unique designs, and superbly lit at night both of which makes them great landmarks, which of course gives the city a profile, a presence and boosts tourism. They need to do something similar with Shannon bridge.

Regards Steamboat Quay, can you give me any reasons why it SHOULDN'T be flattened? The building is an eyesore, a lot of the apts are badly designed and the Euro car park underneath is probably the worst in the country. On top of that you have the anti-social problem down there, most of it linked to drugs. I've heard it has slightly improved on that end as a lot of foreign families are apparently moving in there now, but it still has it's issues. You can buy an apt there for peanuts, despite the fact these are apts next door to the landmark Clarion and over looking the river. That doesn't add up I'm afraid.

The suggestion of flattening Steamboat Quay was to make use of it's riverside location. Knock it and rebuild a better piece of architecture, with the emphasis on building around the Clarion with restaurants, bars and cafés. The Market area is fine, but it's not riverside, is it? I think everyone appreciates the Locke bar area on a sunny day and the crowds it attracts. We need to be replicating that around the city where possible, and Steamboat Quay is one of those few areas.

The Richard Harris statue should be twice the size it is. I've never seen a statue so small and small time. It's hardly a landmark is it? I'd be embarrassed to even include it on a tourism guide.

Regards marches/demonstrations/rallys - as another poster has pointed out, there are plenty of local mouthpieces with their mugs in the papers every week. Plenty of councillors with plenty to say. We have a co-ordination office that throws it's clothes off any time something negative about Limerick is said on a national level. Yet, what are they actually doing to galvanise the people of Limerick to do something pro-active? Nothing. Not one of them is worth a s**t, they spoof their way through their jobs and get paid handsomely for it.

What Limerick needs is a democratically elected Mayor who has to earn his crust. A situation where say, the local chamber of commerce or other business groups could put forward candidates who might actually know what they're doing as opposed to the cosy clique of morons who are there at the moment.

Ok I totally agree Shannon Bridge is ugly and could do with a major upgrade.

I disagree on flattening Steamboat Quay for a few reasons. First of all if we're thinking of the same building then I think it looks nice and it would be much cheaper to renovate the building instead of knock it. Enlarge the apartments and install cafes/bars/restaurants in the ground floor. And if you were dead set on knocking a city block to make use of its riverside location then I'd go for the old Dunnes building/Arthurs Quay area. Much closer to the city centre so more chance of customers.

As far as I'm aware the Richard Harris statue is lifesize. It's not a landmark but then who said it needed to be? Not everything can be a standout landmark feature that competes for your attention like in Vegas.

Again I agree with you re. city council and commumications office but that's all the more reason for people to get involved with the Local Heroes campaign.

A democratically elected mayor would be great but they would have to have proper powers over local matters such as transport services and local taxes or else it would be pointless. This was supposed to happen with the amalgamation of the two councils but the government have yet again rowed back on anything progressive and genuinely meaningful.

What I'd love to see for the riverside a new quay below the two strands, running from the Shannon Bridge to the two parks near the Curraghgower bar, like the quays in Paris that leave the traffic at street level and have the pedestriased quays much closer to the water. That or an extension of the pier in the middle of the river to form a linear park.

[sleepyman]

Originally Posted by pigtown

Ok I totally agree Shannon Bridge is ugly and could do with a major upgrade.

I disagree on flattening Steamboat Quay for a few reasons. First of all if we're thinking of the same building then I think it looks nice and it would be much cheaper to renovate the building instead of knock it. Enlarge the apartments and install cafes/bars/restaurants in the ground floor. And if you were dead set on knocking a city block to make use of its riverside location then I'd go for the old Dunnes building/Arthurs Quay area. Much closer to the city centre so more chance of customers.

As far as I'm aware the Richard Harris statue is lifesize. It's not a landmark but then who said it needed to be? Not everything can be a standout landmark feature that competes for your attention like in Vegas.

Again I agree with you re. city council and commumications office but that's all the more reason for people to get involved with the Local Heroes campaign.

A democratically elected mayor would be great but they would have to have proper powers over local matters such as transport services and local taxes or else it would be pointless. This was supposed to happen with the amalgamation of the two councils but the government have yet again rowed back on anything progressive and genuinely meaningful.

What I'd love to see for the riverside a new quay below the two strands, running from the Shannon Bridge to the two parks near the Curraghgower bar, like the quays in Paris that leave the traffic at street level and have the pedestriased quays much closer to the water. That or an extension of the pier in the middle of the river to form a linear park.

Of all the buildings that Dunnes Stores needs to go-I know there's not alot of money knocking about but they should really get the finger out.

[thesimpsons]

love to see the bridges cleaned up of weeds and general debris all along them. then the streets cleaned of weeds and debris - not just at ground level but also high up. there are some beautiful buildings up william street ( the really old red bricked ones) which could look lovely.

crossing over shannon bridge early this morning and the city loved fabulous with the sun glinting on the river. those photos really do it justice.

[gaf1983]

Originally Posted by pigtown

What I'd love to see for the riverside a new quay below the two strands, running from the Shannon Bridge to the two parks near the Curraghgower bar, like the quays in Paris that leave the traffic at street level and have the pedestriased quays much closer to the water. That or an extension of the pier in the middle of the river to form a linear park.

Nice idea but could the low level quays run into problems given the tidal nature of the Shannon?

[pigtown]

Ya that could be an issue alright. Maybe have a flood barrier that works for the typical high tide but design the quays so that should they get flooded then the water drains easily and all that needs to be done is some powerhosing . Closing them for a few days a year, mostly during winter, shouldn't cause too much hassle.