If Given 150 million to spend on Waterford what would you spend it on??!

Ilikeyourcow

If by some miracle somebody won the euro millions and gave you 150 million to spend on anything for the city anything at all..what would you do or buy for the city??

Theme park?
Tramore railway?
Worlds biggest longboat?
Re-open Masons!!?
Beckham for the Blues?
Open up ferrybank centre!!?

The possibilities are endless :-)

decies

Monorail

gobo99

decies wrote: »

Monorail

I hear those things are awfully loud!

Bards

A bridge linking ferrybank with adrkeen to extend the outer ring road.

Jason Todd

gobo99 wrote: »

I hear those things are awfully loud!

It glides as softly as a cloud!

mike65

Airport extension/development of tech park
Swing footbridge at the Tower Hotel across to Ferrybank
Paint/refurbish every building exterior within the triangle, finish the quays!
Create investment fund for SMEs and local charities/volunteer groups to draw from.
Turn Waterford Utd into a CL group stage team to boost tourism!

Dicky Pride

A foot bridge at the tower hotel linking Ferrybank with town.

Knock the flour mills and build some attractive tourist friendly entities down there...

Knock the ard rì, build a new modern hotel. I think it works so well as a hotel because of the views of the city. Using it as anything else is a bit of a waste IMO.

Hire some more forward thinking people in the city council. The type of mind that was responsible for coming up with, and fighting for winterval.

I believe the only way out of this current slump is to start thinking outside of the box. We need new ideas and ways in which to help local businesses.

Addictedtogolf

150 new business with €1million into each.
Would create about 4,500 jobs which would in turn spend in Waterford which would in turn make our city great again.
Other new business would open from the spending spree, such as restaurants, retail, etc.
With the right planning and management the 150 new business would bring foreign cash to the region from sales of goods, services.

EASY

Wanderer2010

Put money into new businesses, hence new employees and a recovering local economy. Pour more money into developing our excellent Viking Triangle to make it a complete tourist experience with signage and informative banners. To think how much that area has come on the past few years is amazing. Also, keep our local airport open for business and add a few routes to keep it viable. I probably ran out of money there but if i had anything left I would tear down the old flour mills on the other side of the quay and pay for people to recover from asbestos poisoning

blue-army

I'd definitely invest a bit in the Blues. It wouldn't cost much to achieve what Shamrock Rovers did last year in making Europe League group stages.

20,000 all seater stadium out on the ring road, which would also double as a concert venue so Waterford could compete with the likes of Cork/Dublin in getting top acts to perform.

Extend the runway at the airport.

Redevelop the old Waterford Crystal site into extra parking/facilities to help WIT gain University status.

Re-apply for planning permission for a shopping centre in Michael Street.

Knock the Ard-Ri and put up a Waterford version of the famous Hollywood sign, with security watching it constantly. (just to piss off the KK heads :P )

seven_eleven

A new damn bridge located where it could actually relieve traffic. Maybe some type of tunnel under the city like that did in Boston.
Wash the paint off the cliff.
Knock the Ard Ri
Upgrade the hospital and expand it.

Perhaps this would require more than 150million? :P

BBM77

I’d build the Newgate centre as it was given planning permission. It would easily create a thousand jobs plus more with other business that would spring up around it and other support industries.

BBM77

Ilikeyourcow wrote: »

...
Beckham for the Blues?
...

That would waste the money anyway:D

Ilikeyourcow

I would buy the government so we could legalise weed but only to be smoked in special cafes!!
Buy one street give licences to a dozen cafes and let the tourist trade boom from there ;-)
(as unrealistic as it gets lol)

Open up the runway so we could take us troops away from shannon!! Along with the amount of tourists that will fly in due to the new coffee shops!!

Deff invest in waterford utd for an all seater stadium/ concert venue!!

Lets all do the euro millions so!!:-)

fricatus

- Extend and widen the runway so as to be able to take 737s/A320s; upgrade terminal building (20m)
- Build pedestrian bridge over to Ferrybank from the Clock Tower (15m)
- Knock that horrible brewery by the bridge and move the operation to the industrial estate (10m)
- Knock Ard Rí and create a park full of cherry trees that would blossom en masse every April (10m). Build a funicular railway up from where the new bridge ends so that people can access the park from town (10m)
- Move the railway station over to the middle of the North Quays and build some advance office accommodation so that we can get some sort of call centre or financial operation to locate there (60m)
- Knock some of the crappy buildings in the Viking Triangle (like those horrible apartments with the stairways in front of them on High St) and put up buildings more in character with the old architecture there (15m). Renovate some of the nice old ones that have fallen into disrepair, such as on Cathedral Square (10m).

spankmemunkey

Ilikeyourcow wrote: »

I would buy the government so we could legalise weed but only to be smoked in special cafes!!
Buy one street give licences to a dozen cafes and let the tourist trade boom from there ;-)
(as unrealistic as it gets lol)

Open up the runway so we could take us troops away from shannon!! Along with the amount of tourists that will fly in due to the new coffee shops!!

Deff invest in waterford utd for an all seater stadium/ concert venue!!

Lets all do the euro millions so!!:-)

Legalise weed? for foreigners? every butty, boy and girl would be in the place smoking weed, Legalising it would just open it up to young people who wouldnt normally smoke it but feel or give into peer pressure, They wouldnt be discouraged from smoking it the same way they would if they had to go to some criminal to get it, Hash is a gateway drug, for a country that cant control the alcohol problem the last thing we need is to legalise another deadly drug, especially in a depression we want to work hard to get back to work not get our youth stoned and confused, wed get nothing done why dont we stick in a red light zone while your at it!

Id spend it all on job creation, well thats all you could spend it on cos 150 million isnt alot of money to work with to be honest!

Wanderer2010

fricatus wrote: »

- Build pedestrian bridge over to Ferrybank from the Clock Tower (15m)

Eh, not sure that would work what with any ships passing through and the high tides, unless you could raise that too...or just wait for the cable car from the Ard ri down to the quay, Im sure I heard that proposed somewhere

Dunno why so many people want to knock the Ard Ri, its infinitely better looking than when it was a graffiti stained rust bucket.

spankmemunkey

Renewable energy, maybe some wind farms off the coast although i think that might take more than 150 million

charlemont

spankmemunkey wrote: »

Legalise weed? for foreigners? every butty, boy and girl would be in the place smoking weed, Legalising it would just open it up to young people who wouldnt normally smoke it but feel or give into peer pressure, They wouldnt be discouraged from smoking it the same way they would if they had to go to some criminal to get it, Hash is a gateway drug, for a country that cant control the alcohol problem the last thing we need is to legalise another deadly drug, especially in a depression we want to work hard to get back to work not get our youth stoned and confused, wed get nothing done why dont we stick in a red light zone while your at it!

Id spend it all on job creation, well thats all you could spend it on cos 150 million isnt alot of money to work with to be honest!

The 1950's just called, They want you back.
What a load of tripe..Do you get off on repeating lies ?

spankmemunkey

No sorry english isnt my first language, Its true ive seen it all before, Irish people already struggle with alcohol problems Cannabis legalisiation would just introduce a new problem, oh its legal so it must be okay, I knew so many people who would smoke the odd time but never had the bottle to go upto the local dealer and buy it cos they were afraid to,and therefore smoke less, legalise it and youll take away that moral dilema dilema dilema, oh sorry for repeating that!

charlemont

spankmemunkey wrote: »

No sorry english isnt my first language, Its true ive seen it all before, Irish people already struggle with alcohol problems Cannabis legalisiation would just introduce a new problem, oh its legal so it must be okay, I knew so many people who would smoke the odd time but never had the bottle to go upto the local dealer and buy it cos they were afraid to, legalise it and youll take away that moral dilema dilema dilema, oh sorry for repeating that!

And who are you to tell someone who to live their life's ?

Dilemma my ass your just full of ****e !!

spankmemunkey

Who are you to legalise drugs? The city also has a serious drugs problem and you want to bring in more?

I think if it came to a vote it would be shot down! Its probably your penchant for drugs that has you wound up and typing expletives at someone who is merely debating with you!

Why dont you legalise Heroin while your at it, who are we to tell people how to live their lives? wed have clean heroin then and the government would get a tax increase,

charlemont

spankmemunkey wrote: »

Who are you to legalise drugs? The city also has a serious drugs problem and you want to bring in more?

I think if it came to a vote it would be shot down! Its probably your penchant for drugs that has you wound up and typing expletives at someone who is merely debating with you!

Your the one mentioning drugs now, Waterford has a Heroin problem, I'm talking about Cannabis.
Why are you mentioning drugs now ? Did you not understand my previous posts, You probably didn't as I wouldn't reckon your the brightest bulb in the box judging by the sheer rubbish in your first post..

mufcboy1999

Id pump it into the airport so I can outta of this dump of a country faster.

spankmemunkey

Your the one metioning drugs "Im talking about Cannabis" clever!

Tess Tickle

Spend it on something that's not imported and will generate a return such as energy conservation for households and business's .

The Hill Billy

Cut out the sniping, put away your hand-bags & keep on-topic.

tHB

Aquos76

What the hell has happened this thread, lets get it back on topic and cut out this he said, you said crap.

spankmemunkey

Agreed, I was adding ideas as to this thread the other person was just looking to wind up,

As i said renewables maybe wind farms off the coast but i dont think youd get many turbines with 150 million, Maybe tidal turbines Ireland has enough potential for renewable wind power off our west coast alone to power most of europe, I saw that on that about the house with Duncan Stewart Ireland has huge renewable potential.

Tom_Cruise

I would use the money to build a large spire in the middle of city square.

old gregg

Airport improvements, redeveloping the city centre (including banning grey as a choice of colour), business development (focussing on honest local businesses that could benefit rather than the tiger approach that saw funded cowboys sprouting up and screwing people) .... my pet project would probably be the park, I love a real classy city park so I'd go for that.

As an aside, cannabis tourism benefits few people I've found. Folks who travel to smoke weed generally don't spend too much on other things. I'd happily see personal recreational use legalised but would hate to see Koffee shops in Waterford.

lynchie2012

Id start by fixing up the roads

deisedave

charlemont wrote: »

And who are you to tell someone who to live their life's ?

Dilemma my ass your just full of ****e !!

I do agree with you but do you just pop up on any thread that mentions weed.

:D:D:D

Ilikeyourcow

What I meant was legalise it only for those shops who bought licences and regulate so its still illegal outside etc..
It would increase tourism in my opinion ;-)

There is oil off the coast so invest in drilling and reap the benefits!!

Our best option would be tourism as the government would love to take every cent!!

Could buy some land from Kilkenny lol

tankbarry

buy a tall ship a huge 1, airport runway extension, I would also open up a proper american style steak and rib joint mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

tobey

Buy everyone in the city one way flights to Aus

Deise Hurler

Knock the flour mills on the North Quays and develop the quay into a public park.
Build a footbridge from the park over to the Tower Hotel. Make sure the footbridge is liftable to allow the tall ships up river.
Knock Jurys and make the whole place into an artificial ski slope.
Buy the old waterford crystal site and give it to WIT to help set up a modern Science and IT campus.

Dum_Dum

A replica of the statue of Christ the Redeemer looking down over the City. Only made out of crystal. And lit up at night. Cool eh?

cartell_best

€3,000 x 50,000

shockwave

Dum_Dum wrote: »

A replica of the statue of Christ the Redeemer looking down over the City. Only made out of crystal. And lit up at night. Cool eh?

I'd prefer if it was a statue of Howdo:D

JupiterKid

Striking modern footbridge over the river between Tower Hotel and Ferrybank
New public park for the city
Further renovations and improvements in the Viking district
Major new facility (R&D) for WIT
Start a new city forum/think tank to work out how best to move Waterford forward

Professey Chin

JupiterKid wrote: »

Striking modern footbridge over the river between Tower Hotel and Ferrybank
New public park for the city
Further renovations and improvements in the Viking district
Major new facility (R&D) for WIT
Start a new city forum/think tank to work out how best to move Waterford forward

How much you paying us? :pac:

O Riain

spankmemunkey wrote: »

Renewable energy, maybe some wind farms off the coast although i think that might take more than 150 million

And how much money would you think that would produce for Waterford? You'd actually get a lot of turbines but they would be of zero benefit except for cheaper electricity bills. Some kind of research centre for wind/wave energy would be better. I agree with the other guy on legalizing weed. Its actually a fantastic idea. The fact that you classed it as a deadly drug and said your mates were "too afraid to approach the dealer" says it all. Lads who deal cannabis these days are not the tracksuit tucked into socks evil scumbags with pittbull terriers chomping at the bit you imagine them to be. Most are ordinary lads who grow it themselves and sell it for a few extra bob. In future when your completely out of touch with a topic don't bother commenting on it.

spankmemunkey

O Riain wrote: »

And how much money would you think that would produce for Waterford? You'd actually get a lot of turbines but they would be of zero benefit except for cheaper electricity bills. Some kind of research centre for wind/wave energy would be better. I agree with the other guy on legalizing weed. Its actually a fantastic idea. The fact that you classed it as a deadly drug and said your mates were "too afraid to approach the dealer" says it all. Lads who deal cannabis these days are not the tracksuit tucked into socks evil scumbags with pittbull terriers chomping at the bit you imagine them to be. Most are ordinary lads who grow it themselves and sell it for a few extra bob. In future when your completely out of touch with a topic don't bother commenting on it.

You have no idea who i am what i am or what experience i have in this area! ah you young whipper snappers know everything about drugs the world and everything in it, Why dont you legalise heroin tell me that?

Do you smoke dope?

O Riain

spankmemunkey wrote: »

You have no idea who i am what i am or what experience i have in this area! ah you young whipper snappers know everything about drugs the world and everything in it, Why dont you legalise heroin tell me that?

Do you smoke dope?

I wont get into it with you because you obviously don't understand the more complicated bigger picture of the "war" on drugs. Yes I smoke dope and completely function in society along with 95% of people under 30 in this country so its ridiculous its illegal, more so considering the marginal social problems it causes in relation to alcohol. Look at Holland, the last time they collected figures cannabis was directly responsible for bringing in €1.4 Billion to their economy. Its a no brainer but unfortunately the people who run this country have no brains.

spankmemunkey

O Riain wrote: »

I wont get into it with you because you obviously don't understand the more complicated bigger picture of the "war" on drugs. Yes I smoke dope and completely function in society along with 95% of people under 30 in this country so its ridiculous its illegal, more so considering the marginal social problems it causes in relation to alcohol. Look at Holland, the last time they collected figures cannabis was directly responsible for bringing in €1.4 Billion to their economy. Its a no brainer but unfortunately the people who run this country have no brains.

Why not legalise heroin and cocaine then, and prostitution

Heroin could be cleaner and regulated and bring in millions if not billions for the government as would coke, and the crimi al underworld wud also take a hit so why not legalise that.

Also could you link the data and show me where you got the figure of 1.4 billion, if your gonna start quoting figures can you show me the proof,

O Riain

spankmemunkey wrote: »

Why not legalise heroin and cocaine then, and prostitution

Heroin could be cleaner and regulated and bring in millions if not billions for the government as would coke, and the crimi al underworld wud also take a hit so why not legalise that.

Also could you link the data and show me where you got the figure of 1.4 billion, if your gonna start quoting figures can you show me the proof,

You actually just answered your own question on legalizing other drugs, the idea with legalizing heroin and cocaine would not be to maximise profits so dont be idiotic but to totally eliminate the criminal activity from it while at the same time prevent an increase in consumption. A tricky situation but one that would certainly be achievable and better than the current situation. Imagine! A world without scumbag heroin dealers and criminal gangs, it could actually be achieved tomorrow with a bit of vision. Look at the effect alcohol prohibition had on the criminal world in the USA. Keep in mind people will do want they want to do whether its illegal or not.

While I would love to give you a link straight to the books of the Dutch Governments tax intake I cant seem to find it but your welcome to look. here's a few links and you can search for the revenue report yourself.

http://theweek.com/article/index/227358/will-banning-marijuana-sales-to-foreigners-hurt-hollands-economy
"Ten percent of tourists who visit Holland do so exclusively for the pot. The cafes do $2.6 billion in business a year, generating $503 million in tax revenue. "

http://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewbender/2012/05/01/dutch-government-to-foreigners-no-more-weed-for-you/
"Nationwide, Josemans says, coffeeshops have collectively paid €430 million (US$569 million) in annual taxes."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/netherlands/9231609/Dutch-courts-move-to-ban-marijuana-cafes.html
Turnover of the legal "coffee shop" trade is estimated to be at least £1.6 billion every year, with tourist accounting for a significant income for cities like Amsterdam.

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02.n2098.a02.html
The 1976 decriminalization of smoking marijuana contributed to the Dutch economy. Drugs were a 1.4 billion euro ( US$1.36 billion ) business worth 0.5 percent of gross domestic product in 1995, the last time the government collected such figures.

I realise those figures are a good bit less than the €1.4 billion mentioned above and maybe "direct contribution" was a poor choice of words but you have to realise that where tourists are concerned you need to look beyond simply what the coffee shops pull in. People point out that around 10% visit holland primarily for the cannabis(imagine a 10% increase in tourism here), around 1/3 smoke cannabis while on a visit(this is from the mayor of amsterdam - http://www.ibtimes.com/amsterdam-drops-pot-ban-tourists-858027) and that 50% just enter a coffee shop to see what its like.
Also it would be worth checking out that Holland has a lower use of soft drugs for young adults that Germany, UK, Czech Republic, Denmark, Spain, France, Slovakia and Italy. This can be seen here http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/online/annual-report/2011/library/fig5
the first graph represents countries with below average consumption, the second with average consumption and the third above average, as can be seen Holland is borderline below average. Not much more I can say on it really.

spankmemunkey

O Riain wrote: »

You actually just answered your own question on legalizing other drugs, the idea with legalizing heroin and cocaine would not be to maximise profits so dont be idiotic but to totally eliminate the criminal activity from it while at the same time prevent an increase in consumption. A tricky situation but one that would certainly be achievable and better than the current situation. Imagine! A world without scumbag heroin dealers and criminal gangs, it could actually be achieved tomorrow with a bit of vision. Look at the effect alcohol prohibition had on the criminal world in the USA. Keep in mind people will do want they want to do whether its illegal or not.

While I would love to give you a link straight to the books of the Dutch Governments tax intake I cant seem to find it but your welcome to look. here's a few links and you can search for the revenue report yourself.

http://theweek.com/article/index/227358/will-banning-marijuana-sales-to-foreigners-hurt-hollands-economy
"Ten percent of tourists who visit Holland do so exclusively for the pot. The cafes do $2.6 billion in business a year, generating $503 million in tax revenue. "

http://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewbender/2012/05/01/dutch-government-to-foreigners-no-more-weed-for-you/
"Nationwide, Josemans says, coffeeshops have collectively paid €430 million (US$569 million) in annual taxes."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/netherlands/9231609/Dutch-courts-move-to-ban-marijuana-cafes.html
Turnover of the legal "coffee shop" trade is estimated to be at least £1.6 billion every year, with tourist accounting for a significant income for cities like Amsterdam.

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02.n2098.a02.html
The 1976 decriminalization of smoking marijuana contributed to the Dutch economy. Drugs were a 1.4 billion euro ( US$1.36 billion ) business worth 0.5 percent of gross domestic product in 1995, the last time the government collected such figures.

I realise those figures are a good bit less than the €1.4 billion mentioned above and maybe "direct contribution" was a poor choice of words but you have to realise that where tourists are concerned you need to look beyond simply what the coffee shops pull in. People point out that around 10% visit holland primarily for the cannabis(imagine a 10% increase in tourism here), around 1/3 smoke cannabis while on a visit(this is from the mayor of amsterdam - http://www.ibtimes.com/amsterdam-drops-pot-ban-tourists-858027) and that 50% just enter a coffee shop to see what its like.
Also it would be worth checking out that Holland has a lower use of soft drugs for young adults that Germany, UK, Czech Republic, Denmark, Spain, France, Slovakia and Italy. This can be seen here http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/online/annual-report/2011/library/fig5
the first graph represents countries with below average consumption, the second with average consumption and the third above average, as can be seen Holland is borderline below average. Not much more I can say on it really.

I think youll find that my analagy about legalising heroin and cocaine was to say where do you stop?

You seem hell bent on legalising it, (ITS NOT LEGAL IN HOLLAND IT WAS DECRIMINALISED) Its still illegal you just wont get charged for it, and they still have a criminal ellement involved in its sale and production.

Politcians in Holland are also reducing the amount of coffee shops and have tightened the laws on its sale,Teenagers in Holland have the highest addiction rate to Hash in Europe. http://f1000.com/prime/14264179 css hey everybody's doin it, same with alcohol use here, everybody's getting pissed so how do you tell young people not to abuse alcohol its everywhere.
Alcohol for example has serious negative effects on society but take away the money generated from its sale and this country would go bang, If alcohol was a new thing that was developed it would never be allowed to be sold.

We could post links back and forward all day pro and con of cannabis use.

You seem happy enough for Waterford City to sell its soul for the sake of raising money without thinking about the consiquences on the local inhabitants.

O Riain

spankmemunkey wrote: »

I think youll find that my analagy about legalising heroin and cocaine was to say where do you stop?

You seem hell bent on legalising it, (ITS NOT LEGAL IN HOLLAND IT WAS DECRIMINALISED) Its still illegal you just wont get charged for it, and they still have a criminal ellement involved in its sale and production.

Politcians in Holland are also reducing the amount of coffee shops and have tightened the laws on its sale,Teenagers in Holland have the highest addiction rate to Hash in Europe. http://f1000.com/prime/14264179 css hey everybody's doin it, same with alcohol use here, everybody's getting pissed so how do you tell young people not to abuse alcohol its everywhere.
Alcohol for example has serious negative effects on society but take away the money generated from its sale and this country would go bang, If alcohol was a new thing that was developed it would never be allowed to be sold.

We could post links back and forward all day pro and con of cannabis use.

You seem happy enough for Waterford City to sell its soul for the sake of raising money without thinking about the consiquences on the local inhabitants.

We're talking about legalising a bit of cannabis. How do you equate this with selling our souls? Have you ever smoked it by the way?

spankmemunkey

Ah legalising a bit of Cannabis ah its harmless is it? it doesnt have any damaging effects what so ever?

How many heroin addicts started out smoking hash? I bet alot of them would say today I wish i never had that first joint,

If you legalise something then people think well its legal so it must be okay, There will also be peer pressure on people the same way there is with drinking to do it, Your so PRO cannabis theres not point in pointing out the negative long term effects to you cos you just dont see them, its just a bit of hash its harmless,

I have to say sorry to the other posters and mods cos i do think weve taken this massively off topic,
I do think it will have a more detremental long term negative effect on the local youth.

I do agree with you that it would make money theres no denying that but so were the head shops, why were they stopped? they were making a fortune.

O Riain

spankmemunkey wrote: »

Ah legalising a bit of Cannabis ah its harmless is it? it doesnt have any damaging effects what so ever?

How many heroin addicts started out smoking hash? I bet alot of them would say today I wish i never had that first joint,

If you legalise something then people think well its legal so it must be okay, There will also be peer pressure on people the same way there is with drinking to do it, Your so PRO cannabis theres not point in pointing out the negative long term effects to you cos you just dont see them, its just a bit of hash its harmless,

I have to say sorry to the other posters and mods cos i do think weve taken this massively off topic,
I do think it will have a more detremental long term negative effect on the local youth.

I do agree with you that it would make money theres no denying that but so were the head shops, why were they stopped? they were making a fortune.

yeh sorry for taking it off topic but look you saying how many heroin addicts first smoked hash is ridiculous. We would have heroin addicts even if cannabis never existed. I've never taken heroin and neither has anyone I know who smokes cannabis. You never answered my question either, have you smoked it?