Public Realm Annoyances

MadsL

Does untidiness and clutter in the public realm bother you?

A few suggestions and a poll for you.

1. Sandwich boards
Constricting the width of the pavement, interfering with the blind, ugly.

2. Fabric banners
Cheap and tacky, usually end up ripped and dirty

3. Shops with every manner of tat in front of them, postcard racks, icecreams, racks of t-shirts, sunglasses.

4. Untidy bicycles chained everywhere type racks

5. Empty traffic poles with no signs on them

6. Those people holding up signs pointing to shops


So AH, tidy the place up or is it grand as it is?

mikerodgers96

rubbish dumps

garbage strewn everywhere........

Ihatecuddles-old

Nothing on your list bothers me in the slightest!

Christ the Redeemer

I too have nothing better to worry about.

Standard Toaster

What's an untidy bicycle?

MadsL

Standard Toaster wrote: »

What's an untidy bicycle?

I mean the racks that are badly designed so you get a heap of bicycles all over the pavement.

The upside down U shaped ones are bad.

MadsL

Christ the Redeemer wrote: »

I too have nothing better to worry about.

I'm sure you are late for your meeting with the IMF, best hurry so.

ChunkyLover_53

Political or Election Posters

and cable ties left behind from Political or Election Posters

MadsL

ChunkyLover_53 wrote: »

Political or Election Posters

and cable ties left behind from Political or Election Posters

Agreed. Simple solution, insist that the politicians name, party, and personal mobile number is printed on them.

Mariasofia

Small overflowing bins. In busy areas make them bigger or empty them more often.

rubadub

MadsL wrote: »

1. Sandwich boards
Constricting the width of the pavement, interfering with the blind, ugly.

Many of these are illegal and just classed as litter. Since it is reasonably nice looking litter people don't really question it. When I was young I had a job part of which entailed getting rid of this "rubbish", always had people thinking we were vandals, and shop owners threatening to call the gardai etc "yeah, good man, ring them & turn yourself in".

Many election posters are illegal too, dun laoghaire rathdown have guidelines and any not passing are litter. The majority I see are illegal, many are dangerous, I emailed loads of politicians about it, none gave a shite, got a misogynistic reply from a green party lad, and another ex-green threatened to report me to the gardai, her litter is still on the N11 years later. Green me hole.

Others continued to put up the hazardous posters after being informed, let alone bothering to take down the ones already up.

Amirani

MadsL wrote: »

The upside down U shaped ones are bad.

You mean like an n?

MadsL

NiallSparky wrote: »

You mean like an n?

Who is ann? And why would I park a bike in her?

Royal Irish

Exterminate all the inner city skangers first.

LordSutch

mikerodgers96 wrote: »

rubbish dumps

garbage strewn everywhere........

Signs that say garbage instead of rubbish

MadsL

Royal Irish wrote: »

Exterminate all the inner city skangers first.

Such practicality.

What is step 2 - discover diamonds in Meath?

DonkeyStyle \o/

MadsL wrote: »

3. Shops with every manner of tat in front of them, postcard racks, icecreams, racks of t-shirts, sunglasses.

I find that charming in the right setting, like a shop beside a popular beach having buckets and spades and inflatables outside. Kind of tacky, but reminds me of happier times.

There was an awful eye-sore on O'Connell Street for years though, The Bag Shop (I think?), a dis-used cinema with luggage on display outside. I suppose it's even worse for those of us that remember going to see films there.

cursai

Young Spanish tourists! .....some

Chips Lovell

I'll leave my syringes wherever I want

MadsL

DonkeyStyle \o/ wrote: »

I find that charming in the right setting, like a shop beside a popular beach having buckets and spades and inflatables outside. Kind of tacky, but reminds me of happier times.

There was an awful eye-sore on O'Connell Street for years though, The Bag Shop (I think?), a dis-used cinema with luggage on display outside. I suppose it's even worse for those of us that remember going to see films there.

I was more in mind of this kind of thing

http://i1124.photobucket.com/albums/l562/stephenc2/Shopfront/P9050023a.jpg
http://images.ratemyarea.com.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/0295/4084/IMG_8350_large.JPG?picture=2954084
http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/9132/10048.jpg

Sunnyisland

Jaywalkers as in people who walk out against the pedestrian lights.

Duckworth_Luas

MadsL wrote: »

1. Sandwich boards
Constricting the width of the pavement, interfering with the blind, ugly.

I am neither blind nor ugly so fortunately these sandwich boards have never interfered with me!

P_1

MadsL wrote: »

I was more in mind of this kind of thing

http://i1124.photobucket.com/albums/l562/stephenc2/Shopfront/P9050023a.jpg
http://images.ratemyarea.com.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/0295/4084/IMG_8350_large.JPG?picture=2954084
http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/9132/10048.jpg

Sorry but that's just plain snobbery IMO

Mickey H

Dog sh1t on footpaths. :mad:

MadsL

P_1 wrote: »

Sorry but that's just plain snobbery IMO

A sense of tidiness is snobbery? I wasn't aware that class determined how tidy you are?

Are you suggested that expecting a minimum standard of tidiness on a shop front on main thoroughfares is related to class?

I dropped my monocle at your suggestion frankly.

Please explain what you mean by "plain snobbery".

P_1

MadsL wrote: »

A sense of tidiness is snobbery? I wasn't aware that class determined how tidy you are?

Are you suggested that expecting a minimum standard of tidiness on a shop front on main thoroughfares is related to class?

I dropped my monocle at your suggestion frankly.

Please explain what you mean by "plain snobbery".

You are equating shops advertising their facilities and what they sell as 'untidy'. There's nothing at all wrong with that in my book and complaining about it 'lowering an area's tone' strikes me as being snobbish.

DonkeyStyle \o/

MadsL wrote: »

I was more in mind of this kind of thing

Heh, reminds me of working on websites where the client wants to keep adding more and more bits and pieces, and they all have to be where people will notice them. Ten signs can't all "stand out" at once. The competition between too many stand-out elements creates chaos. But people don't want to hear that when they've got tunnel-vision on a particular business goal.
Maybe this stuff is working for them, who knows.

Have to agree though, a whole street lined with shops like this looks like shit, especially in a cultural centre. Places like Chester have it right IMO, plenty of shops, but as a whole it's really tied together nicely.

tin79

Upside down n are a bit mad aren`t upside down n.

Sir Humphrey Appleby

MadsL wrote: »

Does untidiness and clutter in the public realm bother you?

A few suggestions and a poll for you.

1. Sandwich boards
Constricting the width of the pavement, interfering with the blind, ugly.

2. Fabric banners
Cheap and tacky, usually end up ripped and dirty

3. Shops with every manner of tat in front of them, postcard racks, icecreams, racks of t-shirts, sunglasses.

4. Untidy bicycles chained everywhere type racks

5. Empty traffic poles with no signs on them

6. Those people holding up signs pointing to shops


So AH, tidy the place up or is it grand as it is?

Its grand, first world problems!

Banjo String

I hate

1 threads that start in bold.

2 Then lose the boldness third sentence down.

MadsL

P_1 wrote: »

You are equating shops advertising their facilities and what they sell as 'untidy'. There's nothing at all wrong with that in my book and complaining about it 'lowering an area's tone' strikes me as being snobbish.

Two of the shops I linked images to are subject to Area of Special Planning Controls. Not snobbery, but the regulations.

In general, given the relatively narrow width of Grafton Street and the high pedestrian footfall the provision of certain elements of street furniture on the public footpath or private landings will not be favourably considered. These elements include newspaper stands, A-frames and spinner stands erected by retailers or tables and chairs for cafes, restaurants or bars.

Signage shall form an integral part of the overall design for the shopfront and shall be restricted to the fascia. In general only the name and street number of the shop should be on the fascia panel.

• The signage relating to any commercial ground floor use shall be contained within the fascia board of the shopfront. The lettering employed shall either be painted on the fascia, or consist of individually mounted solid letters on the fascia board. The size of the lettering used should be in proportion to the depth of the fascia board and in all cases shall not exceed 300mm in height.

• Lettering or logos shall not be affixed directly to the glazing of any shop or business windows, other than etched lettering. All sign displays inside the shop should be kept back a minimum distance of 500mm from the glazing. Lettering or logos shall not obstruct the window display and shall not exceed one quarter of the area of the window through which the advertisements are exhibited.

• Projecting signs shall not generally be permitted as a profusion of such signs in a confined area can lead to visual clutter in the streetscape. However, positive consideration may be given to the use of a projecting sign if a building is in multiple occupancy and the proposed sign would lead to a significant overall reduction in the number and scale of advertisement structures on or projecting from the face of the building.

http://www.dublincity.ie/SiteCollectionDocuments/grafton_street_planning_control_scheme.pdf

Out of interest, why can newsagents not look tidy?

Apart from the large Mike Murphy, this is a gem...
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/p480x480/296073_184780328261447_7696461_n.jpg

MadsL

Sir Humphrey Appleby wrote: »

Its grand, first world problems!

Yes, I would prefer that cities would aspire to be 1st world. It is called civic pride...

MadsL

SamHall wrote: »

I hate

1 threads that start in bold.

2 Then lose the boldness third sentence down.

1.Title

2.Title

3. Ran out of Title, sorry bud.

MadsL

Research shows that feeling good about your country also makes you feel good about your own life -- and many people take that as good news. But Matthew Wright, a political scientist at American University, and Tim Reeskens, a sociologist from Catholic University in Belgium, suspected that the positive findings about nationalism weren't telling the whole story.

"It's fine to say pride in your country makes you happy," says Wright. "But what kind of pride are we talking about? That turns out to make a lot of difference."

The intriguing -- and politically suggestive -- differences they found appear in a commentary in Psychological Science, a journal published by the Association for Psychological Science.

Reeskens and Wright divided national pride into two species.

"Ethnic" nationalism sees ancestry -- typically expressed in racial or religious terms -- as the key social boundary defining the national "we."

"Civic" nationalism is more inclusive, requiring only respect for a country's institutions and laws for belonging. Unlike ethnic nationalism, that view is open to minorities or immigrants, at least in principle.

The authors analyzed the responses to four key questions by 40,677 individuals from 31 countries, drawn from the 2008 wave of the cross-national European Values Study. One question assessed "subjective well being," indicated by general satisfaction with life. Another measured national pride. The other two neatly indicated ethnic and civic national boundaries -- asking respondents to rate the importance of respect for laws and institutions, and of ancestry, to being a true . . . fill in the blank . . . German, Swede, Spaniard. The researchers controlled for such factors as gender, work status, urban or rural residence, and the country's per capita GDP.

Like other researchers, they found that more national pride correlated with greater personal well-being. But the civic nationalists were on the whole happier, and even the proudest ethnic nationalists' well-being barely surpassed that of people with the lowest level of civic pride.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111209171944.htm