What can be done?

The Bowling Alley

I was walking through John Robert's Square the last two Friday evenings at about 5:30 and it was like a ghost town. Loads of the shops were closed when late night Friday shopping used to be a huge thing in Waterford.

What on earth can they do to give the city centre a boost?!

Max Powers

The Bowling Alley wrote: »

I was walking through John Robert's Square the last two Friday evenings at about 5:30 and it was like a ghost town. Loads of the shops were closed when late night Friday shopping used to be a huge thing in Waterford.

What on earth can they do to give the city centre a boost?!

A lot is happening, people need to get off their arses and support city centre, plenty going on, things to do,etc

TheQuietFella

Free parking from 17:00 to 22:00 might be a thought worth considering although it might

take a while for people to change their habits.

Harry Palmr

People will spend money when they have it to spend.

edbrez

Families living above shops scheme.

I don't know about red square but they need to get rid of all the beggars, been noticing a big increase in them. There has been a girl sitting next outside Centra next to Revolution now for weeks, everyday and she gets abusive when you don't give her money.

There is also a massive problem with drugs, one of my friends lives in town next to red square in an apartment and there was lads shooting up twice in the one day last week. For example I would much prefer going for a coffee in Costa out on the Dunmore road than going into town, just more relaxed and nicer environment.

Baby4

This post has been deleted.

MRnotlob606

Do you remember the good old days before the ghost town?
We danced and sang, and the music played in a de boomtown

PTH2009

I often drink in the gingerman and the pub is very quite after 6pm every night except Saturday and sometimes Friday's . The city arms is almost deserted at nighttimes.

I think weatherspoons could do well but a lot of unsavoury characters may drink there cause of the prices.

I'd like to get a tgi Friday's or a Nandos in the city

edbrez

Deleted User wrote: »

I don't know about red square but they need to get rid of all the beggars, been noticing a big increase in them. There has been a girl sitting next outside Centra next to Revolution now for weeks, everyday and she gets abusive when you don't give her money.

Give her a 1 cent coin.

edbrez

edbrez wrote: »

Give her a 1 cent coin.

She shouldn't be allowed out begging all day near the city center. It makes the city look horrible, should be moved on.

MRnotlob606

Deleted User wrote: »

I don't know about red square but they need to get rid of all the beggars, been noticing a big increase in them. There has been a girl sitting next outside Centra next to Revolution now for weeks, everyday and she gets abusive when you don't give her money.

There is also a massive problem with drugs, one of my friends lives in town next to red square in an apartment and there was lads shooting up twice in the one day last week. For example I would much prefer going for a coffee in Costa out on the Dunmore road than going into town, just more relaxed and nicer environment.

I walked into the toilets in upstairs in city square one day and saw a junkie putting away a roll of tin foil. This town is covered in drugs. Things need to be done about it and the beggars have to go fast.

Wanderer78

MRnotlob606 wrote:

I walked into the toilets in upstairs in city square one day and saw a junkie putting away a roll of tin foil. This town is covered in drugs. Things need to be done about it and the beggars have to go fast.

They should just legalise the lot and be done with it

BBM77

The Bowling Alley wrote: »

I was walking through John Robert's Square the last two Friday evenings at about 5:30 and it was like a ghost town. Loads of the shops were closed when late night Friday shopping used to be a huge thing in Waterford.

What on earth can they do to give the city centre a boost?!

I often go into the city centre on a Friday evening and I do be surprised at the number of people that are around for the time of day. There is always a drop of in people at around 5:30pm in city centres everywhere it is nothing particular to Waterford, a lot of offices close, people go home for dinner etc. Also things have changed since the days when late night Friday shopping was huge. For one thing shops are open on Sundays now and there is a lot more out of town shops.

I think the biggest problem though, rightly or wrongly, is that the city centre is seen by many people as inconvenient. There is the attitude that you should have free parking and you should be able to park outside everywhere you want to go. People are in such a rush these days that they want to be able to do that. However the reality is that the city centre has to have controlled traffic and parking otherwise the place would gridlock.

I don’t really buy this whole thing of beggars and junkies. Not saying they are not there but it is no better or worse than anywhere else the size of Waterford. If you expect not to see things like this in somewhere the size of Waterford then you are expecting some kind of utopia that just does not exist anymore.

The city council needs to do things that will actually get cars that are only passing through out of the city centre to make it easier for people who want to go into the city centre to get in. They are saying that there is not enough people coming into the city centre. Has anything ever been done to make it easier to come into the city centre. The changes on the Quay, like them or loth them do not make it easier. The planned upcoming changes around the city centre will not make it easier, again like them or loth them. Nothing has ever in reality been done to make it easier to get into the city centre.

My two cents on what can be done to improve things are:

The new shopping centre on Michael St is a must.

Park and ride at least for festivals to reduce the number of cars coming into the city centre in the first place.

The proposed bridge in Maypark is needed again to reduce the cars going through the city centre. This would make it easier to get into the city centre in the first place.

Quite frankly a change of attitude from Waterford people to try and support the city centre more.

To my mind it is illogical to have a toll on the bypass. Is there any possibility that this could be bought out to encourage its use. I know some will think this is a silly suggestion but it is concrete action that will make a difference. You only have to be on Bridge St any evening to see that the bypass is not being used by all that could use it.

Better parking. Multi-story car parks that are open late and spread around the city centre. This would increase the convenience of parking. I was in Santa Fe a couple of years ago. They have small city centre carparks of three levels which were disguised with the local building style. This would be perfect for Waterford, have a front in a Georgian style.



Not really sure what can be done about the price of parking. Most of the city centre car parks are privately owned so you can’t make them reduce their prices.

Wanderer78

BBM77 wrote: »

To my mind it is illogical to have a toll on the bypass. Is there any possibility that this could be bought out to encourage its use. I know some will think this is a silly suggestion but it is concrete action that will make a difference. You only have to be on Bridge St any evening to see that the bypass is not being used by all that could use it.

the bridge should never have been tolled.