How to get Galway back on track?

Whereisgalway

Whereisgalway wrote: »

Few more gardai doing a beat, just see a video of a woman performing a oral sex act in the middle of the square

I’d say corona was on the lower end of severity of things being spread...

inisboffin

FitzShane wrote: »

I think it was more the man than the woman Either way, it's something you don't want to be seeing out in the open in Eyre Square.

What do you mean by that? That the woman was receiving oral sex or that the man was 'performing' it on a non responsive woman? They are very different offences.

inisboffin

inisboffin wrote: »

What do you mean by that? That the woman was receiving oral sex or that the man was 'performing' it on a non responsive woman? They are very different offences.

The man was mostly "performing" on himself with an occasional interlude by the woman.

There were plenty of offences committed but none were forced/assault or anything like that.

Whereisgalway

Carl Salty Straightjacket wrote: »

The man was mostly "performing" on himself with an occasional interlude by the woman.

There were plenty of offences committed but none were forced/assault or anything like that.

He’d a very small pecker & she’d a bad gag reflex,

Esse85

Poor innocent kids walking past, absolutely disgusting to see, these knackers should be charged and made an example of.

I doubt they'd be missed if they were thrown into the river with weights tied to their ankles.

Mrs OBumble

xckjoo wrote: »

Has there been a substantial decrease in the number of residents on streets since pedestrianisation? Granted we've a very small sample size here but I can't imagine the number of people living on these streets has decreased to any major degree.

I've heard a new resident of Woodquay declare that they'd fight tooth and nail to stop a playground ever being built there since nobody wants it. Not sure the life-long residents with grandkids would agree (in fact I've heard them decry the lack of young families in the area), but he insisted he spoke for everyone. Point being that it's rare to have universal opinions on what should happen to an area and opinions are often conflicting.

There used to be a lot of people living above the shop down Shop / High / Quay streets. I can now think of only three buildings which have people living in them. I've been in one in the daytime - noise from gathered pedestrians made it very unpleasant then, and a former resident says it was far worse at night. There are some down the side-streets (Mainguard, Marlet, Churchyard Lane), and they have a reputation as very loud places to live.


If you want to know what a park in Woodquay would be like - look at the Millenium playground by the Cathedral. Usually pleasant enough during the day. But by evening, lots of dodgy characters and worse (see the posts about recent sexual activity in Eyre Square, drug-users etc). Now imagine that, with on and off-licences in close proximity. Would be an absolute shít-show. The residents (of who there are still quite a lot in the streets being on both sides) know this. Yes, even the older ones who can remember when it was a family area with St Brendan's primary school etc.




While Covid-19 is still a factor, public transport is mainly going to be for essential journeys (work, medical appointments, essential shopping). It won't be suitable for leisure journeys for quite some time. Getting Galway on-track requires decentralised, local events. Not a vibrant bustling city-centre

Mrs OBumble

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Getting Galway on-track requires decentralised, local events. Not a vibrant bustling city-centre

I agree. Lets remove the parking at the small crane and woodquay and set up markets and playgrounds

Great idea MrsB, I fully support it!

Mrs OBumble

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I agree. Lets remove the parking at the small crane and woodquay and set up markets and playgrounds

Great idea MrsB, I fully support it!

Do you live in either of those areas? Does your idea have support from residents?

Is there a need for additional play areas, over and above the existing parks in Woodquay and Fr Griffin Park. Really?

Mrs OBumble

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Do you live in either of those areas? Does your idea have support from residents?

Is there a need for additional play areas, over and above the existing parks in Woodquay and Fr Griffin Park. Really?

"whoosh" comes to mind

Allison91

A zoo and a lush store.

Hadn't read this thread in a while. Last time I looked at it, the idea of a shopping mall outside the city had just been proposed, and I presumed it was trolling.

I lived in Drogheda a few years back. They built two shopping centers on the M1 motorway. One on the south side of the town, and the other on the north side of the town. Both with great access points, and plentiful traffic.
You know what happened, the city center died. The main street was full of boarded up shops, bookies, and not much else. It sucked the life out of the town. Shopping malls on the outskirts of small cities/big towns, kill the centers and should be avoided at all costs.
Dublin is a different situation, where they have a large population, and a small area.

xckjoo

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

There used to be a lot of people living above the shop down Shop / High / Quay streets. I can now think of only three buildings which have people living in them. I've been in one in the daytime - noise from gathered pedestrians made it very unpleasant then, and a former resident says it was far worse at night. There are some down the side-streets (Mainguard, Marlet, Churchyard Lane), and they have a reputation as very loud places to live.


If you want to know what a park in Woodquay would be like - look at the Millenium playground by the Cathedral. Usually pleasant enough during the day. But by evening, lots of dodgy characters and worse (see the posts about recent sexual activity in Eyre Square, drug-users etc). Now imagine that, with on and off-licences in close proximity. Would be an absolute shít-show. The residents (of who there are still quite a lot in the streets being on both sides) know this. Yes, even the older ones who can remember when it was a family area with St Brendan's primary school etc.




While Covid-19 is still a factor, public transport is mainly going to be for essential journeys (work, medical appointments, essential shopping). It won't be suitable for leisure journeys for quite some time. Getting Galway on-track requires decentralised, local events. Not a vibrant bustling city-centre

We've very little pedestrianised areas in the city and they're focused on the main street of the city. It's rare to have a lot of people living there in any city, but there's plenty of housing around it. Off the top of my head there's Edwards Square, Eyre Square (above the shopping centre), Arch Mews, numerous apartments on Shop Street, Abbeygate Street, Church Lane, etc. Don't the McDonaghs still live above their place? The more I think about it, there's a lot more than I thought. It's generally younger people that live there because older people move out to start families in places with more space. Again, it's the main street(s) of the city so prices are at a premium.



The Millenium Park isn't very similar to Woodquay because there's almost no houses around it (same with Eyre Square if you want to add that example). It's quite remote with nobody looking down on it directly. Why not look at the park in Shantalla? It's a wonderful amenity. The local residents gather there daily. They've just installed some lovely new playground equipment too so loads of kids safely enjoying themselves.



My wife did work in Woodquay a few years ago where they talked with the residents about what they wanted so I'm not just making assumptions. Very few want the cars to remain. Actually I think it was only one or two of the businesses and they live elsewhere

biko

Closing Woodquay and making a square out of it seems like a good idea to me.
Some seating outside the pubs and maybe moving the market there at weekends.

ben.schlomo

biko wrote: »

Closing Woodquay and making a square out of it seems like a good idea to me.
Some seating outside the pubs and maybe moving the market there at weekends.

Careful now, you're not allowed propose changes there unless you're a resident.

xckjoo

biko wrote: »

Closing Woodquay and making a square out of it seems like a good idea to me.
Some seating outside the pubs and maybe moving the market there at weekends.

It has huge potential as a very nice area to live and spend time in, but it's been a glorified car park for years. The Council like the revenue from all those parking spots

Historically, it was one of the places that had a regular market day in the town, but I couldn't tell you when that stopped. The few they had in more recent years were nice but I believe it was a battle to get them going

Fitz*

biko wrote: »

Closing Woodquay and making a square out of it seems like a good idea to me.
Some seating outside the pubs and maybe moving the market there at weekends.

Woodquay is one of my favourite spots in the city. Would be great to have some outdoor areas there IMO. Some of the pubs there are smaller in size, so would welcome the ability to have outdoor seating, especially during the summer.

The suggestion of getting rid of parking is madness at the best of times but even more so now where even if it is practical to use public transport (which it isn't for a large number of people around the city and country) using it will be ill advised for some time to come and after that people will still be slow to go back to it.

Its more parking we need in town or else as I suggested earlier an out of town shopping centre which could service large areas of the country and beyond with ease and reduce the reliance on the city centre and surrounds. The city will have no issue attracting people into it in parallel with having a shopping centre far enough outside so as to not suffer from city traffic.

xckjoo

Carl Salty Straightjacket wrote: »

The suggestion of getting rid of parking is madness at the best of times but even more so now where even if it is practical to use public transport (which it isn't for a large number of people around the city and country) using it will be ill advised for some time to come and after that people will still be slow to go back to it.

Its more parking we need in town or else as I suggested earlier an out of town shopping centre which could service large areas of the country and beyond with ease and reduce the reliance on the city centre and surrounds. The city will have no issue attracting people into it in parallel with having a shopping centre far enough outside so as to not suffer from city traffic.

I agree in that we need to move away from a system that has people driving into the middle of the city centre. Woodquay would be well serviced by the car park on the Dyke Road for example. City centres are going to change to be about the "experience". People will come in to get out of the house and wander around, instead of coming in to buy specific things (since they already ordered that on Amazon from their couch/desk).

Not sure about the large shopping centre concept anymore since retail stores are struggling so much these days. But I guess the "experience" argument could extend to this. Are the large shopping centres elsewhere in the country doing well?

bodyguard1

Is there not a small park down Woodquay there are railings around a small area behind where the e-bikes used to be stored as you head down towards the Galway Rowing Club maybe it is just for for local residents ?

Mrs OBumble

bodyguard1 wrote: »

Is there not a small park down Woodquay there are railings around a small area behind where the e-bikes used to be stored as you head down towards the Galway Rowing Club maybe it is just for for local residents ?

Yes, there is already a park in Woodquay.

Not that small either.

No, it is not just for residents. Though sometimes it has residents of its own.

Daisy78

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Hadn't read this thread in a while. Last time I looked at it, the idea of a shopping mall outside the city had just been proposed, and I presumed it was trolling.

I lived in Drogheda a few years back. They built two shopping centers on the M1 motorway. One on the south side of the town, and the other on the north side of the town. Both with great access points, and plentiful traffic.
You know what happened, the city center died. The main street was full of boarded up shops, bookies, and not much else. It sucked the life out of the town. Shopping malls on the outskirts of small cities/big towns, kill the centers and should be avoided at all costs.
Dublin is a different situation, where they have a large population, and a small area.

Fair enough but the current retail offering in Galway city centre is poor when compared with other cities and even larger towns in the country. Im a native Galwegian, not living there now but if I was to move back I think I’d end up doing a lot of shopping online. You have a high end offering with the likes of Brown Thomas and at the lower end Penney’s with few options in between. I’ve no problem with retail being confined to the city centre if accessible but there doesn’t appear to be the retail space available for this?

Fitz*

Sounds like Cross Street is gonna be pedestrianised.

https://twitter.com/mike_mjcrowe/status/1271145720880472065?s=19

Does this also include middle Street I wonder?

what_traffic

FitzShane wrote: »

Sounds like Cross Street is gonna be pedestrianised.

https://twitter.com/mike_mjcrowe/status/1271145720880472065?s=19

Does this also include middle Street I wonder?

Galway City Council are so slow, this was so obvious it should have been done weeks ago - Ennis already have done some of there changes for streets similar to Cross Street about 3/4 weeks ago.

FitzShane

FitzShane wrote: »

Sounds like Cross Street is gonna be pedestrianised.

https://twitter.com/mike_mjcrowe/status/1271145720880472065?s=19

Does this also include middle Street I wonder?

Not yet but it's inevitable with cross st being done

flazio

I'm right in saying there's no right turn from the Wolfe Tone bridge onto upper Fairhill Road aren't I? That'd have to be put back if people were trying to get from the docks to Mill Street for example.

Whereisgalway

what_traffic wrote: »

Galway City Council are so slow, this was so obvious it should have been done weeks ago - Ennis already have done some of there changes for streets similar to Cross Street about 3/4 weeks ago.

Galway city council have a history of an indepth slow decision making process

In relation to the Small Crane and Woodquay, the council submitted an application for funding back in Mar with a view to changing those areas.

Small Crane Proposal


https://connachttribune.ie/galway-city-council-examining-regeneration-proposals/

In the first tranche of funding, Galway City received €6.3 million in total. Nearly €3m of that was allocated to creating cycle lanes between Oranmore and the city, while €2.7m was granted to change the Martin Roundabout at the Galway Clinic into a signalised junction providing an access route for the planned new urban town of Ardaun near Doughiska.

A further €708,000 was given towards the development of plans for core city centre areas including Nun’s Island, the inner-city harbour area and Sandy Road.

Under changes to the second round of the €2 billion fund to be spent nationally over the next seven years, public bodies such as educational facilities and Iarnród Éireann can continue to make applications but they have to be submitted through the local authority. The Council will have to prioritise projects in order of importance if submitting more than three applications.

Among the proposals which they were considering putting forward were the greenway between Oranmore and Barna, cycle lanes throughout the city linking up with schools and amenities and drawing up designs for reimagining public spaces such as the Small Crane and Woodquay.

Other projects which may get the Council’s stamp of approval were a five-platform extension for Ceannt Station to allow double tracks between Athenry and the city, an overhaul of facilities for GMIT and a pedestrian and cycle bridge from the Dyke Road to NUIG, where an application for a performance space was also being considered.

According to the attached, the following are the list of applications Galway Councils have made

• Galway City Council - Ardaun Upgrade of Martin Roundabout
• Galway City Council - Headford Road Regeneration Area Local Area Plan
• Galway City Council - Sandy Road Liosbán
• Galway City Council - Public Realm and Amenity Project
• Galway City Council - Cycling and Walking (A)
• Galway City Council - Cycling and Walking (B)
• Galway City Council - Salmon Weir Footbridge
• Galway County Council - Briarhill, Garraun, Galway Airport Lands
• NUIG - Nuns Island Masterplanning
• Galway Harbour Company - Regeneration of Galway City Inner Harbour

Daisy78

Looks great, hopefully these proposals with get over the line. Can imagine funding will be very tight given the times we are in but would be a great boost to the city if some of those projects can come to fruition.

anna disappointed

Galway used to be a beautiful place to visit.
Now people sit in their large automobiles for an hour trying to bring their children to school and under pressure to get to work on time.
It is an old city with a great history.
I do not accept that even a change in infrastructure or the introduction of cycling paths would solve the problem. I wish that were so.
The mentality of Galway citizens is different from that in the Netherlands, for example, where cycling is culturally, an integral part of life.
In Galway the ego factor drives the behaviour of many citizens who falsely believe that driving an expensive car and emitting toxic gases into the environment is a sign of status and affluence.
The problems in Galway are partly due, therefore, to the misconceptions held by people with wealth- the Noveau Riche.
Educated people with humility and substance understand the importance of the environment and they lack the need to display their wealth or achievements. They live a life in harmony with other people and the environment in an unassuming way. Galway does not need more greed and money, it needs a change in mindset of it´s citizens in order to be great again

flazio

Car ownership gives us greater control in all aspects of our lives. Working hours, best value homes to live in, social pursuits. We want to do something there and then we can do it without having to worry if I'm living close enough to it or what time the last piece of public transport closes.
It's a very hard habit to shake off.