Dun Laoghaire Thread. No traffic, commuting, transport chat.

Gaspode

As the title says, this is a new thread for chat about Dun Laoghaire in general without the traffic & transport nonsense.

Enjoy.

athlone573

How is the redevelopment at Rainbow Rapids coming along? It'll be great to be able to follow the coast all the way to the Forty Foot.

Seaswimmer

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117651066#Comment_117651066

Slowly!!!

Gareth Keenan

it's extremely slow progress, with fewer and fewer workers on site every time I pass. If I didn't know better I'd say the main contractor is in a bit of bother.

Anyone know the latest on the Charles Fitzgerald?

I am really really really missing that place.

Larbre34

On the market I heard, or will be soon.

Homesick Alien

There was band setting up in the new square at Bloomfields at lunchtime today. Couldn't find any more info about it. Would be great if they were able to use that space for more performances. Even a semi-permanent stage.

Gaspode

The council are pitting on a good series of concerts over the next few weeks. Choose your night wisely & you may even see yours truly on stage!

https://www.dlrcoco.ie/en/arts/dlr-choice-season-summer-shows

fixXxer

https://www.instagram.com/p/CSEFItDMYi3/?utm_medium=copy_link

Murals looking great

AndrewJRenko

Has anyone any idea what these checkerboard patterns on various footpaths around DLR area are all about? They seem a lot more ornate than the usual markings.

Mav11

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117744547#Comment_117744547

Something similar? Engineering markings maybe.

https://www.dublinlive.ie/news/locals-stumped-mystery-ground-markings-21338003

JayRoc

Jaysus, it's a good job all those people who didn't want to hear discussion of the pedestrian/cyclist/driver wars on the regular thread got their own place to discuss the issues of real importance 🤣

Mav11

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117851434#Comment_117851434

And very little sign of the posters who requested it originally.

Glencarraig

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117744547#Comment_117744547

Co-ordinates for the alien spacecraft to land for the takeover of the earth now that we have all been injected with the 5g chips 😁😁

dball

Credit where credit is due. Was in the Haddington hotel a couple of weeks ago. The place is an amazing asset to the area..

Great pizzas too. 10/ 10

frash

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117864153#Comment_117864153

I was there at the weekend for an early meal with the kids

I think I prefer how it used to be a few years ago - a lot more relaxed, family friendly pizza restaurant whereas now it's gone a bit too upmarket (for want of a better word).

Food is still great though. Maybe I should try the beer garden next time we eat with the kids.

Tabnabs

Rumours of the baths being complete for December 2021. So probably open several months later...

Mav11

I see that there are no grants going to DLRCC for permanent outdoor dining structures. Seems to be one of the few LA's not getting support. Would Lr Georges st. be suitable??

https://www.thejournal.ie/outdoor-dining-funding-failte-ireland-5544444-Sep2021/

JayRoc

Surprised at that myself actually. The piece doesn't really explain how the funding was allocated.

Perhaps Georges St (and the various other changes in DLRCC catchment area) being a trial and not "permanent" means it doesn't qualify.

Larbre34

I would say that's exactly what it is. I know the project in Wexford is to put a permanent canopy over a side street.

Mav11

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117873445#Comment_117873445

That's probably it. Seems a shame that central government grants like that are going a begging and DLRCC seems to be one of the few (only?) council not to get one.

Larbre34

The perception in Merrion Street has always been, 'sure DLR is loaded, they can pick up the tab for this stuff themselves'. That despite the fact an eye watering chunk of DLR LPT is repatriated to places like Roscommon.

Mav11

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117875599#Comment_117875599

Maybe they're right and DLR is rolling in it.

The basis of LPT is flawed and has always been flawed from day 1, giving surplus funds to councils that might not need it and depriving councils where it might be needed. While it is gravy for councils like DLRCC, it penalises homeowners in the county who might be asset (their home) rich and cash poor, (pensioners). Anyway when you look at the vast amounts of money spent on, say the Lexicon, you couldn't blame central government for taking that view.

But I don't think that is the reason for outdoor grants not coming to DLR.

DLRs active school travel budget is over two million euros.

This is in an urban area that has lights footpaths, public transport, taxis etc.

I drive around the country and its pitch dark on winter evenings, there are no footpaths to walk on and you see people pushing buggies, no pedestrian lights etc and people jogging into oncoming traffic.

The Lexicon cost 40 million euros but if you order a well reviewed book it takes many weeks to get it, thats at the moment and once budget cuts hit due to covid it will take months, so millions spent on a building but the public cant get timely access to books they want to read.

Mav11

Have you tried the library Borrow Box? Great service!

Mav11

@Gaspode @mods Mods would you consider remerging both of the DLR threads? This thread is not really being used since it was set up and by remerging would add a little more variety to the main thread! Thanks Mav

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117875791#Comment_117875791

No, I must look into that.

I read book reviews and then order quickly.

I wanted John McGaherns Letters so ordered it quickly,twenty people ahead in queue and book not even ordered yet. It will takes weeks if not months to get a copy and the Lexicon must be the biggest public library in the country.

Think of the amount of books you could buy for forty million euros.

Mav11

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117875855#Comment_117875855

I think that public libraries are limited by law in the number of copies of a book that they can hold. Hence the queues for new releases, you'd need to be in very early!!

Larbre34

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117875855#Comment_117875855

It's not an 'either, or' situation ffs. The building is a gallery, community centre, performance space, education venue, eatery, study and research location, focal point for the town. If they hadn't the building where would they keep all the books!

It cost 40 million euros, that is the issue when other parts of the country dont even have footpaths to walk on.

They dont have playgrounds or swimming pools or decent libraries and yet for some reason DL residents need a monstrosity as s gallery, an eatery,(the town is full of cafes), a community centre, why do DLR residents need a state of the art community centre.

That library should have been located in the centre of the town and there was no need for a building that size, no other Local Authority in the country spent anything like that on a public building, the library in Gorey for example is very nice, everything on one level, staff at the entrance, really good selection of books, a building like this was more than adequate for Dunlaoghaire.

Its not as though there werent plenty of libraries in DLR, there are four within a few km of Dunlaoghaire so plenty of space etc for galleries, meeting rooms etc

Larbre34

What buildings would you have demolished to get it closer to the centre of the town than it is now and how much would you have paid for them? (bearing in mind it is all of 200 metres from the dead centre of the the town as it is)

Also bear in mind, that facility was paid for by development levies and other funding collected in DLR, it received no central government funding, so when it comes to other parts of the Country and their lacking footpaths, I suggest that a) they can go and **** themselves and that b) you really ought to stop talking s***e.

dball

id start with a demoishing order on that shopping ctr.

Ahem, the shopping centre has been on its knees for decades, part of this could have been converted into a library and would have brought footfall into the area.

As to where the money came from is irrelevant, the library was a frivolous waste of money.

There is no need for the aggressive rudeness in your posts, did your mother never tell you to keep a civil tongue in your head.🤔

JayRoc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117879095#Comment_117879095

I recall reading a piece that attributed most of the funds used to build the "lexicon" to rates that had been collected by DLRCC in previous years. A lot of it from Dundrum SC I think but I am open to correction on that.

I still can't say I like the result. For a library there don't seem to be very many books and the whole thing has an air of a middle-class flight-of-fancy rather than something of real use to the community. But maybe I'm just a moany sod.

Homesick Alien

I think the lexicon is an absolutely magnificent facility and I really don't see what the point is all these years later of constantly moaning about it.

Alias G

The library is a fantastic resource for the locality and the footfall speaks to that. It is listed in the top 10 free attractions in the whole country by number of visitors. I ignore the begrudgers.

https://www.thejournal.ie/failte-ireland-top-attractions-4057417-Jun2018/

Larbre34

dlr Lexicon visitor numbers were approaching 2,000 average per day in 2019. It has been an indisputable success, a superb addition to the town and the wider area.

Larbre34

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117879262#Comment_117879262

She told me respect was earned and to call out bullshyt when its evident. I try to stick by that.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117879488#Comment_117879488

There arent many books at all, its just so big and empty, I think the number of books borrowed would be more interesting data than footfall as really the purpose of a library is to encourage reading.

A pal worked there for a while, she said she felt like a cleaner, picking up discarded coffee cups, lots of children running wild while Momma drank lattees.

It was far too expensive and same issue as with the new cycle lanes snd the existing ones not upgraded. Stillorgan library is pathetic for the population it serves, do locals here not deserve meeting rooms, galleries, eateries etc.

As for spending forty million on a library and doing absolutely nothing about the re opening the swimming pool in Stillorgan, how much is going to be spent on the baths in Dunlaoghaire while the pool in Stillorgan is closed for years now, lots of elderly people used the pool in Stillorgan, the population here are older than average and they need facilities on the doorstep.

By the way does anyone know why those maisonettes opposite Stillorgan library are boarded up, why arent they renovated and used as housing stock.

Mav11

@taxiperson There you go!

https://dlrcoco.citizenspace.com/housing/pc-h-01-20-housing-development-at-st-laurences-par/

JayRoc

With this thread ringing in my ears, I swung by the "lexicon" this afternoon but as only the ground floor is open on Sundays and I neither wanted to borrow a Young Adult book or do some photocopying, I left disappointed🤣

JayRoc

Actually, since I am bitching a lot, I will inject some positivity by saying my favourite of the DLRCC libraries (jesus, I have a "favourite library", party animal alert) is Deansgrange. Just the right size, not too sterile and the staff are great.

Alias G

It would be uncommon for a library to be open to any extent on a Sunday TBF.

JayRoc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117881570#Comment_117881570

Yep, absolutely. The council were lobbied by numerous people , myself included, to extend opening to Sundays seeing as how Sunday is such a busy day for the seafront area. And fair play to them for listening.

But still. Why bother just having one floor open, and the one with the least books?

Larbre34

Because its unstaffed.

JayRoc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117882090#Comment_117882090

Understaffed. Yes. But there were numerous staff there today. And if you can have one floor open while "unstaffed" you can open the floors where the books are. Or don't open.

Tarabuses

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117881390#Comment_117881390

Hmmmm, a year ago. Has anything happened since?

Mav11

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117882174#Comment_117882174

Don’t think so. Though I would imagine that it might be better to wait until the Leisureplex development is finished. To do both at the same time would be too much heavy construction in one little corner. It would drive everybody demented! Probably unsafe as well.

Larbre34

What would drive everyone more demented would be doubling the amount of continuous disruption by delaying the Council scheme.

My understanding is that the private development on the bowling alley will overlap the development of the new library and Council apartments to the rear and that construction traffic will access through the site, not through St Laurence's Park itself.

Homesick Alien

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117881282#Comment_117881282

There are smaller libraries nearby in Blackrock, Deansgrange and Dalkey. Why don't you just go to one of those and stop complaining.

Seriously Taxiperson your sustained negativity is almost impressive. Do you have anything good to say about anything?

markpb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117881282#Comment_117881282

Measuring a library by books borrowed is a very narrow view. It's no wonder you don't like Lexicon if that's your only expectation of it. Libraries are about more than just borrowing books. They are places to study, to work collectively, to relax and read, they are community centres for art exhibitions and other public events. They are places to browse the available books, open the mind the new topics and learn new things. They are also places for people to get access to computers and the internet when they might not be able to do at home.

None of those activities might result in any books being borrowed but they are all good things for the community.