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Has the Grand Parade regeneration been a failure?

Amtmann

Just asking this in all seriousness. It still receives relatively little footfall despite appearing to be very pedestrian friendly. The pavement near the red-brick footbridge is always filthy, and you get a lot of rough types hanging around outside the delapidated buildings close to the library. Last week I was walking through there in the middle of the day and saw a crowd of teens attacking the new stone seats with a lumphammer, trying to remove metal bars from them so that they could scateboard the area. All in all, it's been a bit of a disappointment imo. I think more shops and eateries need to set up there so that the number of people frequenting the area improves. This, in turn, would encourage the foul contingent of undesirables to retreat to murkier haunts in the city.

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deRanged

I had posted this in the other thread originally.

I wonder if with the regeneration moving north - to the new opera lane developments and so on, we'll see more of a shift to that side of Patrick Street?
this will leave even more of a void in the grand parade area.

Red Hand

As regards footfall, there is little at that end or that side of the street for footfall to occur. Once you're past the library, you're into dilapitated buildings

run_Forrest_run

Furet wrote: »

I think more shops and eateries need to set up there so that the number of people frequenting the area improves.

would you set up a business with all your earnings and loads in this area just to have little scumbags hanging around and damaging property? Nope!

It's a chicken and egg situation really, business won't spring up until the scut element around the place is 'cleaned up'.
I can think of one way I'd like to clean them up;)

dogbert27

Yeah it seems fairly quiet. Those kiosks need to be taken over for a start. Then the buildings beside the library need to be renovated. Is the hotel there still in business or what?
Oh and the library needs a facelift.
That corner of the parade is really bringing the rest of it down.

simu

I walk through the Grand Parade most days and I've never had any trouble. It's a pleasant enough place and busy enough on Saturdays. However, it's not surprising that it's quiet the rest of the time given that there aren't a lot of popular shops and services located there. In fairness, they do have food fairs and things on there from time to time that attract people.

The Peace Park is a disgrace, however. It needs to be cleaned up and to have better security. They should get rid of that filthy water hole (I would not deign to call it a pond) by the main gates and replace it with slides and things for kids imho.

Bodhidharma

I don't think the regeneration has worked. All it does is give winos and skateboarders a place to sit down all day.

I was actually looking at the condition of town last week. I have to admit it looked well for a while, but now it looks dirty. Is it my imagination or did they use the wrong material for the foothpaths? It was nice when clean but seems to just get really filthy. It looks like its made of marble or something. It really hasn't aged well and its not even that old. I can imagine what it'll look like in ten years or so.

Also, they have these kind of red slabs on the side of the road on Patrick Street which people sit on. What is the function of these things? Are they actually for sitting on?

Bill-e

simu wrote: »

The Peace Park is a disgrace, however. It needs to be cleaned up and to have better security. They should get rid of that filthy water hole (I would not deign to call it a pond) by the main gates and replace it with slides and things for kids imho.

I think that filthy Water hole thing is actually the ancient city wall or some thing.
It should be cleaned up and made nice.

simu

Bodhidharma wrote: »

I don't think the regeneration has worked. All it does is give winos and skateboarders a place to sit down all day.

I was actually looking at the condition of town last week. I have to admit it looked well for a while, but now it looks dirty. Is it my imagination or did they use the wrong material for the foothpaths? It was nice when clean but seems to just get really filthy. It looks like its made of marble or something. It really hasn't aged well and its not even that old. I can imagine what it'll look like in ten years or so.

Also, they have these kind of red slabs on the side of the road on Patrick Street which people sit on. What is the function of these things? Are they actually for sitting on?

They are for sitting I'd say but they are rather dirty!

I don't mind the skateboarders in town as they're mostly well-behaved but there is far too much tolerance of winos. Why are they allowed to drink in the streets in broad daylight? Is there no where to put them, apart from a Garda cell for a few hours and then out again? They can be really threatening at times.

simu

Bill-e wrote: »

I think that filthy Water hole thing is actually the ancient city wall or some thing.
It should be cleaned up and made nice.

Rly? It just doesn't work as a monument to the past though. Even if it was clean, it would still look rather lacklustre imo.

Amtmann

Bill-e wrote: »

I think that filthy Water hole thing is actually the ancient city wall or some thing.

It is the old wall. Next time you're there, look from it over to Hillbilly's and then look at the yellow building beside that called the Christian Bookshop. It is exactly the same width as the wall in the park; in other words, it's built right on top of the old city wall. Just some trivia.

flo8s967qjh0nd

Bodhidharma wrote: »

Is it my imagination or did they use the wrong material for the foothpaths? It was nice when clean but seems to just get really filthy. It looks like its made of marble or something. It really hasn't aged well and its not even that old. I can imagine what it'll look like in ten years or so.

This is a regular occurrence. It's mainly because we haven't had any decent rain for a month. When we get a good few hours of rain, the marble will sparkle again. Its one of those things that the Irish weather is actually good for.

Overall, I think Grand Parade is very pleasant. Although I have problems with the coffee pods, at least they liven up the place a bit. Massive development was planned for the Library and adjoining sites (see here: http://www.frinailla.ie/News.aspx?NewsID=8) but that seems to have stalled at the moment. Permission was also granted to build on the Capitol Cinema site - unfortunately this is now a bit of an eyesore with ugly advertising hoardings.
I'm also disappointed that there is still at the end of GP that requires the car to drive over the new footpath and through the ground floor of a very fine georgian building to access. This building seems to be undergoing renovation at the moment (like the carpark itself) but I doubt whether they'll close that ridiculously inappropriate entrance.

Overall, GP is an area where (for a change) public spending has out-paced private. There is a need for the private developments to come on-stream to compliment the investment the City Council has made.

darkdubh

The area by the bridge seems to be permanently occupied by a bunch of Eastern European winos these days.What's the story with the Grand parade hotel?They seemed to be doing it up a few years back but then left it derilect.Same story with the Goat broke loose.

GavRedKing

Ir doesnt look bad but the problem is as stated above your not going get many businesses up that area. It does look like it could have been a bit of a waste of money but like most things its probaly a 5/10 year project see what they can get back from possible investments in the area.

deRanged

I walked the length of patrick st yesterday morning. lots of people, shops and activity down the easons end, specially around the new opera lane development. up the grand parade end - there's nothing much there to attract people. I imagine that without some serious investment down towards the library it'll go downhill.