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bollards gone from oconnell st

wolf99

So I just noticed this afternoon that the bollards that were lining O'Connell st have been removed.
Anyone know if there's reason behind this? or is it just another way for the council to spend money they don't have?

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im invisible

in town?

wolf99

Yup yup

bonzos

Big money in scrap metal at the moment:D....end of month and our local public reps will be due their expenses,money must come from somewhere. Number one rule is look after the boys(and girls).

wolf99

LOL, I should've thought of that. i had thought maybe the chamber of commerce had started shouting unintelligible noise at people again....

Quick poll; who here thinks the un-pedestrianisation of the street was a good thing?

SprostonGreen

Oh thank Christ. It saddens me how ugly our town has become and that street is the worst.

wolf99

SprostonGreen wrote: »

Oh thank Christ. It saddens me how ugly our town has become and that street is the worst.

True, if they'd made a proper job of it either way it would be better than as it has been and is.

... Council?... proper job?... what was I thinking! silly me!

bonzos

Looks like our money is being well spent. Tony McLoughlin's €50k+ payoff for his promotion to TD.....over 5000 people in the town will have to pay their household charge to keep Tony sweet. Wonder will Tony hand back some or all of his parachute payment to the council given the financial stress it is under?

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/tds-got-34300-payoff-to-give-up-council-seats-3217253.html

Buford T Justice

bonzos wrote: »

Looks like our money is being well spent. Tony McLoughlin's €50k+ payoff for his promotion to TD.....over 5000 people in the town will have to pay their household charge to keep Tony sweet. Wonder will Tony hand back some or all of his parachute payment to the council given the financial stress it is under?

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/tds-got-34300-payoff-to-give-up-council-seats-3217253.html

Greedy an unscrupulous money grabbing Councillors you say?

I'm shocked and surprised.......

Just read in the champion today that the council were refused the overdraft they requested from bank of Ireland. Looks like they will be turning off streetlights and water to save money after all......

All the while Tony got his big fat pay off. Not to worry though. It is 'in line with regulations' after all.

The Real B-man

Could they be Possibly Resurfacing? needs it in Fairness.

Mint Sauce

Was actaully on O'Connell St today, and meant to take alook to see how it was without them, and totally forgot all about it.

The Real B-man wrote: »

Could they be Possibly Resurfacing? needs it in Fairness.

The money wasted in closing it and half arsed attempt at pedestrianisation, and then reopening with a strips of red tarmac paint, bollards, and parking signage which is often ignored, plus the constant digging up by ameantities. Could have been spent on actually making it a place were it can be used by traffic and the public together with a decent surface, lighting, and markings, instead of the mess that it is now.

It might have been a decent compromise considering that they had no intention of making pedestrianisation work.

sligoface

i definitely preferred when it was pedestrianised, it was a nice feature for the centre of town, especially since the footpaths are not wide enough for the amount of pedestrians. it's hard enough to get around the mams with prams filing out of penneys on a saturday without the bollards in your way as well.

you can walk across town faster than driving whether it is open to traffic or not, i find. and on the odd occasion i take a taxi, they still avoid o'connell street.

i had heard they were meant to have it pedestrianised on sundays from the beginning of this year, which makes no sense as almost all the shops are closed then.

Buford T Justice

I very much doubt it has anything whatsoever to do with resurfacing.

More likely that they've melted them down and sold them off as scrap.

Mint Sauce

Gotta hand it to Sligo CoCo. Have been down O'Connell Street a few times in that last couple of days, once in the car and twice on foot (infairness one of the times on foot I was coming out of the pub and had a few drinkies

), and its now looking like an accident waiting to happen.

Your going to have some drivers attempting to double park where the bollards were, your going to have cyclists who think they (the red areas) are cycle lanes which they were never intended for nor were/are suitable for, and then the pestestians who will wonder weather the red is part of the road or the pavement and possibly get tangled up with the above cyclists/drivers.

If they cant have a pesdestian street, at least extend the pavement out to where the bollards were, have the pavement surface more attractive and level, and resurface the whole of the driving surface. I know the CoCo claim to be broke, but aren't they and every other in the county wasting money at the end of every year in an attempt to justify each new years budget, surely there's something in the kitty.

AgileMyth

irish-stew wrote: »

Your going to have some drivers attempting to double park where the bollards were, your going to have cyclists who think they (the red areas) are cycle lanes which they were never intended for nor were/are suitable for, and then the pestestians who will wonder weather the red is part of the road or the pavement and possibly get tangled up with the above cyclists/drivers.

As a motorcyclist who uses this street every day I have a major issue with this. The bollards being removed is handy for me as I can now get down the side of traffic fairly handy. The issue is with pedestrians strolling down the red part as if its an extension of the footpath.

Buford T Justice

AgileMyth wrote: »

As a motorcyclist who uses this street every day I have a major issue with this. The bollards being removed is handy for me as I can now get down the side of traffic fairly handy. The issue is with pedestrians strolling down the red part as if its an extension of the footpath.

Correction, I think you'll find the issue is when pedestrians are using the red part of the footpath, which was allocated for footfall (hence the bollards outside it) bikers are using it like its part of the main road because they couldn't be bothered to sit in traffic like everyone else who uses the road.

Do you drive on footpaths too if there's a ramp up to it for you?

Mint Sauce

AgileMyth wrote: »

As a motorcyclist who uses this street every day I have a major issue with this. The bollards being removed is handy for me as I can now get down the side of traffic fairly handy. The issue is with pedestrians strolling down the red part as if its an extension of the footpath.

You have just proved my point. The red part was always an extention to the footpath, and many pedestrians will believe, my self included that it still is.

The road markings have not changed, if your in an accident with a pedestrian, who are they going to come after? You and your insurance, or the CoCo?

sligo camper

I agree that the bollards didn t help the look of O'Connell street, some have been used to test the strength of car bumbers...
On the other hand I have to say that whe flower baskets added greatly to the visual enjoyment of the street...Well done to Lucy and staff for looking after them so well and to the businesses that allowed them to be placed.. for the rest of the NONO shower, shame on ye

:mad:

wolf99

The street does need resurfacing badly, as do the paths. Yet the amount of times a month (or week) that the road is dug up for services, they might as well not have a surface at all.

I had thought there was talk of fining service providers that required roads to be dug up past a certain time-frame, but maybe that idea was never taken up? ("Sure that'd bring money IN, not get rid of it. Why would we do that?")

Drivers regard for road markings and correct parking behavior in Sligo is pretty atrocious (and is in a lot of other places in Ireland too) so I think that while the bollards were an eyesore a blind dog would scream blue murder at, they are necessary, as proved by the biker's earlier post.

I dont see the CoCo revisiting the full pedestrianisation idea anytime in the foreseeable future, so the least they could do is make sure the road and path surfaces are of the proper width and quality and that the road markings and signage is clear and unambiguous!

(If you want to see a bad road surface job in the town centre, take a walk up harmony hill to Dominic St. You wouldn't see it that bad on a bog track)

EDIT: The flower baskets ARE good!

Hobbitfeet

I thought the red part was part if the footpath and I use it all the time mainly because of ignorant people who just stop and chat blocking the tiny footpath, then look at you like your crazy when you say excuse me and ask them to move so you can get past.

SligoLady

They were taken out around the time of the Sligo Summer Festival when O'Connell St was closed for the various parades etc. There must be a reason why they haven't been put back though..

Maybe because they weren't approved their overdraft, they can't afford to pay someone to do it!

Mint Sauce

Hobbitfeet wrote: »

I thought the red part was part if the footpath and I use it all the time mainly because of ignorant people who just stop and chat blocking the tiny footpath, then look at you like your crazy when you say excuse me and ask them to move so you can get past.

It does cause confusion, as I feel for alot of people it does not feel natural to step of the pavement and walk along the red section, even when the bollards were there.

I'm surprised that since the removal of the bollards, for those that do walk in the red section, that someone has not been hit yet.

CoCo's are always trying to spend/waste the remainder of the budget every year, why not put it to good use here and sort out the O'Connell St surface and traffic/pedestrian secregation. It would probably work out cheeper than paying aloud of compo to someone who has been hit by a car or bike.

Buford T Justice

irish-stew wrote: »

It does cause confusion, as I feel for alot of people it does not feel natural to step of the pavement and walk along the red section, even when the bollards were there.

I'm surprised that since the removal of the bollards, for those that do walk in the red section, that someone has not been hit yet.

CoCo's are always trying to spend/waste the remainder of the budget every year, why not put it to good use here and sort out the O'Connell St surface and traffic/pedestrian secregation. It would probably work out cheeper than paying aloud of compo to someone who has been hit by a car or bike.

Because that would make sense and be a good idea stewie.. What were you thinking

Mint Sauce

Buford T Justice wrote: »

Because that would make sense and be a good idea stewie.. What were you thinking

That I should get a job with the Coco. If they can pay an anti bullying consultant.....

AgileMyth

Buford T Justice wrote: »

Correction, I think you'll find the issue is when pedestrians are using the red part of the footpath, which was allocated for footfall (hence the bollards outside it) bikers are using it like its part of the main road because they couldn't be bothered to sit in traffic like everyone else who uses the road.

Do you drive on footpaths too if there's a ramp up to it for you?

Sometimes yeah but thats mainly just for the craic.

Why would I sit in traffic cause you have to? Are you the spiteful **** who pulls over to block me filtering?

Mint Sauce

Feature on O'Connell St today in the Champion, with the main focus point being its history, some of the shops/pubs and the residence of John Mullaney of Mullaney Bros.

The reaminder giving the traders and some of the publics view on its current state, breifly mentioning the promised 500k for improvments. Unfortunatly it doesn't really tell anything new.

wolf99

Was that 500k not lost when the CoCo refused to get of their collective arses' and decide one way or the other on pedestrianisation?

Buford T Justice

AgileMyth wrote: »

Sometimes yeah but thats mainly just for the craic.

Why would I sit in traffic cause you have to? Are you the spiteful **** who pulls over to block me filtering?

There's a filter lane on O'Connell St now?

Mint Sauce

wolf99 wrote: »

Was that 500k not lost when the CoCo refused to get of their collective arses' and decide one way or the other on pedestrianisation?

Thats how up to date the Champion Article is.

:rolleyes:

redarmyblues

irish-stew wrote: »

Feature on O'Connell St today in the Champion, with the main focus point being its history, some of the shops/pubs and the residence of John Mullaney of Mullaney Bros.

The reaminder giving the traders and some of the publics view on its current state, breifly mentioning the promised 500k for improvments. Unfortunatly it doesn't really tell anything new.

They run that story every couple of months. WTF is with the champion anytime I pick up one the free copies they are leaving round Pubs, Cafes and Hotels, the front page headline is about the death of some worthy yet obscure local. That paper has plumbed depth upon depth in recent years in becoming totally adverse to the newsworthy, fearing to offend its advertisers whose various agendas otherwise dominate its columns, so much so I wouldn't bring a free copy home to light the fire with.