Capital of Culture 2005

Nukem

Heard something very interesting fomr someone the other day. Time is running short to the Culture 05 window and Oliver Plunkett st is in Sh+t.
"get the pavings down and make them look ok and we will fix them in 06 properly"
Dont't know if its true but there is inadequte support under the pavings and they dont have enough time to do it so they are botchin the job(TYPICAL)
Also a quick note:Walked from the top of Barracks st to the bottom and no bins what the Fu*k that is a main st with loads of chippers...etc....
That is goin to be an attraction for the Culture Capital visitors isnt it?????

dahamsta

Course there's also the School of Music and School of Art. Neither will be ready in time.

So we'll have a Capital of Culture with most of the Culture in rag order.

adam

Fysh

Given how this thread is progressing :

1)I agree that Patrick Street needed remodelling, and I think that what they did was a bit of a botched job to say the least. The pavement is far too narrow in some areas, the open spaces feel a bit pointless (since there's nothing to fill them except buskers), and there's not enough greenery. It's an improvement on what it was, but mainly because it used to be bloody horrible. Shame they didn't fix half the streets leading off Patrick street (eg Carey's lane, where the drains constantly stink) while they were at it.

2)I don't think the Capital Of Culture is going to end up as anything other than a shambles, because the city looks inconsistent at best (eg the work near the FAS office by the river where the pavement's been broken and dangerous ever since I can remember). Other problems such as the lack of adequate bin provision and the aftermath of the city's nightlife have not been addressed (we need more bins and a regular cleaning service, among other things)

3)I agree with the opinion previously expressed that Cork people seem quite uninterested in the idea of being a capital of culture. I find it amazing that in a city with two colleges and a student population well in excess of 10,000, the place feels, well, provincial. It doesn't bear any kind of comparison to other cities that should be similar, such as Galway. And we can make excuses for it, but what it boils down to is that in too many cases, people just don't care. I'd also like to take this opportunity to strike out against the notion that cork is a really friendly place; on average the friendliest people here are (in my experience, your mileage may vary etc) those who have either spent significant time abroad or who are originally from another country anyway.

4)"Culture is inherent in the people of Cork, it may not be in the form of the arts.. but it is alive and kicking" - What, exactly, does this mean? Culture in Cork is present to an extent - there are historical buildings, the opera house, galleries, and the Kino. However, most Cork natives I've met have been markedly uninterested in culture. Unless you're talking about dance music and clubbing, which is nightlife rather than culture. Care to explain further, given that we disagree?

5)Cycle lanes. God, how I'd like to have them. As a cyclist, I get given out to if I'm on the road (usually by taxi drivers) and if I'm on the pavement (usually by skangers with prams the size of a golf cart).

treefingers

i really like the new look patricks street. even the lights

although, i'm living with a swedish student at the moment and when i asked him what he thought about the city, he said that most of the centre was dirty and run-down. doesn't like the place at all. i never took any notice of it until he said it, but the city really doesn't look nice at all these days.

although it will be a big improvment i think when oliver plunket st. and the bus station are done. especially the bus station. that building used to look awful...

simu

Is Patrick Street finished? I thought it was to be pedestrianised completely.

Fysh

treefingers wrote:

although it will be a big improvment i think when oliver plunket st. and the bus station are done. especially the bus station. that building used to look awful...

It should look good, but then again so should Patrick St. and we all know what happened there. I think the fact that work on the bus station only started about a month ago shows just how poorly the entire thing has been planned. Particularly if there's any truth to the idea mentioned before, to "just get it done" in time for 2005 and actually making a proper job of it later.

Feh.

Amnesiac_ie

Has anyone been to the Glucksman Art Gallery in UCC yet? As far as I'm aware, the Capital of Culture was a major factor behind the realisation of this project.

treefingers

yeah i was in there. its a really cool building. some nice paintings as well, especially the modern american art section (think thats what its called) on the top floor....

Tiriel

damien.m wrote:

So, you refuse to get into this but at the same time counter all that I said by saying the street isn't grey because it has 5 shades of grey. Yeah, makes sense.

ok. here are 2 pics. maybe I' m daft.. but there are 5 different types of stone used throughout the newly developed Patrick St. These vary in shades, some include red tones, etc. yeah, the street paving is continuous in a way.. maybe that is what u mean.. but there are differentiations in colour, texture etc. fair enough if u don't agree.

Nukem

Think the red offset is kinda nice.Takes some of the grey away and dead happy to see that they have put in liners on the edge and stop of the paths for the blind (the red ones with bobbles on top)

Tiriel

Nukem wrote:

Think the red offset is kinda nice.Takes some of the grey away and dead happy to see that they have put in liners on the edge and stop of the paths for the blind (the red ones with bobbles on top)

yeah.. they did do a good enough job for the visually impaired.. they have corrigated strips in too..

Danni

Ok since this topic has gone WAY off topic, i'll just add what i think about Pana like others have.

Its a flamin disgrace! Did any of these designers think about us girls in heels that keep getting stuck in the footpaths?? 2 of my friends have broken their shoes on a night out & it wasn't from falling all over the place drunk. My grandmother (who wears flat shoes) tripped coz of the footpaths. Thankfully, she wasn't hurt. Anyway, my opinion is that they totally messed up the street's pavement. I think they could have done a much better job.
The lights, i though were weird at the start. I thought they looked like they were broken because of the way they hang. I'm getting to like them now though

Fysh

Cork_girl wrote:

ok. here are 2 pics. maybe I' m daft.. but there are 5 different types of stone used throughout the newly developed Patrick St. These vary in shades, some include red tones, etc. yeah, the street paving is continuous in a way.. maybe that is what u mean.. but there are differentiations in colour, texture etc. fair enough if u don't agree.

...

I have no idea whether it was deliberate, but you've totally missed damien.m's point as far as I can work out. Yes, there are several shades of tile on the paving stones used on Patrick Street. We didn't need pictures to prove this. It still looks grey and dead overall in my opinion, particularly with the lack of any sort of greenery to contrast it with. However, you've also missed out everything else that both I and damien.m have said as to why the supposedly "finished" work isn't really satisfactory.

damien

Out of curiosity Cork_girl , are you in any way involved in the City of Culture Project or any of the companies involved in the promotion of the new Patrick Street ?

Who was the survey that you did for ? Or was it just a personal survey ?

Amnesiac_ie

Raskolnikov wrote:

I don't know, I like the revamped Patrick's St. A nice wide open boulevard with adequate lighting and plenty of room to walk around on. The only problem that I have is that they've done feck all to promote cycle lanes in the city.

I remember hearing that Cork had been earmarked as one of 15 cities in Europe that was going to massively promote cycling and develop cycle lanes throughout the city. Whatever happened to that???

simu

I'll ask this again - was it not stated in the original plan that the whole street was to be pedestrianised?

damien

No. But I did hear talk of buses and taxis only.

simu

Apparently not: http://www.corkcorp.ie/projects/patrick_street/patrickst.html

Fysh

simu wrote:

Apparently not: http://www.corkcorp.ie/projects/patrick_street/patrickst.html

going back to complaints about the smoothness of the surface...I think looking at that site answers any questions about the whole damn thing. Looks like the project was handed over to some aspiring artist muppet with views to having his/her name in the history books as the redesigner of our city (which s/he may yet be, but for the wrong reasons). I can't help but feel their intentions were right, but everything else from there on (ie initial ideas, subsequent designs and refinements, understandings of requirements, reviews of area where work is to be carried out) was flawed.

Tiriel

dudara wrote:

I too like the new Patrick Street. It does have flaws, and the state of the street during the construction works was terrible, but it is a vast improvement and is quite attractive overall.

The things I don't like are
1. The paving stones are not filled in correctly. Sometimes when I wear heels, they get caught betweeen the paving stones. This is a problem anywhere in the city where they've laid new stones, it's happened to me in Carey's Lane, Olive Plunkett Street and Pana. I've also seen this ahppen to 60 year old women as well. I'm just waiting for the compo claims to start.
2. The particular shade (shades for Cork Girl ) they've chosen for the street are stained and dirty already. The combinations of gum, fags, spit and puke are already ddoing their damage.
3. The litter boxes leak this horrible brown goo which is contributing to staining the footpaths.

However, I like the overall effect and the broadening of pana. I like the new taxi rank positions, although they should have installed a queueing system as well. I like the new bus shelters, especially the ones near Eason's that incorporate a phone box. I love the lighting. But more greenery is needed to just lighten the whole effect.

Now as to Cork being the City of Culture, I just don't know. So far, I feel that there hasn't been enough promotion. Now that the Gluckman Gallery has opened in UCC, let's see what that can add to the list. Let's just wait and see.

BTW I have to agree with the comment on bicycle lanes, there's a severe lack of them in the city

I have to say I basically agree with Dudara above. The street's development has pro's and con's but overall I like it. I'm not sure what point I'm missing out on.. but sure lemme know!! oh and by the way no I'm not involved with any committee!! All of my research etc. was purely college based..

I'd like to point out that the redevelopment of Pana was a plan long before Cork was even entered in the competition for City of Culture. It is completely separate and does differ a lot from its original plan layout due primarily to lack of funding. The original intention was to redevelop Pana and The Grand Parade. However... the dosh ran out and they couldn't even finish Pana to the standard they had originally hoped for. Basically the traffic lanes were supposed to be paved with granite.. but are now done in tarmac. So when the money ran out.. they decided to postpone Grand Parade and do Oliver Plunkett St. instead as it is a far smaller project. As for rushing it to have it finished in time as mentioned in other posts.. I dunno!! Hope not! :mad:

The Capital of Culture is a positive thing for Cork. If it gets things done around the city.. sure how bad! To be honest I 'd personally hate to be on the Committee that is organising events etc. Imagine how hard it would be to do! Especially with all the criticism!! At least the new Pana can be used for outdoor events etc. whereas before it would have been manky! That's what I think. Fair enough.. people aren't impressed by the new street.. but how can u say it isn't culturally appropriate? what would have been?? I was lucky enough to see the other competition entries for the street and I really am delighted that Beth Gali's entry won!!!

simu

Cork_girl wrote:

So when the money ran out.. they decided to postpone Grand Parade and do Oliver Plunkett St. instead as it is a far smaller project.

That's just as well, really. O.P. Street was in greater need of a makeover than the South Mall.

mire

i've just read some terrible bull on this thread re. pana.

whether you like the street design or not, the bull**** needs to be addressed

if someone's granny or a drunken slapper in heels keeps fallin on pana, its not the paving thats at fault - it'd be age/deterioration of senses/effect of alcohol

the paving has been laid, in my opinion, just fine, there are small issues with grouting, dont lose sleep

if some of the people here had their way, pana would be an historical theme park with mocyah cobbles and faux gas lamps so we could pretend it was the ould cork..with old eircom phone boxes - (i read some poster here who said that the phone box design was an eircom issue and not a street design issue????????)

some one also said that some parts are too narrow-and some pointlessly wide--??? and that the spaces are pointless... what would you prefer? a greek column, sonia o sullivan statue, isnt abbyleix gorgeous

go walk down pana on friday night or saturday morning, stroll and do pana - its a pleasure, easy perambulation, great new spaces, tasty street furniture, good public realm, contemporary and proud, good civic atmosphere
and then if you still dont like it, go buy the echo - get in a taxi- and whinge away about the new pana with the taxi man - he'll isten

- the new pana has been highly successful - watch the way the street works nowadays - fair play to ms gali - and down with the echo readin whingin taxi drivin gas lamp lovin muppets

hefty_langer

thats alot of anger for a first post...
hee hee hee

Danni

mire wrote:

if someone's granny or a drunken slapper in heels keeps fallin on pana, its not the paving thats at fault - it'd be age/deterioration of senses/effect of alcohol

Im assuming you're a guy & have not walked down the street in heels. I've been walking in heels for well over 5 years (drunk & sober) and not once did i or any of my friends fall flat on their faces. Maybe it's a coincidence that 2 of them have fallen in the past 6 months (while sober!!) & 2 have broken their heels while out at night

Also my nan is only 62 years of age & well able to walk the streets. It WAS the grids in the pavement that caused her to fall

Nukem

See every one has forgotten about it!!!!!
And they still arent finished - was walking up Oliver Plunkett st on Friday night and there was some men in lovely shiny jackets digging up the brand spanking new road without a care in the world. :mad:
And have to ask whats with the new and apparently very expensive cr*p christmas lights (Granted the trees look class on Pana) but the blue stars

The mind boggles

Amnesiac_ie

The website www.cork2005.ie looks incredibly shoddy.

Whoever is doing their PR is not doing a very good opportunity.

Feels like a wasted opportunity before it's even begun

Jim Comic

www.wheresmeculture.com

Dizzyblabla

Ooh Guys,

I don't know, it does look like they might just pull it off, take a look at http://www.cork2005.ie/opening/default.asp?id=421, if that goes as well as the pictures look, it's going to be beautiful.

As for Pana, I've loved it since I saw the drawings for it outside Merchants Quay, the only thing I hate about it is the lack of respect that people seem to have for it, I remember when they opened up the first part of it, just by Merchants Quay, and within hours, there was chewing gum, cigarrette butts, and all manner of stains?? all around.:mad: Can we not see that this was made for us, and like it or dislike it, we still need to walk around it, (be it in heels or not, although I don't see the problem with wearing heels, would you rather try to make your way down a temple-bar-cobbled-stone-style Pana? ha!)

As for not hearing enough about the Capital of Culture, or people not being interested, I think the post in itself shows that there is interest in it, but waiting for all the literature to come in the door so we can then moan about the amount of money spent on glossy magazines is just silly.

I think we should embrace an opportunity to show that we are more than the county with the "Langer Song"..

ok, that's my rant over! later guys, and happy new year!

parsi

Turning back to the Capital of Culture ;

last night I was looking at their website and read about the opening event which promsies fireworks and whathave ye. It stated that tickets would be available in Centra/Supervalu stores. Today in my local SuperValu (Scallys Blackrock) I saw a poster saying that they had received a limited number and a draw would be held and thefirst 20 would get 4 each.

I find it incredible that 80 tickets were allocated to the greater Blackrock/Ballintemple/Beaumont/Mahon area... and yet the Cork2005 people say they want the people (and not justthe alickadoos) to participate....

Cork

parsi wrote:

Turning back to the Capital of Culture ;



I find it incredible that 80 tickets were allocated to the greater Blackrock/Ballintemple/Beaumont/Mahon area... and yet the Cork2005 people say they want the people (and not justthe alickadoos) to participate....

I called in to a number of Centras - finding it hard to find tickets.