Ballinteer - Dundrum > Getting worse?

dogmatix

Is it just me or is the whole area suffering from a lower "quality of life" then what it used to have?

1. All the new roads, bypasses and road widenings that where supposed to address the historically bad traffic congestion have made things worse because every time a new road is built - considerable development follows. Large numbers of new homes mean large numbers of cars - and the major traffic congester that is the town centre.

2. Dundrum town centre - biggest disaster to hit the area since, well the first dundrum shopping centre. At least the first shopping centre was just an eyesore - the new centre is an eyesore and a major traffic disaster. Who was the architec who designed the place - a myopic feeble minded simpleton or was it some sort of commitee populated by people who hated each other and refused to communicate. I suspect it was the same person/group of people who designed the crappy lokking "central park" overlooking the leopardstown roundabout - there is a certain similarity.

3. Visual aspect - it's a much duller, bleaker looking area, espically in the last 10 years. I miss the old ballinteer road - espcially the stretch from Meenans to the "view". The loss of the last remaining farms in ballinteer was a sad but envitable event. And the whole area has been one long, long building site since 1997!

Progress is progress I suppose and i'm sure locals where saying the same thing 35 years ago during the last major spurt of development but I just feel it is all badly planned and not properly thought out.

Rant over - anyone else agree? Or maybe why bother responding, it can't be changed now.

MoominPapa

Its going to get worse.
Dundrum2 is going to be squeesed into every square inch of the old town centre which will be terrible for the residents of Sweetmount.
Instead of allowing the old Dundrum railway station be turned into something semi-useful like a spar or mortons the council/rpa jointly have bundled it in a tender with a few grass verges and overbridge construction which will be terrible for the residents of Taney and will turn an already ugly bridge into something truly hideous.
And the council have plans to expand their half empty office block into the council car park which will be again terrible for the residents of Taney.
And on and on
Considering the recent decision of DLRD in relation to Dun Laoghaire Golf Club which had over 450 private objections you can't count on the council to be bothered about making life better for its residents

jesus_thats_gre

The traffic in Dundrum isn't that bad in my experience. Am driving in and and around it nearly everyday at various times throughout the day for nearly 3 years and it is alot better than half of Dublin.

whiskeyman

I don't like the way things are going.
And if you think all the money coming in (and those with it) is a good thing, here's a simple story:

Was in Macaris at the start of the year one night (around 11pm). Ordered my usual. Enter 2 very well dressed young lads that were clearly drunk, and very out of it on coke. They shouted abuse to the chipper staff and one took out a plastic container of his coke and showed it to me, boasting how much he had and how much they drank and was on his mobile at the time (I had my headphones on and just blanked the 2 idiots). Even the young 'howaya's' in their tracksuits and hoodies show more respect to the staff and behave better than these scum. I'm seeing far too much of these types of people... so much money and feck all respect.
Meh... that's my rant over...

dogmatix wrote:

3. Visual aspect - it's a much duller, bleaker looking area, espically in the last 10 years. I miss the old ballinteer road - espcially the stretch from Meenans to the "view". The loss of the last remaining farms in ballinteer was a sad but envitable event. And the whole area has been one long, long building site since 1997!

I agree 100%

Scoobydoobydoo

They are building way too many apartments, particularly the latest building work at Dom Marmion bridge is bad - it's too close to the village.
I would love to be able to use the village more, I wish we had a butcher, fishmonger, bakery - that sort of thing. We have to go elsewhere, like to Glasthule for example. I was sad when the book shop closed down.:(

dogmatix

Aye - Dundrum main street used to have a butchers and a proper bakery. Can't ever remember there being a fishmongers. And that bookshop was a bit of a gem as well (they have moved to rathgar somewhere - rathgars gain, Dundrums loss).

The main street as a whole is starting to look run down - not surprising with a huge mall nearby.

Rb

1: Yes the traffic is getting worse
2: Go ahead and try and design a more visually appealing town centre of equal size.
I think it's quite well designed tbh.
Dundrum is growing as a town and the centre was the first proper start on it, due to urban sprawl it'll only get more "modern" in the years to come and I, for one, welcome the changes.

jesus_thats_gre

Traffic is a load of balls since they have closed the Sandyford Road!!

Rb

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

Traffic is a load of balls since they have closed the Sandyford Road!!

Agreed.

I just hope it's for an extremely good cause because it's majorly f*cked things up.

whiskeyman

rb_ie wrote: »

Agreed.

I just hope it's for an extremely good cause because it's majorly f*cked things up.

They're putting in a cycle lane and Bus lane down it. However, like the bus lane on the Wycham (sp?) road to Ballinteer, it's probably going to be a farce.

Just wait til the Xmas shopping and traffic it brings begins!!

Rb

whiskeyman wrote: »

They're putting in a cycle lane and Bus lane down it. However, like the bus lane on the Wycham (sp?) road to Ballinteer, it's probably going to be a farce.

Just wait til the Xmas shopping and traffic it brings begins!!

Ugh.

One year of disruptions for a f*cking cycle & bus lane, pretty sick.

InFront

I personally think the development is great. I've lived in Dundrum for over 10 years now, and after years of complaining what a useless spot it was, it's finally an interesting, vibrant place to live. Sure the developments have brought some disruption, such is life.

Other suburbs of Dublin are crying out for this kind of attention and infrastructure, we should be grateful for the success in the area while it lasts and be thankful that development isn't going in the other direction.

Rb

Regarding the traffic due to the closed lane on Sandyford road, it seems it's reopening to two way traffic from some time in November to some time in January.

dogmatix

Aha - must be operation freeflow time again! you just know santa is just around the corner when freeflow apears.

jandm

Too many apartments when houses - even little ones like those near Centra on Ballinteer Road - are what's needed. Sad to see green fields in Dundrum, Ballinteer higher up 3 Rock become high density apartment developments adding at least a car each to the traffic in the area.

Shopping centre's ok but miss the the smaller shops in the old place particularly the book shop, Bright Ideas 1 & 2 (gift shops) and the curtain shop. It's indicative of today's disposable society that there is no place in the centre where shoes can be repaired - a pity too there are no services there such as dry cleaners - or a post office.

The way the area has grown it's a bit daft that the post offices don't open Saturday afternoons imo!

Rb

jandm wrote: »

It's indicative of today's disposable society that there is no place in the centre where shoes can be repaired

Don't worry there grandad there's a shoe repair place just up the road beside the bottle tower pub in Churchtown.

dogmatix

Here - is the little cobblers on the corner (oppisite the betting shop) now closed? Was open last time I noticed.