Forget "free bikes" - Now its the silly public showers plan!

ODS

The city council is looking at building shower cubicles on pavements. However well-intentioned the idea, it is off-the-wall as such units will be ideal for anti-social behaviour. If public showers are a good idea, they should be located in public buildings such as train stations - where there already is a degree of passive surveilence. Equally if there is a problem as to people living in sub-standard rental accommodation, then its a matter of planning enforcement. Certainly, cubicles around and in which anti-social behavior can take place is not the answer.

Dublin City Council is only after removing the hated "fridge" kiosks at Capel St bridge, as they did not work and attracted anti-social behaviour.

Dublin City Council is letting advertising company JC Decaux erect dangerous billboards on the pavements, although they have also admitted that none of the rental bikes are forthcoming until next year at the earliest.

Am I the only one that is wondering why the city's pavements suddenly a target by the city's own fathers for ill-conceived junk, which is wrecking the very fabric of the capital? :mad:



Public shower facilities plan for capital
CARL O'BRIEN, Social Affairs Correspondent

DUBLIN CITY Council is considering plans to establish public toilet and shower facilities on State-owned land across the city centre.

The plans were originally drawn up by Trust, the charity for homeless people, but the aim of the scheme is to provide facilities that all members of the public could avail of.

Trust says shower facilities could be used by a range of people, including those living in sub-standard accommodation, residents of hostels and B&Bs, backpackers, long-distance commuters and others.

The group says the facilities could be maintained and monitored by a small number of staff and be self-financing through advertising and sponsorship.

Senior officials in Dublin City Council have expressed support for the programme, according to Trust, while a number of councillors and previous lord mayors also favour the plans.

Alice Leahy, director and co-founder of Trust, said there was an urgent need for public shower facilities, which could help prevent people becoming homeless by making it easier to overcome temporary difficulties.

"Our motivation in making this proposal is to help in not only meeting the needs for very basic services for society's most marginalised, but also to help prevent those who find themselves in temporary difficulties, such as newly arrived immigrants," she said.

The charity has proposed making showers available for 15 or 20 minutes at a fixed fee. Those who cannot afford the service could be provided with vouchers from community welfare officers, it has suggested.

"We are acutely aware of the problems related to drug-taking in public toilets, but a well-managed facility for which people pay, with some arrangement for those with limited resources, would make a huge contribution to the health and morale of many," Ms Leahy said.

Among the proposed locations for the facilities are on land adjoining Luas and bus stops, Parnell Square, St Patrick's Cathedral, the Customs House and other areas.

It also suggests that facilities previously used as public toilets, in areas such as St Stephen's Green, could be adapted to provide shower and toilet facilities. Designs have been commissioned from Dublin-based Open Office Architects, which has produced a series of different visions of what the new facilities could look like.

Niall Ó hÉalaithe of Open Office Architects said the idea behind the design was that they should be bright, eye-catching and contemporary.

"We wanted them to look clean, modern and crisp, while availing of the latest technology available, such as using LED (light-emitting diodes) lights which can glow in different colours at night-time," Mr Ó hÉalaithe said.

"They should be easy to build, easy to maintain and accessible to anyone who wants to use them." He said prominent public spaces were among the best places for the facilities and would discourage anti-social behaviour.

"They could also incorporate bright advertising displays that will pay for the provision or running of these civic facilities," Mr Ó hÉalaithe added.

© 2008 The Irish Times

fly_agaric

ODS wrote: »

The city council is looking at building shower cubicles on pavements. However well-intentioned the idea, it is off-the-wall as such units will be ideal for anti-social behaviour.

The city centre could do with some plain old public toilets. Since that has seemed way beyond their capabilities for the past decade or so, I'd doubt we'll see public washing facilities before the new century comes in.

odyssey06

Dublin City Council: The worst city council in the world. Discuss.

Whatever planet they're on, it's not this one.

latenia

At least they'll be a solution for all those people who start threads asking about somewhere cheap to bring their girlfriend.

carlmango11

Toilets - Yes
Showers - Seriously wtf!?

dubtom

I agree, madness. As someone who works on the road at night I'd say public toilets are essential ,I wouldn't have a problem even if I had to pay to use them.
A manned 24 hour service, maybe a euro a go, would pay for itself. I think it's ironic how county councils can increase bin charges willy nilly, siting lack of funding as the reason, then throw hundreds of thousands of euro at hair brained schemes and works of 'art'. Who are they trying to impress, people who come for a weekend once a decade?

How Strange

Is this an April fool joke? If not it should be because its laughable.

WTF??? Who is going to use these showers? Do they really think homeless people are just going to pop in for a quick shower before they bed down for the night in a doorway or maybe first thing in the morning?

Will users be supplied with complimentary shower gel and towels or are the homeless people expected to have their own supply?

It's so ridiculous I wonder how they all kept straight faces while they discussed it.

fly_agaric

fly_agaric wrote: »

The city centre could do with some plain old public toilets. Since that has seemed way beyond their capabilities for the past decade or so, I'd doubt we'll see public washing facilities before the new century comes in.

Anyone know when the last city centre Public Bog would have been shut by the council? It's probably actually somewhat more than a decade now that I think of it!!

arybvtcw0eolkf

latenia wrote: »

At least they'll be a solution for all those people who start threads asking about somewhere cheap to bring their girlfriend.

Your confusing public showers with golden showers

DonkeyStyle \o/

The plans were originally drawn up by Trust, the charity for homeless people, but the aim of the scheme is to provide facilities that all members of the public could avail of.

Yeah on a drunken bet. :rolleyes:
I can only imagine the state these things would be in a year down the road... smeared in human shít, stinking of píss, oh and careful you don't step barefoot onto that syringe or slip on that condom. (Still, might make a nice accident claim for somebody.)
These things would need constant cleaning... it'd only take 20 minutes of being left unattended for someone to walk in and get a nasty surprise from the person before... so I reckon they'd be in a dreadful state the majority of the time.

Beerlao

let's face it, the drains are gonna be constantly blocked up with cum

ridiculous idea

df1985

dont worry everyone it was an aprils fool joke.they made a good attempt though, they made a fake company website with drawings and pictures of the proposed showers.it fooled loads of people.

DonkeyStyle \o/

The OP posted it 31st of March... o_O
*worried*

Beerlao

that's a shame. i wouldn't have minded stopping off in a shower cubicle to rub one out on my way home yesterday evening!!

fly_agaric

df1985 wrote: »

dont worry everyone it was an aprils fool joke.

Not funny or clever, just sad.

estebancambias

They do it in France.