O'Connell street protest rally

tedshredsonfire

There is a protest meeting outside the town hall this monday at 7.15pm. Just show up, bring a placard if you want but mostly rally others as well please, this is a time to be counted and the opportunity to do something about it. Keep the street closed and lets not go down this retrograde route.

tedshredsonfire

just saw here its 7.45 for 8 sorry http://www.sligotoday.ie/details.php?id=6394

Johnny Giles

Nah. Street should be re-opened. I'll stay where I am. Simple as that.

Was down there yesterday and it was like a desert. Nobody to be seen. It needs a bit of life. Bring the traffic back.

shanec1928

should never have being closed if they were thinking about it start of with weekends and go on but to just close it straight away was just a joke

tedshredsonfire

petition of over 2500 disagree guys be interesting to see how many turn up on the night.

starbelgrade

I don't see any benefits to re-opening O'Connell St. It's not like there's much traffic around the town anyway, unless you like driving around Tesco carpark looking for a space.

redarmyblues

wont be there, open it up please.

loc5

id say a lot of people dont want it reopened but no one will chance showing their face
but yokes are gone to big for a horse and cart street like that if its reopened itll be single lane how would you get 2 big toyotas or fords shoulder to shoulder down there with out them whackin off each others rear view mirrors
but then... well maybe???

Radharc na Sleibhte

tedshredsonfire wrote: »

petition of over 2500 disagree guys be interesting to see how many turn up on the night.

A petition? Oooh now they have to listen to you.....

I'm not being smart but the powers that be didn't listen to anyone when closing it and they won't listen to anyone now either.

I personally don't care either way to be honest, but if it was up to me I'd probably close it on weekends.

To think that a few signatures or a march will make a difference to these people is just a waste of time.

Good luck anyway because I would love to see people power make a difference for once but I don't fancy your chances, particularly not in Sligo.

dardevle

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won't be there-

i'll be happy to see it re-opened......:)




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LadyDotty

I'd like to see it remain pedestrianised.

Events over the passed few months organised on the street have definitely brought extra business to the shops on the street as the traders have confirmed. It has highlighted an opportunity for the local council,local businesses and other organisations to use the street to draw crowds to O'Connell Street.

The Chamber of commerce, the O'Connell Street Traders Association, and 2600 signatures which were collected on the street ,and in surrounding neighbourhoods provide a public show of support for the street to remain pedestrianised.

starbelgrade

MikeySligo wrote: »

A petition? Oooh now they have to listen to you.....

I'm not being smart but the powers that be didn't listen to anyone when closing it and they won't listen to anyone now either.

I personally don't care either way to be honest, but if it was up to me I'd probably close it on weekends.

To think that a few signatures or a march will make a difference to these people is just a waste of time.

Good luck anyway because I would love to see people power make a difference for once but I don't fancy your chances, particularly not in Sligo.

I love your defeatest attitude. Giving up is so much better than even trying. Why hold a placard, sign a petition or mount a protest when you can just sit back & say "bah, what's the point, no one listens anyway?"

The previous may never change anything, but the latter has no chance whatsovever.

The difference between the two is hope and I know which one I would choose.

bobcar61

loc5 wrote: »

how would you get 2 big toyotas or fords shoulder to shoulder down there with out them whackin off each others rear view mirrors
but then... well maybe???

Do you not remember the street before it was closed, buses, cars, vans, lorrys etc were using the road. Cars were often parked on the footpath and we still had to drive down.

I say open the street but only for peak times, ie..between 08:00 and 10:00 in the morning and then again maybe at 4:30 to 7:00 in the afternoon/evening.

In fairness that's really the only time when there is any problems with traffic.

samadhya

MikeySligo wrote: »

A petition? Oooh now they have to listen to you.....

I'm not being smart but the powers that be didn't listen to anyone when closing it and they won't listen to anyone now either.

Defeatist is not the word - it's this attitude that has kept Fianna Fail in power and which re-elected them this year after it was evident they contributed to the destruction our economy. Stand up for yourselves - it's not just about putting your signature on a petition, it's this, in combination with being present on the night, demonstrating to the councillors that the petition wasn't a once-off and that this is a real issue for Sligo people. Use your voice!

Also, it's not just about not being able to see the advantages of closing the street - it's about the massive disadvantages if it's closed. Another public space lost to the dictatorship of the car. Sligo Live, Culture Night, O'Connell St Festival and more - all these great events lose a prominent space in the centre of town. The businesses will be vulnerable to a major loss in trading if people are just pulling up on the footpath to run into one shop and then driving off again - no strolling down O'Connell Street to browse.

As for the desperate habit of pulling up on the footpath - this will once again mean that people in wheelchairs and with baby buggies are forced into the traffic to get around cars pulled up on the street. I recently took my grandfather for a walk in his wheelchair from the hospice where he is recovering from a stroke. We went about 20 yards down the street and had to turn back because there were cars parked on the footpath and I couldn't move the wheelchair around them. He was so disappointed, three months in a bloody nursing home and the once opportunity I had to take him out of that environment on the weekend spoiled by selfish ignorants in cars. I left a note on the windscreen of each car, very polite, explaining the situation, with my phone number - do you think one of those drivers called to explain? - of course not.

Keep the traffic off O'Connell Street and make at least one little part of Sligo a more pleasant place to be.

dardevle

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in fairness.... anything that the Sligo chamber of commerce endorse will always arouse my suspicion and hardly (if ever) get my vote.....:cool:





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Radharc na Sleibhte

Its not being defeatist starbelgrade, its being a realist.

The reason for my "bah, whats the point" attitude is that as I said I don't care either way. And before someone says it, I have plenty of interests in the community that I take an active involvement in, but this, like most people in Sligo, doesn't really matter to me. If it were up to me, I'd open it 6 days a week.

Samadhya, I never miss my vote, and I would never be a Fianna Fail voter locally or generally. That has nothing to do with my attitude towards O'Connell Street whatsoever.

TequilaMockingBird

This always annoys me. We have an enviable pedestrianised area already - one that is actually finished. Not a blocked up main thoroughfare that even in the good times was practically deserted. Rockwood Parade is woefully underused, and could host any event that a town this size needs.

It should never have been closed in the first place, talk about throwing money away. I still believe it was closed just to facilitate the developers building Johnsons Court, and what a success that is...

Radharc na Sleibhte

TequilaMockingBird wrote: »

it was closed just to facilitate the developers building Johnsons Court

......hmmm, interesting theory.....never copped that.

tedshredsonfire

don't think it was closed to facilitate J court but would probably have hindered it if anything by putting more traffic up John street where most of the constuction deliveries went if memory is right.

dardevle

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coincidentally...... it closed when most of the construction ar the rear (john st ) was practically completed and they had begun working on the O'connell street facade.:rolleyes:



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redarmyblues

It seems that this so called protest is being organised by that most odious of local organisations the Sligo Chamber of Commerce. Business interest groups don't hold protests they lobby and that is what this is.

Anybody planning to attend this event ought to be aware that they will associating with the most hated group in Sligo.

animha

Hi folks, I'm a blow-in, just recently moved to Sligo and I would really like to see O'Connell street become the pedestrianised beautiful thorough-fare that a town like Sligo deserves; it deserves a heart.

Reopening O'Connell St would be taking 10 steps back and I think it would be such a shame. Every other thriving town in Ireland has a pedestrian friendly retail street which hums with activity, Sligo deserves no less.

Get out there and do something positive, I don't believe in politics, just action!:)

Johnny Giles

animha wrote: »

Every other thriving town in Ireland has a pedestrian friendly retail street which hums with activity, Sligo deserves no less.

Not every thriving town has one. In Sligo's case the town would benefit more from re-opening the street to vehicles.

samadhya

The Mayor of Sligo, Cllr Jim McGarry has ignored the democratic right of Sligo constituents by locking demonstrators out of the council chambers while the Council undertakes a vote on whether or not to reopen Sligo's O'Connell Street to traffic. The demonstrators gathered at the Council Chambers at 7.30pm this evening (Mon 02 Nov) to express public dissatisfaction at the proposed reopening of the street to traffic on 09 December. Public support for the street remaining pedestrianised has been growing over the past few months with thousands of members of the public signing petitions and emailing and calling Sligo's Councillors. Many members of the public chose to exercise their democratic right by being present at the vote this evening, yet Cllr McGarry refused them that right by locking the chamber doors. (The result of the vote has not yet been announced, as of 9pm this evening)

LadyDotty

redarmyblues wrote: »

It seems that this so called protest is being organised by that most odious of local organisations the Sligo Chamber of Commerce. Business interest groups don't hold protests they lobby and that is what this is.

Anybody planning to attend this event ought to be aware that they will associating with the most hated group in Sligo.

Hi there,

My name is Denise and I am a pedestrian of O'Connell Street. I walk down it every day of my working week.

I helped organise the rally, and I do not work for the Chamber of Commerce, nor do the people who organised it.

They helped spread the word.

Thanks.

redarmyblues

LadyDotty wrote: »

Hi there,

My name is Denise and I am a pedestrian of O'Connell Street. I walk down it every day of my working week.

I helped organise the rally, and I do not work for the Chamber of Commerce, nor do the people who organised it.

They helped spread the word.

Thanks.

http://www.sligotoday.ie/details.php?id=6394

When I followed this link last Sunday, the Sligotoday site stated that the gig was been organised by the Sligo Chambers of commerce and its friends and families. Today I see that information has being removed, one grows more and more cynical. Who exactly did organise the "protest", perhaps we should be told.

tedshredsonfire

redarmy I was there from the chamber but afaik it was organised by several groups. I know Jimmy mcgarry asked that 6 people from each group there come into the town hall and called out o connell street traders, cranmore regeneration, sligo chamber and two others that I can't recall the names of. Jude devins was the only one who voted againest the reopening and proposed a motion of at least holding off the opening until they had a traffic management plan to deal with but the other councillors don't seem to think a traffic management plan is needed prior to reopening the street.
Now where's that banging your head off a brick wall smiley.

bonzos

tedshredsonfire wrote: »

petition of over 2500 disagree guys be interesting to see how many turn up on the night.

Would you not be better offf protesting about the cancer services....what a joke!2500 my arse

Radharc na Sleibhte

bonzos wrote: »

Would you not be better offf protesting about the cancer services

Fat lot of good that did too....!
I took part in numerous protests for that, but I'm not stupid enough to think anyone in this country is gonna listen to what the public want.
Petitions mean absolutely nothing.

ryanch09

starbelgrade wrote: »

I don't see any benefits to re-opening O'Connell St. It's not like there's much traffic around the town anyway, unless you like driving around Tesco carpark looking for a space.

you obviously haven't seen the town at rush hour each morning. It takes me almost 45 minutes to get to school each morning. This street needs re-opening

darealtulip

ryanch09 wrote: »

you obviously haven't seen the town at rush hour each morning. It takes me almost 45 minutes to get to school each morning. This street needs re-opening

You dont remeber it when it was opened then? You just have one more street to stand still in.

I would open the street just during rush hours, Sligo only has a traffic problem in two small windows of the day.