Is Limerick Dying?

seachto7

Yeah, it was plain to see the increased number of Gardai around. At least it kept the scum on their toes......

pigtown

ZombieBride wrote: »

I'm not sure when the last time I read any of the local papers, the free papers don't get delivered to my house (and I'm only as far away as Corbally), I can't stomach to listen to 95fm, the events page on http://limerick.ie/living/whatson/ is ok, but how many people know about that?
Do we have an email newsletter of events on in the city? As there are an amount of events on all the time that I have no clue about until the pictures appear on facebook. What if we had a one stop drop for people to put their events, like on limerick.ie and advertise the hell out of it.

The city centre is dying, but only we can make it better, we are the someone. If we don't shop, then shops close, then jobs are lost, then there is no money to shop, it's a vicious circle.

I have actually noticed an increase in gardas on the street, it is such a welcome, but if I have to walk past another "homeless" person shaking a cup I'll scream. That and chuggers are what make me avoid the city centre, I hate being accosted while walking.

I do agree that advertising events in the city has to change. I too can't stand Live95fm but the Post and Leader do give a good round up of events. This isn't enough obviously and I can never figure out why events in Limerick don't get promoted nationally. On Riverfest weekend the magazine in the Independent had a list of 10 things to do in the country that weekend and Riverfest, supposedly our biggest festival, wasn't mentioned. Even the small things, like the event listings in the Irish Times Friday magazine, often have twice as many events listed for random places like Leitrim or Carlow than for Limerick. I'm sure all it would take is for the Comunications Office to issue press releases to publications such as these.

europa11

pigtown wrote: »

I do agree that advertising events in the city has to change. I too can't stand Live95fm but the Post and Leader do give a good round up of events. This isn't enough obviously and I can never figure out why events in Limerick don't get promoted nationally. On Riverfest weekend the magazine in the Independent had a list of 10 things to do in the country that weekend and Riverfest, supposedly our biggest festival, wasn't mentioned. Even the small things, like the event listings in the Irish Times Friday magazine, often have twice as many events listed for random places like Leitrim or Carlow than for Limerick. I'm sure all it would take is for the Comunications Office to issue press releases to publications such as these.

Don't ever expect anything positive about Limerick getting a mention in The Irish Independent.
Don't know what their problem/agenda is, but as far as that organisation is concerned, we're bad news central.

Maybe the Bean Baron, Sir Ant'ny had a scrum collapse on him one time down here.

VanV

pigtown wrote: »

Can't really argue with points 1-4 but not sure if your last two are all that fair.
5. As far as I know the problem with access to the Shannon is that it's quite difficult to sail to it. The marina at the Custom House suffers from silting which is the responsibility of Waterways Ireland and the council have tried and failed to get them to fix it a number of times. I assume you're talking about Shannon Bridge. I don't know what Waterford have done to their bridge but anything that would improve the look of Shannon Bridge would be welcome. In fairness though the council are working on restoring Sarsfield Bridge at the moment. And after upgrading the two strands on the west bank I'm pretty sure work has started on the new boardwalks on Harvey's Quay. Just because you think the council should flatten a city block to build some cafes doesn't mean they should. They are clearly working on establishing a cafe quarter from the Market area, through Chapel Street, Little Catherine Street and Thomas Street. As you said yourself there's only room for so many shops with 20'000 unempoyed in the city. WRT the statue, it looks terrible but I don't think there's anything wrong with the size. How big did you want it?

6. I think the people of Limerick do care. Just look at the Local Limerick Heroes and the thriving arts scene. How many galleries are in the city now? Also the Leader has been quite vocal about the lack of jobs and investment in Limerick. I'm not sure exactly how you think we can shame the government into taking action but if you organise a march I'll be there to support you. I do remember the fairly highprofile march organised by the Collins family which was extremely well supported so I do think the people care, but at the end of the day what can they do.

Sarsfield Bridge is a restoration/preservation job. Completely different to what I was talking about. The bridge in Waterford and the various bridges in Dublin are top class. Unique designs, and superbly lit at night both of which makes them great landmarks, which of course gives the city a profile, a presence and boosts tourism. They need to do something similar with Shannon bridge.

Regards Steamboat Quay, can you give me any reasons why it SHOULDN'T be flattened? The building is an eyesore, a lot of the apts are badly designed and the Euro car park underneath is probably the worst in the country. On top of that you have the anti-social problem down there, most of it linked to drugs. I've heard it has slightly improved on that end as a lot of foreign families are apparently moving in there now, but it still has it's issues. You can buy an apt there for peanuts, despite the fact these are apts next door to the landmark Clarion and over looking the river. That doesn't add up I'm afraid.

The suggestion of flattening Steamboat Quay was to make use of it's riverside location. Knock it and rebuild a better piece of architecture, with the emphasis on building around the Clarion with restaurants, bars and cafés. The Market area is fine, but it's not riverside, is it? I think everyone appreciates the Locke bar area on a sunny day and the crowds it attracts. We need to be replicating that around the city where possible, and Steamboat Quay is one of those few areas.

The Richard Harris statue should be twice the size it is. I've never seen a statue so small and small time. It's hardly a landmark is it? I'd be embarrassed to even include it on a tourism guide.

Regards marches/demonstrations/rallys - as another poster has pointed out, there are plenty of local mouthpieces with their mugs in the papers every week. Plenty of councillors with plenty to say. We have a co-ordination office that throws it's clothes off any time something negative about Limerick is said on a national level. Yet, what are they actually doing to galvanise the people of Limerick to do something pro-active? Nothing. Not one of them is worth a s**t, they spoof their way through their jobs and get paid handsomely for it.

What Limerick needs is a democratically elected Mayor who has to earn his crust. A situation where say, the local chamber of commerce or other business groups could put forward candidates who might actually know what they're doing as opposed to the cosy clique of morons who are there at the moment.

phog

With tourisim in mind and trying to make the city a bit more attactive, with very little money being spent Shannon Heritage and the local authorities could add a boardwalk from Thomond Bridge to the green area near City Hall, that would connect a river walk around the three bridges.

Add lights to the city side of the castle, even one to illuminate the tower closest to City Hall would make a huge difference.

Compare this



to something like this





Restore/repair the lights to the city side of court house.



Each St. Patrick's weekend Limerick hosts and Band festivel, why not build on that during the summer and encourage bands to play in the city parks during the day, different types on different weekends.

Imagine the impact of having bands positioned along the river playing at the same time, one on O'Callaghan's strand, one opposite in "Poor Man's Kilkee", one closer to Shannon Bridge on the memroial to the dead seamen, one behind Shannon rowing club, one on Arthur's quay, one on each of the parks near Strand barracks and one on the lawn near City Hall, all playing the same tunes, on a day like today that would be super.

kilburn

There are lights around the castle that were used to light it up like you show in the picture, where you can see the inside of the castle lit up.

Problem was the little knacks kept breaking the lights, so they put mesh over them, then the little scumbags started banging sticks through the mesh to break them.

For the life of me I cant understand why people would want to wreck their own city and make it look like a kip.

phog

kilburn wrote: »

There are lights around the castle that were used to light it up like you show in the picture, where you can see the inside of the castle lit up.

Problem was the little knacks kept breaking the lights, so they put mesh over them, then the little scumbags started banging sticks through the mesh to break them.

For the life of me I cant understand why people would want to wreck their own city and make it look like a kip.

A light could be put on a floating buoy on the river that would illuminate the tower, the lights at the courthouse are working at one side but not the other side. Seems to me it would be worth the few bob to repair the broken ones.

vkid

europa11 wrote: »

Don't ever expect anything positive about Limerick getting a mention in The Irish Independent.
Don't know what their problem/agenda is, but as far as that organisation is concerned, we're bad news central.

Maybe the Bean Baron, Sir Ant'ny had a scrum collapse on him one time down here.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/summer-loving-for-the-gourmet-at-heart-3119756.html

krudler

kilburn wrote: »

There are lights around the castle that were used to light it up like you show in the picture, where you can see the inside of the castle lit up.

Problem was the little knacks kept breaking the lights, so they put mesh over them, then the little scumbags started banging sticks through the mesh to break them.

For the life of me I cant understand why people would want to wreck their own city and make it look like a kip.

because Limerick scumbags are a different breed altogether, you see scobey tracksuit wearing mongs in every town in Ireland, in Limerick they're something else.

pigtown

VanV wrote: »

Sarsfield Bridge is a restoration/preservation job. Completely different to what I was talking about. The bridge in Waterford and the various bridges in Dublin are top class. Unique designs, and superbly lit at night both of which makes them great landmarks, which of course gives the city a profile, a presence and boosts tourism. They need to do something similar with Shannon bridge.

Regards Steamboat Quay, can you give me any reasons why it SHOULDN'T be flattened? The building is an eyesore, a lot of the apts are badly designed and the Euro car park underneath is probably the worst in the country. On top of that you have the anti-social problem down there, most of it linked to drugs. I've heard it has slightly improved on that end as a lot of foreign families are apparently moving in there now, but it still has it's issues. You can buy an apt there for peanuts, despite the fact these are apts next door to the landmark Clarion and over looking the river. That doesn't add up I'm afraid.

The suggestion of flattening Steamboat Quay was to make use of it's riverside location. Knock it and rebuild a better piece of architecture, with the emphasis on building around the Clarion with restaurants, bars and cafés. The Market area is fine, but it's not riverside, is it? I think everyone appreciates the Locke bar area on a sunny day and the crowds it attracts. We need to be replicating that around the city where possible, and Steamboat Quay is one of those few areas.

The Richard Harris statue should be twice the size it is. I've never seen a statue so small and small time. It's hardly a landmark is it? I'd be embarrassed to even include it on a tourism guide.

Regards marches/demonstrations/rallys - as another poster has pointed out, there are plenty of local mouthpieces with their mugs in the papers every week. Plenty of councillors with plenty to say. We have a co-ordination office that throws it's clothes off any time something negative about Limerick is said on a national level. Yet, what are they actually doing to galvanise the people of Limerick to do something pro-active? Nothing. Not one of them is worth a s**t, they spoof their way through their jobs and get paid handsomely for it.

What Limerick needs is a democratically elected Mayor who has to earn his crust. A situation where say, the local chamber of commerce or other business groups could put forward candidates who might actually know what they're doing as opposed to the cosy clique of morons who are there at the moment.

Ok I totally agree Shannon Bridge is ugly and could do with a major upgrade.

I disagree on flattening Steamboat Quay for a few reasons. First of all if we're thinking of the same building then I think it looks nice and it would be much cheaper to renovate the building instead of knock it. Enlarge the apartments and install cafes/bars/restaurants in the ground floor. And if you were dead set on knocking a city block to make use of its riverside location then I'd go for the old Dunnes building/Arthurs Quay area. Much closer to the city centre so more chance of customers.

As far as I'm aware the Richard Harris statue is lifesize. It's not a landmark but then who said it needed to be? Not everything can be a standout landmark feature that competes for your attention like in Vegas.

Again I agree with you re. city council and commumications office but that's all the more reason for people to get involved with the Local Heroes campaign.

A democratically elected mayor would be great but they would have to have proper powers over local matters such as transport services and local taxes or else it would be pointless. This was supposed to happen with the amalgamation of the two councils but the government have yet again rowed back on anything progressive and genuinely meaningful.

What I'd love to see for the riverside a new quay below the two strands, running from the Shannon Bridge to the two parks near the Curraghgower bar, like the quays in Paris that leave the traffic at street level and have the pedestriased quays much closer to the water. That or an extension of the pier in the middle of the river to form a linear park.

sleepyman

pigtown wrote: »

Ok I totally agree Shannon Bridge is ugly and could do with a major upgrade.

I disagree on flattening Steamboat Quay for a few reasons. First of all if we're thinking of the same building then I think it looks nice and it would be much cheaper to renovate the building instead of knock it. Enlarge the apartments and install cafes/bars/restaurants in the ground floor. And if you were dead set on knocking a city block to make use of its riverside location then I'd go for the old Dunnes building/Arthurs Quay area. Much closer to the city centre so more chance of customers.

As far as I'm aware the Richard Harris statue is lifesize. It's not a landmark but then who said it needed to be? Not everything can be a standout landmark feature that competes for your attention like in Vegas.

Again I agree with you re. city council and commumications office but that's all the more reason for people to get involved with the Local Heroes campaign.

A democratically elected mayor would be great but they would have to have proper powers over local matters such as transport services and local taxes or else it would be pointless. This was supposed to happen with the amalgamation of the two councils but the government have yet again rowed back on anything progressive and genuinely meaningful.

What I'd love to see for the riverside a new quay below the two strands, running from the Shannon Bridge to the two parks near the Curraghgower bar, like the quays in Paris that leave the traffic at street level and have the pedestriased quays much closer to the water. That or an extension of the pier in the middle of the river to form a linear park.

Of all the buildings that Dunnes Stores needs to go-I know there's not alot of money knocking about but they should really get the finger out.

thesimpsons

love to see the bridges cleaned up of weeds and general debris all along them. then the streets cleaned of weeds and debris - not just at ground level but also high up. there are some beautiful buildings up william street ( the really old red bricked ones) which could look lovely.

crossing over shannon bridge early this morning and the city loved fabulous with the sun glinting on the river. those photos really do it justice.

gaf1983

pigtown wrote: »

What I'd love to see for the riverside a new quay below the two strands, running from the Shannon Bridge to the two parks near the Curraghgower bar, like the quays in Paris that leave the traffic at street level and have the pedestriased quays much closer to the water. That or an extension of the pier in the middle of the river to form a linear park.

Nice idea but could the low level quays run into problems given the tidal nature of the Shannon?

pigtown

Ya that could be an issue alright. Maybe have a flood barrier that works for the typical high tide but design the quays so that should they get flooded then the water drains easily and all that needs to be done is some powerhosing . Closing them for a few days a year, mostly during winter, shouldn't cause too much hassle.

grenache

zuroph wrote: »

Recession. town is still manic on tuesday nights, and generally packed on sat nights too. the others have always ebbed and flowed, with nights out being popular and dying off over time. If anything, I'm finding nightlife more interesting now, as the venues are really competing for business, and offering much better value.


daytime on the other hand, the council have fcked up with their rates, and made it too hard to attract investment from businesses.

With all due respect, that's nonsense. It's easy to blame the recession, but the truth is that Limerick was going downhill long before the recession hit. My parents came down to Cork the Saturday before last, and could not get over the vast difference between the city centre there and that of Limerick. It's like chalk and cheese. Cork is thronged every weekend with buskers, lots of people and street entertainers. No recession down there i'll tell you. Up in Limerick you can hear the tumbleweed drift through the streets, not a nice thing to say, but unfortunately true. The dimwits in the council have played their part - the business community had to literally beg them for free parking on Saturday afternoons coming up to Christmas just to get a few more customers into the city. Those idiots are happy to cut their noses off to spite their face. But when they elect guys like Jim Long as Mayor, then its easy to see why the city is dying.

Then of course there's the physical difference between the cities. Cork has had a total makeover since 2005 when it was the European City of Culture, Patrick St is a pleasure to walk down now and there are some really nice boutique type pedrestian streets and lanes running off it. Limerick city centre is uncomprisingly unattractive. There's no pleasure in strolling down O'Connell St, William St, etc. Yes there has been significant developements on Henry St and Bedford Row, and now starting on William St too, but there's a long way to go before its shiny clean like Cork or Galway. It could have so much going for it if it would actually embrace the river and look towards it, instead of turning its back on it like it has been doing.

Also Colbert "Station" needs demolishing. An embarrassment to the city in a total kip of an area. I don't think the first thing the visitors to the city need to see is the boarded up houses by Careys Road or Annie Fitz urinating by the station side wall. I'll no doubt get the city's natives backs up here, some of whom prefer to bury their heads in the sand, but everything I've said is true.

ZombieBride

I spent the last few days in Castlebar, it made me realise even more how dead Limerick actually is, there were plenty of small and larger shops all bustling. The shops there was a noticeable lack of were Cash for Golds, Cash for Clothes and a multitude of € stores (I only saw the one, as well as a Guinenes).
There was a big sign outside their theatre showing the up and coming attractions, they had the onstreet parking ticket machines. They had bins everywhere, even ones for separating recycling from regular waste.
Their town centre seemed bigger than our city centre. It is sad.

johnROSS

couldn't disagree more with the OP. Limerick is on the way up if anything. The recent hugely succesful riverfest is enough proof of this. It is a city with huge potential that has a bad name it really doesn't deserve. Long Live King LImerick! :P

RonnieLimerick

As a limerick man may i say that the first thing i would get rid of is that god Awful statue of Richard Harris , i find the whole notion of a statue of an english king ( arthur ) with a sword in his hand standing in a limerick street to be beyond a joke . after that i would hand out guns to the law abiding citizens and declare open day on the scobes and wahs .


Limerick is dying , No cinema in the city center , no police after 6 , half the shops on William street are of the 2 euro variety , No large jobs announcements since dell went to poland , the poles that came have stayed , mostly on welfare many of the strung out on heroin , The place is quickly being Detroited , unrecognizable as the city i knew as a boy .

kilburn

johnROSS wrote: »

couldn't disagree more with the OP. Limerick is on the way up if anything. The recent hugely succesful riverfest is enough proof of this. It is a city with huge potential that has a bad name it really doesn't deserve. Long Live King LImerick! :P

Is that Georgie Burgess behind the statue ?

seachto7

RonnieLimerick wrote: »

As a limerick man may i say that the first thing i would get rid of is that god Awful statue of Richard Harris , i find the whole notion of a statue of an english king ( arthur ) with a sword in his hand standing in a limerick street to be beyond a joke . after that i would hand out guns to the law abiding citizens and declare open day on the scobes and wahs .


Limerick is dying , No cinema in the city center , no police after 6 , half the shops on William street are of the 2 euro variety , No large jobs announcements since dell went to poland , the poles that came have stayed , mostly on welfare many of the strung out on heroin , The place is quickly being Detroited , unrecognizable as the city i knew as a boy .

Bang on. Limerick city centre is kind of like an open air shopping centre (the shops that still remain). Can you imagine a tourist going through the crescent shopping centre to take pics? Well, Limk city centre is like that. There is NOTHING to really photograph or do for a tourist in the city centre. I was in there today, and it was like Night of the Living Dead. You had the usual scum and oddballs draped out on the benches around Thomas Street, shops boarded up. Went into HMV, it's on lifesupport. When that goes, they may as well knock the town and start again. I am afraid to say it is turning into a god awful kip of a town......... It's like a big version of Tipp town or Charleville...well, maybe not that bad yet.........

johnROSS

as a young person who spends a lot of time in the city, it's not half as bad as you think. the scummers you see hanging around are a tiny part of a huge picture. the great work Limerick Youth Service does gets no recognition whatsover. Some of ye may be familiar with Lava Java's youth café. Just say, for the sake of numbers, 300 young people spend half an hour in there every week. That's 300 young people who didn't spend that half an hour stabbing someone, or doing drugs, or getting langered. just my two cents on the situation

grenache

RonnieLimerick wrote: »

As a limerick man may i say that the first thing i would get rid of is that god Awful statue of Richard Harris , i find the whole notion of a statue of an english king ( arthur ) with a sword in his hand standing in a limerick street to be beyond a joke . after that i would hand out guns to the law abiding citizens and declare open day on the scobes and wahs .


Limerick is dying , No cinema in the city center , no police after 6 , half the shops on William street are of the 2 euro variety , No large jobs announcements since dell went to poland , the poles that came have stayed , mostly on welfare many of the strung out on heroin , The place is quickly being Detroited , unrecognizable as the city i knew as a boy .

pretty sure King Arthur was Roman.

bazz26

Could easily be Burger King too.

JupiterKid

Limerick is the Detroit of Ireland - the city is in decline, is mired in poverty and deprivation and is dying, plain and simple. The core of the city is already on life support that will be turned off soon.

My suggestion? Immediately disband the City and County Councils and forcibly merge the two together into one unitary authority. The lack of co-operation between the two LAs has been a total disaster for Limerick.

SarahBeep!

johnROSS wrote: »

as a young person who spends a lot of time in the city, it's not half as bad as you think. the scummers you see hanging around are a tiny part of a huge picture. the great work Limerick Youth Service does gets no recognition whatsover. Some of ye may be familiar with Lava Java's youth café. Just say, for the sake of numbers, 300 young people spend half an hour in there every week. That's 300 young people who didn't spend that half an hour stabbing someone, or doing drugs, or getting langered. just my two cents on the situation

But are these young people helping get businesses outta the recession? Not really. They buy lunch in Londis Spar (Sorry, I'm old school) and maybe a few bits in Penneys.

seachto7 wrote: »

Went into HMV, it's on lifesupport. When that goes, they may as well knock the town and start again. I am afraid to say it is turning into a god awful kip of a town......... It's like a big version of Tipp town or Charleville...well, maybe not that bad yet.........

I don't see HMV closing tbh. All the shops like that are owned by record labels and are just used as promotional tools so they only need to break even. I think things would have to get far worse for HMV to close.
I've said it a billion times how desolate cruises st is though. I work in a shop there and have often stood around for 2 hours with no one coming in and it's not through lack of trying on our part.

Limerick IS like Charleville....dead.

seachto7

yup, Cruises st gone very quite. A pity......

johnROSS

SarahBeep! wrote: »

But are these young people helping get businesses outta the recession? Not really. They buy lunch in Londis Spar (Sorry, I'm old school) and maybe a few bits in Penneys.

no, young people aren't helping the businesses out of the recession, because, the are mainly jobless due to said recession and because they are teenagers, they have no money. teenagers, recession or no recession, are generally broke 24/7. and if they are buying something, it's online. so it's really up to limerick businesses to get with the times and invest whatever few bob they have in online selling. Savin's, of o'connel street, recently did a huge revamp on their website and i'm sure they are feeling the benefits now.

christmas2012

I notice limerick is suprisingly quiet coming up to thursday friday,even saturday theres not half the people there should be,walking around debenhams is like walking into an empty church,or walking down cruises street,ellen street is all but boarded up bar a few shops,its a disgrace..and ive never seen so many 2 euro shops on one street in william street,the only places that are staying open are the charity shops..its such a pity,its until there is more job creation,it might pick up if there is..but people with no jobs = no money = no busy shopping hours = city goes to ****,were being taxed up to the gills and there is no employment apart from the slave bridge job blocker schemes,theres too many things wrong with this country..remember the millions wasted on all that regeneration,and it hasnt even took off?

SarahBeep!

johnROSS wrote: »

no, young people aren't helping the businesses out of the recession, because, the are mainly jobless due to said recession and because they are teenagers, they have no money. teenagers, recession or no recession, are generally broke 24/7. and if they are buying something, it's online. so it's really up to limerick businesses to get with the times and invest whatever few bob they have in online selling. Savin's, of o'connel street, recently did a huge revamp on their website and i'm sure they are feeling the benefits now.

I work for a shop that sells online but that won't keep me and the 8 people I work with in a job!

bigpink

Cruises was all Uk chains stores at one time,maybe some independent stores on the street would help
I go to Ennis and KIlkenny and the vibe of small town shops tourists seem to love