Limericks Problems Summed up by Swiss Teenager

James McNulty

Was in the doctors waiting room on Monday morning and came across this article about a Sswiss family taking their holidays in Ireland and reporting on their overall experience. I think the daughter "Bea" has summed up Limericks problems very well - have a look

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2012/0725/1224320760667.html

My favourite place was Dublin, because it had so much to do. My least favourite was Limerick, because there wasn’t really anything special to see and it didn’t look very nice overall.

jamezy

Its hard to argue, apart from a few match days Limerick is very very boring.

Now just to be clear, I am not being anti-Limerick or any such nonsense, just stating an opinion. There is not a whole lot to do around here.

James McNulty

No matter what sporting events are on, no matter what happens on the river, the fact is that the city center is drab dull and very unimpressive. But without major investment what can be done?

dellas1979

Yeah the city centre is a disgrace.
No amount of tree planting or hanging banners is going to hide how ugly it is.

In all fairness, it was just an industrial city-lots of ugly buildings built years ago. But they havent really done anything to improve it.

And I dont get why newer buildings or newer things built arent looked after or maintained. Or why owner of buildings arent forced to maintain buildings.

Its quite a dirty place-always loads of litter and over flowing bins.

I dunno what the city council do be doing-really. They never really seem to do anything to improve the place.

I once emailed them about thoughts on improving the city (of course got no reply). Id love to see cobble stones in the old quarters. More bins. More upkeep of the place in general. More street cleaning. Repave most of the streets. Look at what to do with ugly, used/unused buildings (Where dunnes in sarsfield street was-jebus-how do city councellors ignore this eye sore?). Cruises street is awful now-cant get businesses open there. Ok - fair enough, but surely they could just maintain or keep the street/shop fronts clean?

liammur

dellas1979 wrote: »

Yeah the city centre is a disgrace.
No amount of tree planting or hanging banners is going to hide how ugly it is.

In all fairness, it was just an industrial city-lots of ugly buildings built years ago. But they havent really done anything to improve it.

And I dont get why newer buildings or newer things built arent looked after or maintained. Or why owner of buildings arent forced to maintain buildings.

Its quite a dirty place-always loads of litter and over flowing bins.

I dunno what the city council do be doing-really. They never really seem to do anything to improve the place.

I once emailed them about thoughts on improving the city (of course got no reply). Id love to see cobble stones in the old quarters. More bins. More upkeep of the place in general. More street cleaning. Repave most of the streets. Look at what to do with ugly, used/unused buildings (Where dunnes in sarsfield street was-jebus-how do city councellors ignore this eye sore?). Cruises street is awful now-cant get businesses open there. Ok - fair enough, but surely they could just maintain or keep the street/shop fronts clean?

I would say most of them are far more concerned with filling their pockets and going on junkets. It's true we don't have the natural beauty of say Galway, but if Limerick was located say in France, would it be allowed become so run down?

MrLaurel

liammur wrote: »

It's true we don't have the natural beauty of say Galway, but if Limerick was located say in France, would it be allowed become so run down?

I think that if you exclude Quay St and the lower part of Shop St, Galway ain't that special. They just have their main street and tourism area in one very small area. It's a bit like if we placed O'Connell St and the Milk Market down a street the length and width of Denmark St.

Cork city has streets the same widths as Limerick Citys but their pedestrianisation looks very well. Limerick can never be Galway (only Ennis could run it close) but it should aim to overtake Cork as we did in the 1990s when so many Cork people would remark to me that Limerick City centre was streets ahead (no pun intended) than Cork City centre.

benej10

James McNulty wrote: »

No matter what sporting events are on, no matter what happens on the river, the fact is that the city center is drab dull and very unimpressive. But without major investment what can be done?

Out of Limerick's many problems at the moment i think that the state of the city centre atm can really hold this city back. Im not surprised that anybody visiting the city is left with a bad impression and its not helping to alleviate the stereotype Limerick has nationally. Im not originally from Limerick but I have lived here for a time and as an outsider looking in, the city for its size is way too spread out and needs to centralise more. Cork and Galway are miles ahead of Limerick as in my view in those citys most stuff you associate with a city are based around the city centre which in turn leads to a great vibe associated with the place. In Limerick its the opposite way around which to me is having a very bad impact on the city and region as a whole as the streets are quiet, empty and in some cases devoid of any activity at all.

Its hard to see what can be done about this now as whats done is done and unless there is a real focus on the city centre by those in power the impression of limerick will stay the same and the city will just stagnate well into the future and possibly lose out on investment to the other citys as a result. The massive investments in the suburbs over the past years to me were a costly mistake. If only the city centre saw some of that when times were good. So much for planning in this country.

ninty9er

I've said it before and I'll say it again, a wrecking ball on a rampage is needed in the city centre, with no replacement buildings put up. We have too many buildings

amiable

liammur wrote: »

I would say most of them are far more concerned with filling their pockets and going on junkets. It's true we don't have the natural beauty of say Galway, but if Limerick was located say in France, would it be allowed become so run down?

I would have to say if we are talking about how the two cities look I think Galway is a bit more run down than Limerick.

LoganRice

Limerick should use its urban grittiness and grimyness to make it out as a cool, exciting ghetto place.
Cool, not beautiful.

liammur

amiable wrote: »

I would have to say if we are talking about how the two cities look I think Galway is a bit more run down than Limerick.

No, take a walk out by Salthill, this is what tourists like, we simply don't have that.

charlemont

LoganRice wrote: »

Limerick should use its urban grittiness and grimyness to make it out as a cool, exciting ghetto place.
Cool, not beautiful.

They could paint images of its crime figures on old buildings.

amiable

liammur wrote: »

No, take a walk out by Salthill, this is what tourists like, we simply don't have that.

I lived in Salthill for a couple of years and I absolutely loved it but the Cities seemed to be specifically talked about.

benej10

ninty9er wrote: »

I've said it before and I'll say it again, a wrecking ball on a rampage is needed in the city centre, with no replacement buildings put up. We have too many buildings

I would be against destroying any of those georgian buildings in the city centre. They are part of the citys heritage and are distinctively Limerick but admittedly they need to be maintained better. Its such a shame to see those buildings enclosing the opera centre site left idle.

Definitely some of stuff that was built in the mid 20th century could have been better particularly in those streets near the milk market.

charlemont

benej10 wrote: »

I would be against destroying any of those georgian buildings in the city centre. They are part of the citys heritage and are distinctively Limerick but admittedly they need to be maintained better. Its such a shame to see those buildings enclosing the opera centre site left idle.

Definitely some of stuff that was built in the mid 20th century could have been better particularly in those streets near the milk market.

So true, Limerick is unique as an Irish city with a planned grid iron centre with wide streets, And having the Shannon so close is a plus. To be honest I haven't spent much time there in the last few years so I cannot really comment on how it is nowaday's I'm only getting my information from the posts here.