What does Galway need?

Mervyn Skidmore

smurf492 wrote: »

We need more taco and burrito shops...

Didn't James Joyce write that it was impossible to walk across Galway without passing a burrito shop?

thesandeman

Mervyn Skidmore wrote: »

Didn't James Joyce write that it was impossible to walk across Galway without passing a burrito shop?

While all he was looking for was a coffee shop.

The Randy Riverbeast

thesandeman wrote: »

While all he was looking for was a coffee shop.

Isn't it ironic :pac:

seanin4711

traffic woeful!
or educate drivers to use park and ride!

WallyGUFC

The area of the Docks where the tanks used to be and where the Ice Skating was last year would hardly be big enough for some sort of multi-use stadium would it? Maybe 8-10k capacity. Would keep the walk-up crowd for Connacht and could really enhance GUFC. Parking an obvious issue though.

ben.schlomo

WallyGUFC wrote: »

The area of the Docks where the tanks used to be and where the Ice Skating was last year would hardly be big enough for some sort of multi-use stadium would it? Maybe 8-10k capacity. Would keep the walk-up crowd for Connacht and could really enhance GUFC. Parking an obvious issue though.

Couldnt be big enough and never a goer in terms of traffic etc.

jkforde

Indoor water park
Turkish baths
Korean restaurant

noelogara

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

noelogara, do you really think that anyone should be allowed to do anything with land that they own, with no regard for the neighbours or the environment?

I'm not sure that's what Galway needs at all: even with planning laws, we still got Bailey Point and the like. Imagine what Salthill would be like if there were no controls at all!

those secondary streets would have been developed and improved by their owners one by one without council planners involvement and perhaps be much better than now.
Planners not only planned but developed and built places like Ballymun to name just one. Galway has its Ballymun too. What private builder would make such a place where the planners believed that the scumbags would integrate with the decent people and all would be equal. I agree we need some guidelines.
How do you think the lovely towns and villages of Ireland were built when they were planned by the land owners? Nobody ever built in flood plains then. But councillors zoned them for houses and bingo.
Planning needs reform and guidelines to respect roads rivers railways etc
If a person built a nuisance to you you had a remedy to sue for damages but the laws set neighbours at loggerheads rather than consulting before building and it means that nobody knows the value of any property because it all depends on the planning allowed. Today we see that there was bribery with most zoning decisions and the result was young families loaded with mortgages living in second rate houses in negative equity and many unable to take the strain.
If there was no tight planning laws, landless people could buy a one acre site in a place they liked for 5 to 20 thousand Euros today and build a home for about 100,000. With the planning laws a similar house would cost them 300,000 and have an eighth of an acre and poor standard materials.

smurf492

Hopefully they put some taco joints, coffee shops and a pub on the new bypass...

flazio

I'd like to see a Heatons /Sportsworld go into Galway. Lifestyle Sports used to do a bargain basement for Sportswear but got rid recently. Would be nice to get sports gear on the cheap without having to press and guess sizes online.

intellectual dosser

WallyGUFC wrote: »

The area of the Docks where the tanks used to be and where the Ice Skating was last year would hardly be big enough for some sort of multi-use stadium would it? Maybe 8-10k capacity. Would keep the walk-up crowd for Connacht and could really enhance GUFC. Parking an obvious issue though.

I wouldnt agree with the location but every time I go to watch Connacht, or even to Pearse and see all the traffic I wonder why the IRFU, FAI and GAA dont come together and build a 15-20k stadium around the city. Something tidy and accessible.

I figured the Terryland stadium is the best of the existing ones for somewhere to look at.

Obviously a pipe dream, the GAA would argue they dont need it and getting the three bodies to sit down and agree something would be a fairytale.

Zzippy

intellectual dosser wrote: »

I wouldnt agree with the location but every time I go to watch Connacht, or even to Pearse and see all the traffic I wonder why the IRFU, FAI and GAA dont come together and build a 15-20k stadium around the city. Something tidy and accessible.

I figured the Terryland stadium is the best of the existing ones for somewhere to look at.

Obviously a pipe dream, the GAA would argue they dont need it and getting the three bodies to sit down and agree something would be a fairytale.

Terryland pitch is too small for rugby and far too small for GAA. Pearse is too big for rugby and soccer. The docks is too small for any of them. Where would you site it, unless the council provided a large chunk of South Park? There are no greenfield sites available anywhere within the city that could fit a stadium that size.

intellectual dosser

Zzippy wrote: »

Terryland pitch is too small for rugby and far too small for GAA. Pearse is too big for rugby and soccer. The docks is too small for any of them. Where would you site it, unless the council provided a large chunk of South Park? There are no greenfield sites available anywhere within the city that could fit a stadium that size.

I'm talking about the location, any site will need significant redevelopment along with infrastructural work, but I think Terryland could work with the proposed new bypass.

South Park would be another logistical nightmare for people coming from out of town or by car.

Zzippy

intellectual dosser wrote: »

I'm talking about the location, any site will need significant redevelopment along with infrastructural work, but I think Terryland could work with the proposed new bypass.

South Park would be another logistical nightmare for people coming from out of town or by car.

The only way Terryland could work is if the council hand over half their waterworks site next door and the pitch is realigned at right angles to how it is currently. The site is too restrictive otherwise.

Re South Park, development should not be planned on how accessible it is by car, but new developments should be planned to include public transport, park-and-ride etc.

?Cee?view

Zzippy wrote: »

Terryland pitch is too small for rugby and far too small for GAA. Pearse is too big for rugby and soccer. The docks is too small for any of them. Where would you site it, unless the council provided a large chunk of South Park? There are no greenfield sites available anywhere within the city that could fit a stadium that size.

Lough Atalia?

Sorry, couldn't resist!

Mrs OBumble

Zzippy wrote: »

Where would you site it, unless the council provided a large chunk of South Park? There are no greenfield sites available anywhere within the city that could fit a stadium that size.

The airport. Just outside the city boundaries for now, but we could fix that :-)

Links234

I think something Galway could do with is a proper large scale music festival with camping, perhaps even hold it out in the racecourse in Ballybrit.

Personally speaking, I'd love to see a metal festival. As it stands, Ireland doesn't have a metal festival, and people travel from all over the world to attend festivals like Wacken, Bloodstock, and so on, so one in Galway could be a huge draw. I know rock and metal isn't everyone's cup of coffee, but I think you could appreciate how great a festival headlined by someone like Rammstein bringing the full spectacle of their stage show would be great.

But in any case, a large music festival would be something fantastic in Galway.

Links234

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

The airport.

No! God no! No, no, no! We need to keep our transportation infrastructure, and I know the airport isn't the most popular thing around these parts, but it would be utterly shortsighted to get rid of it. I hope they eventually reopen it, extend the runway and redevelop the terminal building, and while that might not happen any time soon, it would be a whole lot harder to find a new site for an airport in the future if we got rid of the existing one.

The airport is part of our infrastructure, and as such needs to be preserved, because if anything did happen to it, like the proposal a while back to turn it into some business park, that's something we couldn't undo, like what they did to the old Galway to Clifden railway back in the day. A while stretch of our transportation infrastructure gone, railway tunnel sealed up for good for an Argos and offices and apartments that could've easily gone elsewhere. Again, dunno if it's the most popular opinion around, but if we could've preserved it, think what a boon to the tourism industry the Connemara railway would be, sell day tickets so that people could hop on and hop off along the way.

snubbleste

Links234 wrote: »

Again, dunno if it's the most popular opinion around, but if we could've preserved it, think what a boon to the tourism industry the Connemara railway would be, sell day tickets so that people could hop on and hop off along the way.

Y'mean like a bus?

jimbobaloobob

Surfing waves in salthill, that would give us everything.

Mrs OBumble

Links234 wrote: »

No! God no! No, no, no! We need to keep our transportation infrastructure,

I never said get rid of the runway!

Airports and stadiums both need floodlights, carparks, public toilets etc.

Put the runway beside the pitch.

Links234

It'd be all fun and games until someone punts a ball into the engine of a plane, and the whole thing goes up in flames taking out a dozen families on their way to France. They just wanted a holiday, you know? A week away, some of them hadn't a holiday in ages and were saving up so they could see Mont St. Michel and maybe bring home some souvenir, or local wine. But no. You had to stick a football stadium in there, didn't you? Burned to a crisp, because a stray sportsball took out and engine, which in turn caused a secondary explosion of the fuel tanks, trapping everyone on board in a fiery inferno, and taking out some ground crew.

Is that what you want to be your legacy? Well fine then! Stick a stadium in there.

Zzippy

Mrs OBumble

Ahh, how many planes, exactly, do you think will be flying in and out of Galway???

Links234

Well none now that the airport and stadium have been closed as the government holds lengthy enquiries into events that lead up to the tragic loss of life, and the airport is now a memorial to those lives lost in the greatest tragedy in Ireland's history since the Stardust fire. Many want Mrs OBumble to face trial for the planning of a sportsball stadium in an airport, some claim shady goings on, brown envelopes and handshakes, and even links to organized crime that lead to such a development going ahead. Many of the families of the deceased have taken legal action against the Irish state, but they won't rest easy until Mrs OBumble is extradited back to Ireland, after fleeing to the States.

thesandeman

I suppose the match will be abandoned so :-( ?

smurf492

thesandeman wrote: »

I suppose the match will be abandoned so :-( ?

they can have it in pearse stadium and the planes can use the prom as a runway...

thesandeman

smurf492 wrote: »

they can have it in pearse stadium and the planes can use the prom as a runway...

That's fine until the door falls off one of them like last time and lands on the referee. That match will have to be abandoned then as well.

smurf492

thesandeman wrote: »

That's fine until the door falls off one of them like last time and lands on the referee. That match will have to be abandoned then as well.

Ah sure what harm, everyone can have a walk up to leisureland and have a go on the ferris wheel...until that falls apart again :P

thesandeman

Then we can go for a swim unless the swimming pool gets flooded again.