Journalism and Cycling 2: the difficult second album

Macy0161

Shouts loud, and the likes of the Pat Kenny/ Claire Byrne shows (both TV and radio) want people who are controversial.

Johnny Jukebox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118667268#Comment_118667268

He dislikes the homeless too - https://www.98fm.com/news/protestors-march-dublin-homeless-shelter-930666

Interesting how his wikipedia page doesn't mention his conviction for arson.

magicbastarder

i think it does - it states he "was given 5 years at 15 years of age and sent to Mountjoy Prison."

a 50 year old conviction for a crime committed when he was a minor is not very relevant, though.

tomasrojo

It's kind of tiresome the "unlike motorists" line, because it's just trying to turn urban space allocation into another culture war, with the scales heavily tipped by assuming virtuous behaviour on the part of the least efficient users of space that is only warranted if you treat all the rules they flout (e.g. speeding, footpath parking) and harms they cause (circulatory diseases, lung diseases, directly killing the occasional person) as minor. If you focus on policy outcomes (more efficient use of public space, healthier people, more attractive urban centres that actually make more money) you can see why people who favour the status quo prefer a culture-war framing.

tomasrojo

IrishCycle.com has a report on his latest antics anyway:

https://irishcycle.com/2022/02/21/dublins-streets-are-absolute-chaos-but-higher-fines-for-illegal-parking-not-part-of-the-solution-claims-councillor/

Effects

https://www.newstalk.com/news/clamping-fees-in-dublin-to-increase-by-more-than-55-next-month-1313813

Ah yeah, clamping isn't going to solve anything, street furniture and cyclists on the foorpath are the real issues to be discussed.

tomasrojo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118667550#Comment_118667550

Given that he started ranting about cyclists when he turned up to investigate a covid lockdown-breaching rave, this is a an easier corner on the road to cognitive dissonance for him to negotiate.

Peregrine

AA upset about blow to hard pressed law breakers.

https://twitter.com/SamanthaLibreri/status/1495744288419991558

Larbre34

I'm not excusing wilful law breaking like builders down the docks cutting clamps or people obstructing disabled bays or cycleways or other facilities, but we shouldnt forget there are 7 or 8 major national hospitals inside the canals, including two maternity and one pediatric, with little or no dedicated parking and some of the most clamped streets are in these neighbourhoods, where it is often loved ones and visitors overstaying in perfectly legal parking spots that get clamped and screwed over at the most stressful times. And that's every bit as bad as the extortionate on-site hospital parking scandal, in my book.

Street clamping fees should not be raised above €80, but where deliberate obstruction occurs as I mention above, there should be towing away and a release fee of €500+. These offenders are not the same and the consequences should not be similar.

Tombo2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118667670#Comment_118667670

Ah look......cant anyone thing of the elderly, the sick, the pregnant mothers..... and their poor dear loved ones trying to bring in the lucozade.

€80 is far too low.

Seth Brundle

I'm not excusing wilful law breaking like builders down the docks cutting clamps or people obstructing disabled bays or cycleways or other facilities, but we shouldnt forget there are 7 or 8 major national hospitals inside the canals, including two maternity and one pediatric, with little or no dedicated parking and some of the most clamped streets are in these neighbourhoods, where it is often loved ones and visitors overstaying in perfectly legal parking spots that get clamped and screwed over at the most stressful times. And that's every bit as bad as the extortionate on-site hospital parking scandal, in my book.

I've used a number of those hospitals in recent years both as a patient and as a visitor. I never once had an issue finding somewhere to park and not once was I foced to park illegally.

To be fair, when my dad was in the Mater for a few months three years ago, I often cycled in to see him and there were loads of spaces in the car park. I suspect any nearby illegal parking was because people simply didn't want to pay!

Street clamping fees should not be raised above €80, but where deliberate obstruction occurs as I mention above, there should be towing away and a release fee of €500+. These offenders are not the same and the consequences should not be similar.

Very little, if any, of the illegal parking that happens is not causing some form of obstruction. Still, according to the stats, about 110 drivers found their cars clamed each day duding 2021. Of these, the top ten reasons apparently were:

No payment received for use of this parking bay 

Parking/stopping a vehicle on clearway 

Parking without a valid parking ticket / expired 10 min 

Parking a vehicle on a footway 

Unauthorised Parking in a Loading Bay/Private Vehicle 

Parking within 5 meters of a Road Junction 

Parking on a double yellow line 

Parking opposite a continuous white line 

Parking in designated Taxi Area/Bus Stop 

Maximum Allowed Stay in Loading Bay Exceeded 

So with which of these forms of offence were the drivers not causing an obstruction? Even exceeding your staying by a few minutes has the potential to stop someone else from parking there so I'm curious to see what you are referring to.

In terms of the amount, this is simply keeping it in line with inflation over the past two decades (since the fee was last changed). I see no problem with that. The cost of employing the clampers, etc has gone up.

Effects

People worry less about getting caught when the fine is only €80. I've no issue with it going up. I understand people might be under pressure at hospitals, but it's a lot easier than it used to be to pay your parking.

People block my entrance all the time as they don't care about getting clamped, and when I call the clampers they rarely arrive on time. Which isn't their fault. I've had to resort to removing tyre valves to manage the stress it's causing me. 😂

MyDarkArts

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118667227#Comment_118667227

This business of assigning a value to an elected official’s seat based on the number of first preference votes and/or the count number upon which they were elected seems to be a fairly recent phenomenon, and one that I completely disagree with.

The election process is a pass/fail outcome, so being elected on the last count with the benefit of transfers is equally as legitimate as being elected on the first count with a large first preference vote.

tomasrojo

There are a few knock-on effects of showing indulgence towards illegal parking. For a start, it's an indirect subsidy for law breakers, including people carrying out deliveries, who otherwise would be at a disadvantage when in competition with people carrying out deliveries on e-cargobikes, for example, or even with other people carrying out deliveries but who park legally. So it's encouraging counterproductive practices either way.

Tombo2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118667885#Comment_118667885

True to a point - I am trying to relate the influence he has to the electoral mandate he has been given. 548 people gave him a first preference. Yes, he was elected fair and square. I see your point of course, and you are right. But for a guy that less than 0.5% of the population of Dublin voted for, he has a huge say in issues that affect a significant part of that same population.

tomasrojo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118667885#Comment_118667885

Yeah, he's an utter buffoon, but he got his council seat fair and square, and that's how PR works. The people who are encouraging and indulging his nonsense might have a think about their choices though.

Macy0161

Both of mine were born in Holles Street. Yes, it was a bit of pain to make sure I carried change, and make sure I maxed out the meter. Nowadays it would be just use the bloody app. So yes, yet again, the poor law breaking motorist is the real victim in all this. 🙄

tomasrojo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118667917#Comment_118667917

I'm not sure, with the exception of Strand Road, that he's had a larger say than his council vote in many projects. He just an elected figure who reliably shouts anti-cyclist boilerplate at the drop of a hat, so he's popular with the engagement-seeking media circus. His opposition is more lurid than average, but he's not the only opponent.

(I could be wrong; I'm just basing this off what I've read.)

Tombo2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118667958#Comment_118667958

Do you think his appearances on radio influence people? Legitimises their biases?

Do you think he would be invited on so much if he wasnt a councillor?

tomasrojo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118667974#Comment_118667974

I don't think he makes that much of a difference, no. He didn't change the vote of the councillors in Galway, for example. He did take part in a legal case in Strand Road though, and I suppose he does publicise certain disputes, but people who might want to see the change also see the publicity as well as those who favour the staus quo. Basically, we have bigger problems that this ludicrous man.

No, I don't think he would be invited on so much if he wasn't a councillor, but I did say that in my original post that he was brought on because he was an elected official who reliably shouts anti-cyclist boilerplate at the drop of a hat.

Duckjob

He supports the measures, but now is the wrong time to do them.

How did I know I would hear that when I hear Mannix Flynn was going to be on this morning....

downtheroad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118667670#Comment_118667670

Ah stop, everyone has a phone in their pocket and it's so straightforward to use an app to pay for parking. Make the clamp release fee €200. If drivers obey the rules there won't be a problem.

I remember seeing a car get clamped at the Baggot St Bridge market one Thursday (pre covid), hazards were on while the guy nipped over to get a falafel. Expensive falafel that day. And hopefully a lesson learned.

ARX

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118667574#Comment_118667574

Maybe he remembers '90s rave fashion?

https://www.pinterest.ie/pin/438749188683569310/

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118666554#Comment_118666554

Just move the dial. You've never had more options with stations and podcasts. Leave Pat and his motor industry sponsors shouting at clouds.

Effects

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118667949#Comment_118667949

Mate of mine had just signed up to the new park by text app when his first kid was due. Clampers came along, inputted his reg incorrectly, and it came back that it was unpaid. He was fuming when he came out and was clamped, after paying for his parking!

Macy0161

Mistakes happen - my main issue is that they can't correct it at the side of the road and you have to go through the appeal process when it's something clear and obvious.

McGrath5

A mate got clamped at few years on Mespil road when at an Ireland game, TBH I was surprised the release was "only" €80. An increase like this is well over due, €125 is small change in the overall cost of car ownership.

p15574

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118668001#Comment_118668001

I think it's like Trump spouting nonsense - it affirms the biases and lies that a certain proportion of the population hold or believe, or gives them fresh ammunition based on bull****. Look at Kier Starmer getting hounded by a mob over Jimmy Savile after Bojo claimed he failed to prosecute him. Free speech is great, but sometimes giving a platform to an idiot has ramifications.

tomasrojo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118672722#Comment_118672722

I can't say definitively but, apart from Strand Road, I'm not very convinced that he has slowed down or cancelled any projects that would otherwise have gone ahead. He doesn't have Trump's dark charisma and he isn't a figure as prominent as a Prime Minister or President either.

I suppose all intemperate speech, including supposedly humorous articles in the papers, is unhelpful. I suspect Dermot Lacey has slow-walked more projects into oblivion though, for example.

I said it when he was ranting about taking a case against Strand Rd that if he did it would force the govt to create legislation to allow for trials without PP and hey presto thats what they are doing.

Short term, this means a delay for Strand Rd, long term, it means lots more trials will proceed without risk of being held up in the courts.

So yeah Mannix, thanks for making it easier to trial bike lanes all around the country 👍️