An end to free parking?

Flinty997 · 23-05-2023 10:37pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120633309#Comment_120633309

There are fish that flip flop less than the opw

23-05-2023 10:56pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120633309#Comment_120633309

If you want to drive to Bloom, then drive. That's your own business, and you owe no one any explanation if your choice is to drive.

If I go, I'll be driving, and I'll also be paying the parking fee.

As I said earlier, I've no problem paying for parking for an entertainment event like this.

But this thread was supposed to be about removal of free parking spaces at workplaces, for car commuters - and it has gone way off that.

horse7 · 23-05-2023 11:10pm

Wish they would hold the event somewhere else, it's always in the park, locals can't get anywhere with the traffic it attracts, it would be fairer for the other counties to have easier access to the event .

Weepsie · 23-05-2023 11:17pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120633382#Comment_120633382

Well there not the same at all. One is to satisfy a person's short term gratification of using the park or whatever, the other is to help achieve a modal shift into how we as a society actually get about the place in our cities and urban areas.

People around my area (one of the higher profile bis corridors? don't give 2 **** about saving trees giving they've tarmacced everything they own and just park on verges anyway

23-05-2023 11:47pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120633540#Comment_120633540

Ah yes, no one gives a sh1t about their gardens being CPO'd, or the trees removed - that's why so many campaigned to stop it from happening.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120633523#Comment_120633523

Bloom is a whole 5 days out of 365 a year, and the Phoenix Park is a public amenity. The park, and the roads leading to it, are not earmarked for the use of locals only.

Maybe plan a weekend away for yourself that weekend, if it causes you that much irritation?

I won't be so rude as to suggest maybe you should have planned better before moving to the area, or that you should move, as others on the thread are told they should do when something about where they live causes inconvenience. Because that would be ridiculous.

Flinty997 · 24-05-2023 12:36am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120633612#Comment_120633612

A railway that's been there 100 years is fairly consistent.

The OPW however closes roads, gates, parking on a whim. It's a park when it suits them, or not a park but a trade show venue when that suits them.

If they used the money to fix the facilities, you'd have some consideration. But they don't. They go out of their way to pull dumb stunts.

It's like a meme though. A park that's can't be better connected to public transport. They want to cover it with a trade show and a car park. So people can drive to it and not see the park.

At the same time complaining about losing trees due trying to fix congestion caused by cars. Once again people trying to dictate what goes on in someone else's area. I can understand locals not wanting to lose their garden so that people who don't live there can drive through the area.

Flinty997 · 24-05-2023 12:41am

Anyway regardless if people support it or not. Theres endless examples to illustrate the general trend.

Weepsie · 24-05-2023 7:52am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120633612#Comment_120633612

I didn't say anything about the gardens. The trees they don't give a **** about. They've historically stuck stuff to them, parked right beside them, used them to hang lights from. They don't think twice about tarmaccing over their own driveways, so they don't care about any of the environmental aspect. They like the aesthetic, that's it.

horse7 · 24-05-2023 8:29am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120633612#Comment_120633612

Thanks for highlighting the park as a public amenity, but what the OPW have done is reducing access to the park by reducing parking , the main road is closed at certain times to access the pope's cross, the ashtown castle is full of people who go jogging and cycling and have nowhere else to park, and farmleigh is becoming full of joggers also. These activities are to be admired but please understand families have nowhere to park at the ashtown playground because it's full , on the Bloom discussion,why have it at the same venue every year, locals don't want the park for themselves, families should be able to drive from any city in Ireland and picnic in the park, OPW want to restrict the public use of the park (unless they are making some money out of it).

Seth Brundle · 24-05-2023 9:11am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120634002#Comment_120634002

Thanks for highlighting the park as a public amenity, but what the OPW have done is reducing access to the park by reducing parking

I assume you are referring to the unenforced illegal parking along the likes of Chesterfield Ave

24-05-2023 9:13am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120634002#Comment_120634002

You're preaching to the choir. I actually posted as much earlier on, that anyone should be able to drive to the Phoenix Park and use it whenever they choose.

Others here will tell you that you should be walk/ bus/ cycle to the Park (or playground) rather than drive there, but if you do drive you should be paying a parking fee each time.

As for Bloom, maybe you can start a campaign for it to be located somewhere else next year.

Flinty997 · 24-05-2023 9:26am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120634002#Comment_120634002

Exactly. Couldn't have phrased it better.

Flinty997 · 24-05-2023 9:43am

The car park at mount sackville is a good example. They've left it too small and completely neglected and in virtual collapse to the point of being unusable. Complain about people parking on the grass. Remove parking. Then build a massive car park on the grass for bloom.

They could build a better car park at the perimeter and have a shuttle to get people around. But no. We have this shambles.

For all the talk of public transport and lack of trains, light rail, metro being the reason people drive. Here you have a park you can get multiple trains to. But on this thread people still want to drive to this event.

24-05-2023 10:24am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120633915#Comment_120633915

Aesthetic's matter.

Can't speak for your neighbours, but there is a mature oak tree outside my house. It must be almost 100 feet. It's a pain in the arse, and it has my heart broken at the moment with fresh tree sap and bird poop that means I have to keep washing my car and windows, but its worth it. It then dumps literally thousands of leaves on my front garden and into my gutters every year which are a huge job to clean up - but would I let anyone cut it down? I'd fight them like hell on it first. 🌳

Flinty997 · 24-05-2023 10:54am

So no bus lane or metro near anyone's tree.

But its ok to park beside them. Go to Bloom see all the cars parked near trees.

Tenzor07 · 24-05-2023 10:59am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120634524#Comment_120634524

I'd say there's a lot of trees that were cut down to create car parking areas at work for car commuters without a single protest being offered!

24-05-2023 11:19am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120633915#Comment_120633915

Oh, and another thought about gardens.

If your neighbours do tarmac over their own gardens for parking, what about it? Its their private property to use as they choose.

Isn't it another thing that is often thrown at motorists here when it suits - that they should use their own private property 🏡 to store their own private property 🚘️?

It seems they're damned if they do, and damned if they don't.

Weepsie · 24-05-2023 11:21am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120634644#Comment_120634644

That's absolutely fine, but they have absolutely no right to make a complaint about something on environmental grounds which a lot of them are, when they are personally contributing to the eroding of any bit of natural habitat. It's so 2 faced it's unbelievable.

If they just said we don't want it because they look nice, I'd have a bit more respect for their argument, but they are beating the eco drum falsely for the most part and don't see any irony

24-05-2023 11:47am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120634654#Comment_120634654

Well, that's a nice spin to put on it. Personally I think it is being highly judgemental.

I think most people have some awareness of what trees do for the environment, as well as thinking they look nice. Versus the impact of their own front garden.

My front garden is just a strip of grass. I'm sure if I chose to tarmac over it, it would have less impact on the environment then removing the 100 ft oak tree outside would.

And then, I still have my back garden which has plenty of shrubs and flowers, doing its bit for the "natural habitat" after all.

Larbre34 · 24-05-2023 12:01pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120634106#Comment_120634106

What was illegal about it?

It was no different to the parking that has now been formally lined out on the North Road in the vicinity of Garda HQ, but was previously just informal kerbside parking.

Prior to the pandemic, Chesterfield had a footpath, a cycle track and parking on both sides, a relatively short stretch of which was used for commuter parking. It wasn't doing anyone any harm and in fact, the loss of it has seriously reduced the number of people showing up for jury service at the CCJ, which was bad enough as it was!

As for the stupid 30 km/h limit on it now, don't get me started.

OPW promised there would be balance to their vandalism, but a couple of years on from all of the above, there isn't a sniff even of the dedicated pedestrian crossing points on Chesterfield Avenue, despite how busy it can be around the Zoo and Ashtown Castle.

It has long been evident that OPWs hierarchy is Themselves-Bikes-Open Topped Tour Buses-Cars-People.

Seth Brundle · 24-05-2023 12:33pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120634810#Comment_120634810

You have been involved in discussions about this before - have you really forgotten everything about it?

The "off-road" cycle path and footpaths were poorly located - the cycle path was placed closer to the road meaning that it was straight where people went to when they got out of their cars.

As for "What was illegal about it?" - the location where people chose to park was actually a mandatory cycle lane with double yellow lines (look at Google Streetview if you doubt me. The constant bitching about cycle lanes, etc. causing mayhem in the park is disingenuous bullshit.

I'm curious to see a source for your comment about the recent changes to the park "seriously reducing the number of people showing up for jury service at the CCJ" - maybe you can provide us with a link to this.

As for your problem driving below a certain speed, if you are unable to do this then maybe choose an alternative mode of transport. Otherwise, STFU because despite your doubts, this will become the default limit across the city.

Flinty997 · 24-05-2023 12:42pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120634810#Comment_120634810

I would argue its OPW - Money Making Events... they don't seem to care about cyclists or pedestrians.

Flinty997 · 24-05-2023 12:49pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120634913#Comment_120634913

It was originally marked with yellow dashed line only with no cycle signs whatsoever.

https://www.geograph.ie/photo/5199547

Flinty997 · 24-05-2023 12:54pm

We asked for proper cycle lanes for decades the OPW ignored it. We asked for parking management, OPW ignored it.

It only changed during lockdown with the chaos of so many people in the park, and all the poor parking and poor footpaths and poor cycle lanes and poor traffic management by the OPW, caused chaos. OPW have never been proactive about any of this.

I see they've finally resurfaced some of paths that have been a an uneven mess due to roots etc. The also finally resurfaced the cycling path to Parkgate street. Which they left unsurfaced and cratered for probably a decade.

magicbastarder · 24-05-2023 2:02pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120634644#Comment_120634644

do you not see the hypocrisy (in this admittedly hypothetical situation) of someone tarmacing their garden, then saying to the council 'it's up to you to preserve biodiversity in a way that i have failed in'? though i say hypothetical, i know someone who has done just that.

and your own situation is wonderful but not that informative. if you live that close to one of ireland's tallest oaks, you are in a tiny minority.

and yes, we need more street trees, not fewer. but conflating the issue of people complaining about the phoenix park being turned into a car park, with people complaining about removal of trees for busconnects is not really that informative.

Seth Brundle · 24-05-2023 2:30pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120634971#Comment_120634971

My bad - I see now that it had been changed around 2014. Interesting that it is only in some parts - some were still double yellows and mandatory cycle lane up to the current setup (notably the sections closer to the zoo & courts).

Flinty997 · 24-05-2023 3:00pm

In my opinion.

They made changes piecemeal and were never that well communicated, or signposted. Never seemed to be part of a overall strategy.

24-05-2023 5:14pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120635252#Comment_120635252

No actually, I don't.

Because (a) I don't believe they have failed at anything. (b) I don't believe anyone is saying that to the Council and (c) Its their property to use as they see fit. Or maybe they even bought their property with the front garden already converted, as many older Dublin properties are.

If they can't park on the public road, and on street parking is being removed, what would you suggest? And please don't waste any more time saying "move", "cycle" or "use PT" because as far as I'm concerned, its been well established that PT does not work for everyone.

I would see the original proposal of circa 3000 trees across Dublin and Cork being destroyed as a lot worse for the environment and a lot more far-reaching then someone creating a car parking space on their own property.

As for the Phoenix Park, (for the second time) I did not introduce that topic into the thread, and I'm quite sick of it now. Another poster did, in an attempt to divert the discussion away from the actual topic, which was parking at workplaces for commuters. Not parking at public amenities, and not parking at annual events. Then they made a smart ass comment about "concreteing everywhere" and someone else called it out for the BS it is.

(eta) oh, and as for my oak tree, I was guessing. It's approx 45 years old and way taller than the two storey houses on the road, so you figure it out.

Flinty997 · 24-05-2023 5:59pm

It's clear that even when there is PT available, People will never use it. IMO it's hypocrisy to complain about ecology while not doing anything to help it.

magicbastarder · 25-05-2023 8:29am

Coincidentally, I was at a presentation recently, given by a senior engineer in the council, a good part of which was about the problems being caused by people paving their driveways and gardens - specifically in the context of the increased risk of flooding it causes as it reduces the ability of the landscape to absorb rain.

An end to free parking?

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