Thread by Daragh Cassidy
Thread
A #thread on how utterly useless @DubCityCouncil is at managing our city, in particular the public realm. No other major European city seems to get so much wrong, so often. I'm honestly not sure what Dubliners have done to deserve Councillors & a Council that are so incompetent. 
Let's start with electrical boxes. No one loves them quite like our Council does! They're like mini Daleks that are multiplying like rabbits all over Dublin. In most cities an effort would be made to keep these underground & out of sight. But our council doesn't seem to care... 
A a special shoutout to this display down by the Docklands where DCC seemed to be going for some type of record... 
Next up - cycle lanes. I'm a HUGE supporter of cycling in the city. But Jesus - there has to be a better way of installing cycle lanes. Dublin is fast becoming 'The City of Plastic Bollards'. They look cheap, tacky & awful & make the city look even more of a mess. 
The cycle lanes have also been an excuse for DCC to erect yet more needless signage. For example, this is a fully segregated cycle lane paved in red. All three of these poles aren't needed. Each pole also probably cost a few hundred euro. So it's a ridiculous waste of money too. 
But it's not just cycle lanes that are to blame for an increase in clutter - DCC seems to have an obsession with putting plastic bollards anywhere & everywhere! 
And in case you're wondering, this is how @dlrcc and @robertburns73 do cycle lanes a few KMs up the road in Dun Laoghaire. Shows what can be done what you have a bit of taste, style & common sense. Note the lack of poles, clutter & bollards... 
As this pic shows, there is nowhere DCC is unwilling to install yet more poles & warning signs. Like you actually couldn't have fucked up a view of one of the city's most important buildings more badly if you'd tried... 
And as for the lovely 'view' of Trinity College... 
The @Luas plays a huge part with the city's clutter problem. At this junction by the IFSC there are over a dozen warning signs just for the Luas alone. One for every crossing. We don't need warning signs on every road crossing about busses & cars. Why for trams? 
DCC will INSIST all the clutter & signage is needed but half the time it simply isn't. For example, there's no reason why both these poles couldn't be incorporated into the one sign & then, better still, put on the nearby lamp post instead. You see this all over the city... 
Again, DCC going for some type of record here...& you can see how awful (& lazy) the decision to allow overhead cables in the city centre was... 
This always amuses me. The Provost gets their very own special Luas warning sign. Despite the fact I've never once seen a vehicle exit through here, it's just not needed. There was never a sign there to warn about busses or cars on the road. Why one now for the Luas? 
The new 30km speed zones have been a disaster for clutter. There now are so many 30km signs all over the city it would actually be better to remove them all & simply tell drivers where they're allowed drive ABOVE 30km instead. But here's another example of excess signage. 
The Docklands are a disgrace. Weeds and graffiti everywhere & half the street lights don't work... 
And on the subject of lighting, DCC is also a disaster, particularly when it comes to lighting our important bridges & monuments. The lights on the Rosie Hackett bridge have been broken for around 3 YEARS now. @Pidge has chased up with the Council. But it shouldn't come to that. 
DCC also doesn't care about paving. Tarmac blobs are everywhere & many of the city's main streets are badly paved with (mismatched) concrete slabs instead of quality stone or granite as you'd see in Europe. Even when DCC does decide to fix things, they still mess it up... 
DCC is also rubbish at rubbish!
Bags of rubbish are often left out for hours on end for the wind to blow over, the seagulls to attack or for drunken revellers to stumble on. It's the type of thing you'd expect in a third world city.
Bags of rubbish are often left out for hours on end for the wind to blow over, the seagulls to attack or for drunken revellers to stumble on. It's the type of thing you'd expect in a third world city.
Come take a pic of the beautiful Christmas lights on Grafton street...over the bags of rubbish!
Bags of rubbish are often left out on Grafton Street at 4pm & not collected until midnight.
Bags of rubbish are often left out on Grafton Street at 4pm & not collected until midnight.
Here's how it's done in Florence BTW... 
The city's street furniture (benches, bins, signs) is also mismatched & of poor quality. While the entire city doesn't need to look the same, every street & lane seems to have something different thrown down, meaning there's no uniformity or 'look' to Dublin. It's all just messy.
A worthy mention goes to the city's bins. To think the lovely oldschool Buscar Brúscar bins were all replaced for these ugly yokes... 
& of course the city's streets are always filthy, grimy & smelling of urine. In my opinion, Owen Keegan is grossly unsuited for the job of managing our city & should be replaced. Mind you, many of our councillors seem equally as useless & appear happy with the state Dublin is in.
I'll finish on a positive note with a nice pic though. Dublin has great potential & parts of it, particularly the areas that aren't managed by DCC, are lovely. If only it could be managed better by people who actually have a bit of style & who show some love for the place... 
