Thomil's Random Ramblings

Sometimes, you really have to wonder just what some decision makers are smoking, especially here in Cork. Between road closures that aren’t enforced, pedestrian areas that aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on, unopposed GAA land grabs and infrastructure that is introduced with great fanfare only to be left to crumble, the only conclusion I can make is that the people in city hall have access to some really potent stuff! The latest outgrowth of this presumed consumption habit is taking place on Patrick Street this week. Three large contraptions that look suspiciously like the result of a one-night stand between a Dalek and an IKEA shelf have just been installed outside the Ulster Bank building there, while two more are slated for installation on Grand Parade. But while these things are most definitely not the result of alien interference, they’re probably about as much use as an umbrella in a hurricane. The objects in question are called “CityTrees” and are designed and built by Gr...

There’s something rotten in the state of Cork! For years, the supposed “City Rising” has been trapped in a downward spiral. Yes, new and impressive buildings have sprung up along Albert Quay and around Kent Station, I work in one of them, however behind that glossy veneer, the city has been slowly falling apart. The streets are pockmarked with potholes that more often than not border on craters, pavement stones are loose and waiting to trip up unsuspecting pedestrians. What should be sweeping urban plazas are desolate wastes, dotted with black asphalt scars where trees used to be. Entire streets have been reduced to looking like a war zone, with crumbling shells of buildings held up by rusting steel beams, ready to crush passers-by. That’s if you can walk down those streets in the first placed without being run over by cars, lorries and delivery vans criss-crossing every which way, ignoring red lights and using narrow laneways as rat runs. Even they can count themselves lucky if they’r...

There’s one thing that’s always puzzled me about Ireland. Well, okay, there’s a bit more than just one thing, but this is one that stuck out. When you drive through Irish towns or cities, you’ll undoubtedly have noticed it. Many housing estates are surrounded by large concrete walls. Indeed, even the gardens of houses themselves are often separated by similar walls, only slightly lower than the towering perimeter walls. The same goes for industrial estates, and even bus stations or train stations. Hell, even parks are more often than not totally enclosed. Even the apartment complex where I live is effectively walled off. Granted, the architects were pretty sneaky about it, but it is still a fully walled-off and gated complex. Perversely though, the one type of property that you’d expect to be fortified to the hilt is often just secured by chain-link fences or old drystone walls: military bases. It’s something I saw with my own eyes on Haulbowline Island, the headquarters of the Irish ...

You know? Sometimes, I wish the Black & Tans had been more successful in their burning of Cork, had actually managed to flatten the entire city and driven its population away. It would have made things a whole lot easier for urban developers in the following decades, because nowadays, it seems you can’t even build a simple office block without a storm of protests, and god help you if you want to develop anything that’s actually ambitious. Take the current plans for the redevelopment of Customs House for example. In recent months, a New York based development company has announced plans to redevelop the entire site, integrating the bonded warehouse into a 40 storey mixed-use high-rise development. Once these plans became public, the outcry was immediate and vicious. There were the usual cries of “what about the homeless??” (Article on that is in the works), and other NIMBYist whining, involving all the usual suspects, including the Greens and other left-wing organisations. R...