Daily Archives: February 12, 2013

Kieran’s Comments, Dereliction, Cork City Council Meeting, 11 February 2013

Arts, Kieran's Council Work, Uncategorized

As someone who gives walking tours around Shandon, there is a need to have a proper inner city renewal plan. For too long places like Shandon, Barrack Street are limping on..indeed only for the Shandon Area Renewal Area group, volunteers, Cork Community Art Link…Shandon Street would be further down the road of dereliction…indeed such groups have added to the creative hub of the city. We need to build more of such groups.

Barrack Street is more or lost except for the traditional pubs that survive on student trade.

It always seems to me that there is no vision for such streets, no way forward. Shandon Street should be recognised officially as key heritage quarter.

History is oozing out of this area… and despite a plethora of best practice examples out there, there is a huge disconnection between its sense of place and its modern day economy.

In Shandon Street and other areas we need to create an attractive place to live, work and visit; to safeguard, protect and enhance the built heritage and promote a sustainable, diverse and integrated residential and business community.

For example I would like to see a summer heritage programme of events implemented for the area. There are great buildings in the Shandon Street are but they are not appreciated enough and harnessed enough and not celebrated enough so that they can play a part in the life of the inner city.

That is the same as the Good Shepherd Convent, the building and the site was not appreciated enough by all partners in it… the site is secure now but now it is too late for it..  it is now an abandoned and burned heap of heritage with no plan for it…the city needs a vision for such heritage markers and when I say that I’m thinking of the longest building in Europe, Our Lady’s Hospital which needs a plan and needs to be secured.

Kieran’s Comments, Tourism Opportunities, Cork City Council Meeting, 11 February 2013

Uncategorized

To give E.250,000 to arts groups in this recession is very positive.

There is a very strong cultural vein in the city, one that needs to be exploited more.

Walking around the city at the moment on the Grand Parade and St Patrick’s Street, I see we still have the happy Christmas and happy new year banners up…they look like they are crumbling off their connections. They are drab and we need to move on now with the city’s cultural programme for the year… at this moment in time, mid February…you would think there is nothing on in the city for the year.

The Titanic banner on the Grand Parade needs to replaced.

The recent luminous signs set up at different points in the city, one on Washington Street, the South Mall….advising passengers to slow down, belt up are fair enough…but the emphasis on the negative of don’t do the following does not create the positive environment such signs could create. At present these signs are intrusive on the landscape…the one on the Grand Parade jars with the World War I memorial space. The one on Washington Street adds to the drab look of the former Capital Cinema.

The city has 24 festivals ahead of itself this year…we need to push these and get people into the city…the arts form a major part of why our restaurants are full and give many people a purpose to come into the city.

The case in point being recently, the Sound of Music is on the Opera House and the bringing of thousands of families to the city centre….investing in our car park…our theatre…our local restaurants and bars, all of which are rate-payers.

This city is very good at providing support for the arts but we need to harness the arts more to bring people into town…we need to make Cork, that city of festivals, a city of arts…especially as we are investing heavily in it.