Last year I focussed on cycling infrastructure that was going nowhere, and that brought my attention to the fact that we have alot of other issues with our public domain. Clutter is not the least of these. It seems to be policy to put up a new pole for everything, and never to remove anything or see if there is a pole there already that can be used. It’s handy if you are a politician looking to litter (poster) the place before an election, but not so helpful otherwise.
Again, here are some examples below. Please feel free to use the comments to point out more (pictures mostly from Google Maps)
Killester, outside St. Bridget’s School: how many poles are there in the picture?St. Agnes Road in Crumlin – but you don’t need to know that, so we’ll put a box in front of the sign.The infamous Luas Henge boxes in College GreenInchicore Terrace North: telecoms pole beside a lamp post, just across from another telecoms pole! (There are underground cables here too – and cables attached to terraced houses)Inchicore Terrace South: not to be outdone, south terrace has two poles 30cm from each other, and both smothered by a tree!Terenure Library: a handy signpost (possibly the only one for the library) directly across the road (the blue railings)30kmh sign on Bulfin House, all of 20m long – can anyone actually reach the speed limit without crashing into the wall?Turvey Close, it’s a cul-de-sac, right, and a 30kmh zone…Here is a tweet from 2014 showing 6 poles for a single bus stop in Dublin City Centre: now here’s an idea: in some countries all the bus stops are on existing lampposts nearby – couldn’t we try that?
You get the picture, and like the street clutter, this is likely to get repetitive. There has to be a way to change the city by-laws so that we stop doing this.
Oisín Ó hAlmhain 