Michael Moynihan: We have an ideal opportunity to pedestrianise the city centre now
It appears that every decade or two the pedestrianisation of St Patrick's Street comes into vogue as an idea. Then it disappears for another twenty years or so.
Last week I wrote here about the plans to revamp the footpaths and pedestrian crossings of Cork, a major undertaking which will cause major upheaval in the centre of the city for a couple of months.
At that time I mentioned what I thought was a pretty obvious point: that ongoing maintenance of those footpaths et al would have made such a large-scale operation unnecessary. For instance, I mentioned those street lights up and down St Patrick's Street which look terrible — strips of posters and flyers half-cleaned off and half-abandoned, giving the metal a streaked, stained look. If those were cleaned properly and regularly — and similar issues addressed in the same way — would we need to shut down the main thoroughfare in town even as tourists descend on Cork for the summer?
