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Pedestrianisation the wrong way! and How Dublin City rigs surveys!

Written by Joerg Steegmueller
Pedestrianisation the wrong way! and How Dublin City rigs surveys!

Dublin City asked us to help with some opinions about a Transport Study that suggests to dramatically change the City Centre traffic flow. The goal is to keep cars far away from the City Centre and to make the City more pedestrian friendly. To achieve that, parts of the Liffey Quays will be closed for traffic it the suggestions in the Study will be put in reality. In addition, big changes will happen to College Green, Westmoreland Street and D’Olier Street. I would like to say that they will pedestrianised, but that would be a lie because there are some odd things happening.

I drive a car and therefore have concerns when another one of the few Liffey crossings will be closed and the plan is to effectively close O’Connell Bridge, BUT I also cycle and I walk (and I use an Electric Unicycle…the coolest vehicle ever :-) ). So because of that, I am relatively open to positive changes. But if you read the study in detail you will see that we are not really told the full story.

Most of us think that pedestrianisation is good, but how would you feel if in peak hours Taxi drivers or buses are still allowed to drive through a pedestrianised area. Doesn’t make sense, right? The idea of pedestrianising an area is that walking people will NOT have to worry about non walking parties. That’s the reason why we don’t even allow a very slow bicycle to cycle through Grafton Street, But Dublin City doesn’t want to give you that. Noo, they say that Taxis and buses still need to drive through College Green. That doesn’t sound cool.And would it not makes sense then to at least let bicycles also use the area where buses and taxis are still allowed to endanger pedestrians?

I think it should be an ALL or nothing! I am in favour of pedestrianisation but only if that keeps all non-walking “traffic” out.

Dublin City then gave us an opportunity to submit our opinion about this study, well at least that’s what the claimed, but if you did reply then there was not a single question about the actual plans of closing parts of the quays, or only partially pedestrianising College Green instead the consultation questionnaire was rigged by asking questions that most would answer in a way Dublin City wants it.

Here are a few of the questions:

  • Do you think that reducing ‘through traffic’ will improve the amenity value of Dublin’s city centre?
  • Do you support the principle of giving commuters more transport choices when they decide to come to Dublin City Centre?
  • Are you in favour of high quality pedestrian facilities in the city centre?
  • Are you in favour of high quality cycle facilities in the city centre?

There were 10 questions all together. Not one really explained or asked about any details. There was no question that said “Do you think that closing the South Quays and the North Quays for traffic is the appropriate way to reduce traffic in the City Centre?” Instead only wishy washy questions like the four listed above were asked. Would anybody say NO to them? I doubt it.

Dublin City you rigged the questionnaire to get the answers that you wanted to get! Very disappointing!

Dublin, Traffic,

Ireland, a (catholic) banana republic?

Written by Joerg Steegmueller
Ireland, a (catholic) banana republic?

Let me start with a disclaimer: I am catholic and I do go to church. I am very much what strict catholics call an “a la card” catholic. I choose some elements for me and ignore others. And most importantly I am a strong proponent of tolerant acceptance of all religions and other believes and of complete separation of religious and state matters. But at the same time I am German and that means that rules are needed and these rules should be clear and non-quibbleable (I made that non-existing word up…so much about sticking to strict rules, right? ;-) )

With that in mind, imagine my shock and abhorrence when I read on Friday on the RTE News website (www.rte.ie/news/vote2015/2015/0522/7030), that bibles were provided to Polling Stations in cases “where a presiding officer asks a voter with no identification to swear an oath”!

WHAT???

So, you find a polling card that is not yours and for which you clearly have no identification and you will be allowed to vote just by putting your hand on a book and declaring that you are that person?? I so hope that I got that wrong!?

Because if I didn’t get it wrong, I should leave my passport at home next time I travel and ask for a bible at Dublin airport.

What Banana republic do we live in where a) you are allowed to vote without and identification, b) where a religious book and a few words count more than a formal, state issued document and c) where the Department of Environment explains that as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

To buy a phone and get services from a company, I need an ID and also a proof of address. To vote in a constitution changing referendum, I just need a book and a promise. *shaking head*

What if I am a Trekkie? Will then a Star Trek DVD replace the book? Or as Rastafarian? Just bring the Holy Piby?

It gets better!! It seems there is a bit of a preference for catholicism, because if you are not religious you can just “make an affirmation” says the Department of Environment, you don’t even need a book! I should try that next time I am at a traffic checkpoint: “I can positively affirm that my name is Enda Kenny…and that I will pay that speeding ticket when you send it to me.”

Looks like a Banana Republic to me!!!

Elections, Irish, Justice, Odd, Politics, Society, , , ,

Marriage Equality Referendum – I changed my opinion!

Written by Joerg Steegmueller
Marriage Equality Referendum – I changed my opinion!

Just a few more days and I’d say both sides are by now happy when the whole process is over. But it ain’t over yet and I am not allowed to vote on it so I will blatantly use this platform to tell you what my opinion is about this whole issue. And it might surprise you to hear that I changed my opinion some months back!

I grew up in a village in Germany and all people around where I grew up were white, so I never experienced “tolerance” or “equality” in that respect. I had no clue what g ay people are, but there was one thing in my village that I was very aware of. That elephant in the room was RELIGION! There were Catholic people and Protestant people in our village. And there was a catholic choir and a protestant choir and catholic farmers would sell land only to other catholic farmers and the same on the protestant side. There was no discrimination in the form of bad behaviour towards each other, but people had their preferences and lived by them, so the boundaries were clearly defined. Odd you think? And I thought so too!

The separation NEVER made sense to me despite the fact that my catholic parents also clearly lived by these unwritten rules. My mother separated from a boyfriend because in their opinion there was no chance that they could get married because he was Protestant!! Imagine! And that wasn’t in the stone ages, that was in the early 60s.

Now where am I going with that? There are a number of aspects to it. First of all, to most of us this religion based separation sounds totally crazy to us nowadays because we have moved on and the second aspect: From early on I realised that arbitrary boundaries don’t make sense. But I also learned why people are soooo much against tolerance and equality: They are afraid!! Afraid that there world would be turned upside down, that they might be told do do something they don’t want to do. That they might have to change.

Interestingly and importantly though, this referendum does not require anybody to change!! No straight man (or woman) will ever be forced to marry another straight man or woman! So people relax! No need to start panicking when you think about two women or two men loving and caring about each other!

And in my opinion that is what this referendum is about: Allowing two people who feel strongly for each other to be there for each other in ALL aspects.

This referendum will NOT change how people might or might not behave in their bedroom (or elsewhere), it will not force anybody to do anything against their will AND it will have no impact on adoptions or surrogacy. So forget that straight away.

Vote YES and allow these two people to love each other if they want or just care for each other into high age and in all aspects.

In the intro I said that I changed my opinion, so what is that all about?

I was never against Marriage Equality, but I have to admit that I don’t like the term “marriage” for a civil union of two people and initially I was of the opinion that the Civil Partnership was already there, so why do we need a Marriage Equality Referendum?! But then I found here www.marriagequality.ie/getinformed/mythbusters.html that currently there are 160 differences between the rights of two people who are married vs the rights of two people in a civil partnership. That was the decider. Either you have full rights or you don’t.

I still would prefer if we changed some significant aspects of the marriage procedures, but that’s not really relevant for this referendum: All marriages should take place in a registry office and then afterwards people can opt to get married in a church if they want. The church should not be allowed to stand in for the state, instead the two procedures should bee totally separated. But as I said, that is not really relevant in this referendum. Mind you, I hope the catholic church will refuse to do the civil marriage part after the referendum!

So, if I was allowed to vote, I would vote YES! If you are allowed to vote, please vote for me!!!

Elections, General, Society, , , ,

Marriage Equality: United we are strong? …or maybe not!

Written by Joerg Steegmueller
Marriage Equality: United we are strong? …or maybe not!

When I drove through Dublin during the week, I was wondering why some of the lamp posts had five different Marriage Equality Referendum posters on them. There was one from Fine Gael, Fine Fail, Labour, Sinn Fein all asking for a YES vote and then there was one poster asking for a NO vote from an unidentifiable (print too small) organisation. The Yes Equality posters were only added a few days later.

Going through all the events in Dublin I came across quite a number of fundraising events for the Yes Equality campaign, but the four parties that also ask for a YES vote didn’t ask for money.

These two things together made me wonder why the Yes side doesn’t work together!? I would expect (and hope) that the Yes side will achieve a landslide victory in this referendum and considering the extremely rare scenario that ALL relevant political parties and a huge proportion of the non-politically organised population are of the same opinion we really can expect that outcome, but would it not have been EVEN stronger if the YES side had come together, had left their differences aside and would have presented a block of support for the referendum?

In a football team it helps if the 11 players work together while trying to achieve a win. Imagine if all 11 tried to play their own game without helping and co-operating with their team members!? The match could still be won, but it would be a lot riskier than if they all helped each other.

Sure, I can think of a number of reasons why all players in this competition did want to get (and claim) the goal for themselves, but is the common goal of winning the match not much bigger and more important than getting individual goals?

Society, ,

Tacsaí!? Wie bitte?

Written by Joerg Steegmueller
Tacsaí!? Wie bitte?

I have been intrigued by this for some while….

If you have ever been abroad in a non-English speaking country, I am sure that you have witnessed business owners and their employees going out their way to serve/greet/help you in English instead of their native language. They do whatever they can, to accommodate you. And if you are a business owner or have ever considered to start a business, you probably have thought about what name you would choose. Most think, it should be a name that is easily recognisable, understandable, pronounceable and that ideally provides some relevant information about what you do to your customers.

And then you see a car with “TACSAI” written on the side! :-O

Taxi drivers can choose if they want to have the big sticker on the front door of their Taxi in English or in Irish. The vast majority chooses English (and possibly considers the points above), but a surprisingly large amount of Taxis in Dublin use the Irish language version “Tacsaí”. And the ones that choose Tacsai seem to go against all logical reasons for choosing a specific business name as a service provider in an industry that particularly serves a very international audience. Unsurprisingly – but somewhat inconsistently – they won’t greet you with “Conas atá tú?” when you enter the taxi, but their brand on the outside is not at all considering to accommodate their international customer base.

Without a doubt you might think of “800 years of occupation” and “forced adoption of English” as reasons why some prefer the Irish language brand, but there are also other countries in this world where English was forced upon the population and you probably won’t be too surprised that Indian taxis are called “Taxi” despite the role of Britain in their history.

Even more puzzling, though, is why the word “Tacsai” even exists! The word “taxa” is originally Latin and means “charging”. That word was used in 1890 in Germany to make “Taxameter”, an automatic meter to record the distance and fare. So does “Tacsai” have the same root? Does it go back to the Latin “taxa”? No, not at all! It is a made up word that tries to copy but be different at the same time.

I’d say the Irish that is used nowadays could easily live with some “foreign” words like “Taxi”. It hasn’t done any harm to all the other languages that just use the word “Taxi”. But there seems to be a flavour of Irish speakers that seem to have to translate EVERYTHING just for the sake of it. After all there is even a word for “Internet”, one of these olden Gaelic communication concepts, you know!? In case you want to know, it is the “Idirghréasán”. Oddly, force-translating modern words makes Irish more outdated than if it just adopted the words!

Irish, Odd, , ,
 
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