🌸The Friday View 31/03
A city of trees, BusConnects is back, as are the cast and crew of The Young Offenders who are filming season four of the series, while Cork Lifelong Learning Festival reaches its climax.
Dia dhuit, and welcome to the Friday View from Tripe+Drisheen. Thanks for your support and do help spread the word about T+D.
On Wednesday night this week, at a Lifelong Learning Festival talk all about trees in the city, one of the audience members posed a question that could be interpreted in a few different ways.
Depending on one's perspective, the question could be viewed as semantic, pedantic, complex, with a n eye roll or simply straightforward.
Her question: What is a tree?
See what I mean?
The question came after a briefing from Erin O’Brien, a planner with Cork City Council, and Thomas Kane, the City Council’s first-ever trees officer, organised by Cork Environmental Forum (CEF). The event was split between an overview of key tree statistics in the city, updates on the City Council’s Tree Strategy, a work in progress which should be put to public consultation sometime later this year, and a workshop in which attendees were asked to come up with ideas of how to green the city.
When the Tree Strategy is published, it will contain up-to-date stats such as tree and canopy coverage in the city, how the city council plans to increase the greening of the city, where green retrofitting will take place, what species of trees are being planted and should be planted, and above all, why Cork needs more trees (real trees, not the type of machines that cost hundreds of thousands but do make for good public seating) and how we are going to plant our way there.
One of the big takeaways from Wednesday night’s meeting in Nano Nagle Place was the figure 300,000. That figure is the estimated number of trees in Cork city. (By comparison, the human population of Cork city is around 224,000). Of those 300k trees, 70% are located on private property. Just one more stat before I return to the question of the day (what is a tree?): 90% of the calls Cork City Council fields about trees are asking for trees to be removed.
So back to the question, and why it was asked.
Firstly, the 300k figure is likely inaccurate, and brings us back to the question of what defines a tree. One characteristic is size, because trees are distinguished from other plants such as shrubs and hedges based on size. You might be thinking a tree is a tree is a tree, I know one when I see it, and you’re likely right on that count. But, even though it may sound overly technical, data is key to guiding the all-important Tree Strategy.
Why?
The more and the better data people like Erin and Thomas have, the better the Tree Strategy they will put to public consultation. For instance, an important driver in any tree strategy is tree and canopy coverage (tree coverage relates to the percentage of an area that is covered by trees while canopy coverage refers to the amount of area that is covered by the leaves and branches of trees).
As Erin and Thomas admitted, tree coverage in the city centre is in the single digits. When it came to green retrofitting, Thomas explained that as much as the council wanted to plant (real) trees along MacCurtain Street, the soil depth and matrix of underground pipes ruled it out.
"What is a tree?" also helps explain why we have a trees officer and why we need a tree strategy because trees are an essential part of our ecosystems and are rightly seen as an integral and important part of the urban environment.
They provide habitat for creatures great and small, they produce oxygen, absorb carbon dioxide, and play a hugely important role in the water cycle (some trees can absorb as much as 500 liters of water in a day). Trees are pretty much everywhere, and there’s a reason for that; they’re essential, wondrous, and an anchor for so much life.
On a separate but related note, I didn’t get to a fraction of the Learning Fest events that I would have liked to, but the trees talk was an excellent initiative. It would be great to have more City and County Council staff like Erin and Thomas talk us through their jobs.
I think behind 90% of the moaning tweets directed at the local authorities is a need for more information (and to be heard). Erin and Thomas did a good job in addressing this - and yes, they were asked about the "robo-trees", to which it was explained neither Thomas or Erin were involved in the process of securing them.
Next question.
BusConnects 2.0: Good news for trees, and people who like bus gates.
Recently, I had a conversation with a bus driver who rold me that unless at least 90% of the city's bus routes are covered by bus lanes, then we’ll keep driving to a standstill. He also mentioned that he frequently encounters cars parked in the existing bus lanes in Cork. Drivers, he said, turn on their blinkers and believe their car has vanished. As he noted, in Dublin, bus lanes are primarily kept clear of private vehicles through enforcement.
Of course, the big news this week was that the NTA bigwigs were back in town to unveil an updated BusConnects plan which will be put to public consultation between now and the end of May. The last version attracted hundreds of submissions, protests and had some councilors in chamber calling for blood, possibly councillors who are not known for using the bus? So what does Cork BusConnects 2.0 look like?
In a hyphenated word, watered-down.
And that’s a pity. The NTA will likely say, “hey we listened, this is what you want?” The problem here is who is the you in this? In Cork city, at least, we’re a divided city to a large extent between those who cycle, use public transport and drive. Although there is likely crossover between some of these groups, there’s not enough. To get to the point where more people get use the bus network we need a reliable and high frequency bus network.
BusConnects is moving chess pieces without rattling the chess board.
So what’s in the revised plans? A lot, and I would urge you to read about changes to the bus routes in your neighbourhood. As I mentioned in a tweet yesterday bus gates loom large in the revised plan. What is a bus gate? Essentially it’s a (short) stretch of “stand-alone bus lane”.
I’m guessing short sections of bus lanes didn’t test well, or the NTA wanted to steer clear of the term bus lanes, so we have bus gates instead. Lots of them.
Anne Graham, NTA Chief Executive, told RTE News At One, that there’s a 50% reduction of tree felling in the updated version. The removal of on-street parking has also been reduced, by about 30%.
Ms Graham also said that the revised plan will be retaining “91km of bus lanes and bus priority” in the new consultation documnet. Significantly, she mentioned that bus gates will help the NTA achieve their target.
The changes to the 12 Sustainable Transport Corridors (STCs) can all be viewed on the BusConnects Cork website. Public consultation will run from March 30 until May 25.
BusConnects 2.0 - the view from Ciarán Meers, founding member of Cork Commuter Coalition:
“The original BusConnects plan was one that contained compromises, hard choices, and areas in need of improvement. This new version has given way in almost every circumstance and conflict point to a status quo that isn’t working.
Cork City is being denied a working bus network, in favor of a watered down plan that chooses the bare minimum instead of delivering the reliable, clockwork bus services that ordinary people deserve. The NTA can do better, and Cork needs better.
Thankfully, a second round of consultation is open, and it’s up to people to vocalize that they want proper change, not more of the same traffic, congestion, and pollution.”
Ciarán was the first contributor to T+D’s Our Cork 2040 series in which he wrote about his vision of public tranpsort for Cork.
News in brief
Filming began for the fourth season of The Young Offenders this week. The shot above was taken of the cast and crew on Bell’s Field by T+D reader Sophie Delanagle.
A lick of paint: The City Council has released details of the painting grant scheme for residential and commercial property owners in the city centre. Up to €1,500 per building is being allocated for painting and minor repair works to the facades of buildings. Corner buildings will be funded up to €2,500. This is the 12th year that the city council has been operating the painting scheme. Application closes on April 25 and you can find more information here.
Out + About
🖼The Mór Artists Collective invite artists and creatives to their launch night on April 5 at Greywood Arts in Killeagh. The collective, named after Mór Mumhan, the goddess of Munster and the namesake of the Blackwater river, comprises artists based in east Cork and west Waterford. Beginning in May, Mór will meet on a monthly basis. You’re invited to come along next week and hear from some of the founding members, as well as arts officers from Waterford and Cork and Jessica Bonenfant and Hughie Coogan from Greywood Arts.
Time, date, place: 7pm - 8:30pm, Wednesday April 5, Greywood Arts, Main Street, Killeagh
🎶The music of Rachmaninoff, Mozart, and Schubert will ring out in the Crawford Art Gallery this Sunday as part of the gallery's Music at Midday tie-up with MTU Cork School of Music. What to expect? Pianist Dylan Kelly will perform Mozart's Fantasia in C minor and Rachmaninoff's Prelude in G-sharp minor; the Kearney Quartet will present Schubert's String Quartet in E-flat, and the recital will conclude with the Apricus Quartet and François Devienne's Quartet No. 1 for bassoon and string trio. Admission is free. More information here.
Time, date, place: 12pm, Sunday April 2, The Crawfod Art Gallery, Emmet Place
🧹Volunteers from Tidy Towns groups in Douglas, Togher, and Ballyphehane, as well as the Tramore River Community Group, will be meeting at different points along the Tramore River as part of a clean-up operation. The clean-up starts from 10:30am. More information can be found here. From 1 m, volunteers are invited to Elizabeth Fort for a talk with gardener Peter Dowdall, all about greening communities.
A few highlights from Cork Lifelong Learning Festival:
Friday, March 31
🛶‘Cairdeas’ a beautiful new currach will be launched at Lapp’s Quay by Meithal Mara. Built by students from Cork Life Centre with Meithal Mara at Cork Commuity Boatyard, you’ll get to hear about the project and how the boat came to be the latest addition to their fine fleet.
Time, place: 2pm - 3pm, Lapp’s Quay boardwalk and pontoon
🌱Artist Rachel Doolin (see also This Week on T+D below) will talk about her seed saving art project at St Luke’s Community Garden. Suitable for all ages, the talk is designed to give you more information about the importance of sharing seeds in a local context.
Time, place: 2pm-3pm, St. Luke’s Community Garden, Ballyhooley Road
Saturday April 1
🥕What to plant in your polytunnel? Horticulturalist Molly Garvey will talk attendees through what crops are best suited for polytunnels. This talk is ideal for community gardeners. The polytunnel at Togher Community Garden will be used as an example of what can be planted.
Time, place: 10am - 11am, Clashduv Park, Togher
⛪️Dr Ann Wilson, from Munster Technological University, is next up in a series of public lectures hosted by the Cork Decorative and Fine Arts Scociety. Dr Wilson’s talk, “Visions Materialised: St Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh 1868-1919” focuses on the period the cathedral was built a the same time as nationalism was on the rise in Ireland and how St Colman’s was designed to establish continuity between early Irish Christianity, the powerful mediaeval European Christian church, and modern Roman Catholicism. Free for DFAS members and students. €10 for visitors. More information here.
Time, place: 10:45 am, Nano Nagle Place, Douglas Street.
This week on T +D
On Tuesday, Ellie wrote about the withdrawal of a planning application for a controversial East Cork piggery. If it had gone ahead it would have produced 7 million litres of pig slurry and 70 tonnes of waste carcasses from "normal mortality" each year. Fulll story here.
On Wednesday, JJ made the voyage to the centre of The Lough (and satisfied a lifelong urge) to see the sand martin hide that’s being built by Green Spaces for Health and Cork City Council. Indeed, there were sand martins flying over head as bird surveyor Noel Linehan pointed out. That story here.
On Thursday, Ellie wrote about Heirloom, a new exhibition from artist Rachel Doolin which is devoted to seeds. Heirloom runs until Thursday April 27 at the LHQ Gallery, Cork County Library, Carrigrohane Road. Full story here.
A reminder: There’s still just enough time to enter T+D’s inagural photo competition. The theme is the bridges of Cork and the competition is open to everyone. We’ll be selecting one winner each week and featuring that photo on the Friday View with one overall winner who to be announced at the end of April. (There’s a cash prize as well as the glory that comes with winning T+D’s first-ever photo competition). So get busy snapping and send us your bridge pictures. Full details below.
That’s it for this week’s Friday View. Any tips, news or events you’d like to share with Tripe+Drisheen, you can contact us via our About page here. We are always happy to speak to people off the record in the first instance, and we will treat your information with confidence and sensitivity. Get in touch. Have a lovely weekend.