Promenade - Megathread

[Numbnuts]

1 minute ago, Non-Believer said:

Part of the problem is that the PS has evolved to work on a completely reactionary basis these days, they attend to matters only after the event or perhaps when somebody has raised the issue. This applies at both Central and Local levels, it's easier to do nothing until you absolutely have to or somebody reports it. Proactivity is not us.

As with anything though, let things slip and it invariably takes a lot longer and a lot more expense to bring it back rather than if it were kept on top of. "A stitch in time saves nine".

Laxey Glen road flooding as a prime example . 

[forestboy]

13 minutes ago, Numbnuts said:

Laxey Glen road flooding as a prime example . 

The area River Gangs should be brought back. 

[Happier diner]

59 minutes ago, Gladys said:

I am suggesting that they should be doing routine maintenance.  If they have the teams, get them out maintaining and if they need more maintenance staff, employ them.  It just seems bizarre that simple, non-technical maintenance seems off the agenda and subject to such bureaucracy. Penny wise, pound foolish. 

How do you know I like to get likes, are you implying that is my sole motive?  Very strange comment.  I like to engage in discussion, sometimes I may be off beam or disagree with other posters who I would otherwise consider reasoned, informed and thoughtful. It is a discussion board after all and like others, my view may be changed, I am not fixed and am open to debate, but not condescending dismissal.

 

 

You would be the last person I would want to offend. Yes you are an excellent poster. 

In this example though you seemed to be stating the obvious. Running with the pack. Apologies if my perception was wrong.

anyway, of course they should be doing proactive maintenance. What makes you think they don't? 

You have said they might need to employ more staff. I would be very much against that.

What they should be doing is managing what they have properly. Maybe they do maybe they don't. I don't know.

However managing them properly doesn't necessarily mean a Rolls Royce service. We are not that wealthy, we need to tolerate potholes to some extent. Direct labour is a lot more expensive than it used to be and a dam sight more risky. Its not the way to go for me anyway.

[Gladys]

33 minutes ago, Happier diner said:

You would be the last person I would want to offend. Yes you are an excellent poster. 

In this example though you seemed to be stating the obvious. Running with the pack. Apologies if my perception was wrong.

anyway, of course they should be doing proactive maintenance. What makes you think they don't? 

You have said they might need to employ more staff. I would be very much against that.

What they should be doing is managing what they have properly. Maybe they do maybe they don't. I don't know.

However managing them properly doesn't necessarily mean a Rolls Royce service. We are not that wealthy, we need to tolerate potholes to some extent. Direct labour is a lot more expensive than it used to be and a dam sight more risky. Its not the way to go for me anyway.

Thank you for the kind  post. 

The level of poor maintenence is indicative of poor management and planning.  It does not need a Rolls Royce solution, I am not arguing for that at all.  But we have all commented that, for example, the road markings are all but worn away, just about everywhere.  Why isn't there a rolling programme to maintain them?  Ditto potholes, bus shelter seats, railings and footpaths on Marine Drive (not sure how much is down to Braddan, though) and so on.  

TBH I would rather see more maintenance staff under one good manager, than a team of bus shelter seat maintenance with a crap manager, another line marking team under an equally crap manager, etc.  

That's not Rolls Royce, just keeping the Ford Fiesta in good nick. 

[Two-lane]

12 minutes ago, Gladys said:

a team of bus shelter seat maintenance

Bus shelter seats are deliberately designed to have narrow, downward-sloping, seats. This is not for the comfort of passengers - it is to prevent alcoholics and drug addicts from sleeping on them. If the seats were designed for the comfort of fare-paying passengers (and constructed out of some material that is a little less temperature conductive) every bus shelter would be permanently occupied by an alcoholic or drug addict. The DoI knows about these things.

[manxfisherman]

Hostile furniture, what a wonderful world

[Roger Mexico]

45 minutes ago, Two-lane said:

Bus shelter seats are deliberately designed to have narrow, downward-sloping, seats. This is not for the comfort of passengers - it is to prevent alcoholics and drug addicts from sleeping on them. If the seats were designed for the comfort of fare-paying passengers (and constructed out of some material that is a little less temperature conductive) every bus shelter would be permanently occupied by an alcoholic or drug addict. The DoI knows about these things.

This is a good example of the warped thinking that dominates Manx government policy.  We must do exactly what the UK does, even though things are completely different here.  So bus shelters must be made uncomfortable for everyone to deter wholly imaginary alcoholics and drug addicts.  Is every flat surface on the Island covered with such people?  Is this a problem in other potential places for rough sleepers?  Ted the Tramp was donkey's years ago and we're still talking about him.  And he had to work hard to stay homeless.

Anyone in such a drugged or drunken state, at any time of day or night will usually be spotted by passers-by, police will be called, enquiries about possible health problems made, advice or even assistance home offered.  Sometimes followed by arrest if the person kicks off instead of accepting it.  You see cases like this in the paper all the time.

So this is a situation that doesn't exist and yet the public must be inconvenienced because it does in the imagination of those who are supposed to provide services for them.  The only thing that matters is imitating the colonial masters (even if they themselves might do something different in different circumstances).  We pay civil servants as if they were high-flyers in much larger counties and they are incapable of doing anything except copy and paste.  Anyone who attempts independent thought, such as Ranson, is ostracised and attacked as top priority.

[snowman]

21 hours ago, offshoremanxman said:

This is the usual look of Loch Prom caused this afternoon by just one person trying to reverse park in a space outside Loch Parade Church. Embarrassing. All because with the useless and totally pointless red stripe down the middle of the road nobody wants to cross it to go past an obstruction. It’s pitiful. 

 

Even worse with horse teams in the way.    They should never be in the middle. The horse teams should be at one side. NOT in the middle 

 

On another prom matter.....I observed someone using a roundel to do a u turn.

 

 

Edited September 6, 2022 by snowman

[Two-lane]

1 minute ago, snowman said:

On another prom matter.....I observed someone using a roundel to do a u turn.

Possibly me, today - coincidently at the same time as someone coming from the other direction also U-turned on the same roundel.

Synchronised U-turns. It could be a new Olympic sport. Meanwhile IoM locals were standing aghast at the sight of people abusing coloured tarmac.

[kevster]

18 minutes ago, Roger Mexico said:

This is a good example of the warped thinking that dominates Manx government policy.  We must do exactly what the UK does, even though things are completely different here.  So bus shelters must be made uncomfortable for everyone to deter wholly imaginary alcoholics and drug addicts.  Is every flat surface on the Island covered with such people?  Is this a problem in other potential places for rough sleepers?  Ted the Tramp was donkey's years ago and we're still talking about him.  And he had to work hard to stay homeless.

Anyone in such a drugged or drunken state, at any time of day or night will usually be spotted by passers-by, police will be called, enquiries about possible health problems made, advice or even assistance home offered.  Sometimes followed by arrest if the person kicks off instead of accepting it.  You see cases like this in the paper all the time.

So this is a situation that doesn't exist and yet the public must be inconvenienced because it does in the imagination of those who are supposed to provide services for them.  The only thing that matters is imitating the colonial masters (even if they themselves might do something different in different circumstances).  We pay civil servants as if they were high-flyers in much larger counties and they are incapable of doing anything except copy and paste.  Anyone who attempts independent thought, such as Ranson, is ostracised and attacked as top priority.

The shelters are manufactured by a UK company - it would be expensive for us if that had to retool to produce a different design just for the few we need 

[0bserver]

21 minutes ago, Roger Mexico said:

So bus shelters must be made uncomfortable for everyone to deter wholly imaginary alcoholics and drug addicts.  Is every flat surface on the Island covered with such people?  Is this a problem in other potential places for rough sleepers?  Ted the Tramp was donkey's years ago and we're still talking about him.  And he had to work hard to stay homeless.

Anyone in such a drugged or drunken state, at any time of day or night will usually be spotted by passers-by, police will be called, enquiries about possible health problems made, advice or even assistance home offered.  Sometimes followed by arrest if the person kicks off instead of accepting it.  You see cases like this in the paper all the time.

The Prom is next door to Bedsit Land so it's probably wholly appropriate to have them designed for such things. 

[Roger Mexico]

3 minutes ago, kevster said:

The shelters are manufactured by a UK company - it would be expensive for us if that had to retool to produce a different design just for the few we need 

Yes I'm sure there's only one company that produces bus shelters in the UK, indeed in the world, and they only produce one model of them.

[Two-lane]

No-one has mentioned the atrocious colour scheme of the bus shelters - green, yellow and rust - a particularly vomit inducing combination. There is no shortage of bad taste in the gov. - look at the promenade colour scheme - black, white, puce, blue, cyan, magenta. About the only thing missing is a bit of lilac bunting - anybody got a bit of material that could be used?

[Omobono]

1 hour ago, Two-lane said:

Bus shelter seats are deliberately designed to have narrow, downward-sloping, seats. This is not for the comfort of passengers - it is to prevent alcoholics and drug addicts from sleeping on them. If the seats were designed for the comfort of fare-paying passengers (and constructed out of some material that is a little less temperature conductive) every bus shelter would be permanently occupied by an alcoholic or drug addict. The DoI knows about these things.

And now the City Fathers are closing public toilets  or making a 20p charge for the few that are open , the bus shelters are  being used by people to relieve themselves  we could have shelters with a proper seat  and with clear glass fronts with  a heat sensitive light that comes on when someone enters in the dark powered by solar ,not rocket science when you see the disgraceful shelters on the prom falling  ti bits   eaten away with rust and stinking 

[kevster]

2 minutes ago, Roger Mexico said:

Yes I'm sure there's only one company that produces bus shelters in the UK, indeed in the world, and they only produce one model of them.

Yes, there are a few manufacturers, with different styles, but perch seating is pretty much standard