The Cork Street Park Campaign has recently released its report following a meeting it held on the 20th of February in the Dublin Food Co-Op premises in Newmarket. The meeting was a huge success and an excellent example of a well run community development project, as 80 people attended and each was afforded the opportunity to offer their opinion. The report itself is a testament to the creative minds of the area. Conceiving the planned plot on Chambers Street as a “multi-generational space” the suggestions in the report cover the age demographic quite thoroughly. A coffee shop and urban gardening space at one of the scale to a skate park (complete with bowl and ramps) and graffiti wall on the other.
While this report, though excellently presented and professionally put together can only represent a wish list until final Dublin City Council approval, it does put forward the kind of community driven action that International/European directives such as Local 21 Agenda set out to achieve. The meetings main findings suggested that people saw this as an opportunity for better community integration and activity. People are arguing for not just an environmentally attractive area to walk their dogs but somewhere were young and old can tangibly use, whether through sporting, educational, cultural or artistic endeavours. The area does require some amenities in terms of creating a distraction for young people.
The Cork Street Park idea though led by residents provides the Council with a great opportunity to expand on tourism in the area. As part of an overall rejuvenation of Dublin 8 which is coming through the massive strains of investment led by Guinness, the Children’s Hospital and three local distilleries.
While it’s true the DCC has lots of worthwhile causes deserving of its own limited resources, I personally hope that they try to create something different with this project. This is not just an opportunity to develop a wonderful interactive park for amenity deprived area but also create a new kind of community integration through abandoned public spaces.
Below is the link to the report, by all means I encourage anyone to read it http://issuu.com/hazelsandy/docs/cork_street_park_meeting_report
