Latest Updates – Page 3 – Michael Pidgeon

Bus Connects: local thoughts for Dublin 8

Below is a draft submission for the third round of BusConnects consultation. This consultation is just on “corridors” – the physical road changes to improve bus journey times – not the actual network of routes themselves.

Pfandtastic: thoughts on the bottle and can deposit scheme

One of the things the Green Party got into the Programme for Government was to introduce “a deposit-and-return scheme for plastic bottles and aluminium cans.”

Greening the South West Inner City: upcoming projects

I recently put a question into the city council, asking for a list and updates on all the planned greening and public realm upgrade projects for the South West Inner City.

Column: Dublin City Council’s decision to cut Local Property Tax will only favour the wealthy

I’m in TheJournal.ie’s opinion section on the decision to lower local property taxes.

2020 should be a year for more public services and more solidarity – not just tax cuts.

You can read the full piece here: https://www.thejournal.ie/readme/dublin-city-council-property-tax-5211928-Sep2020

Speech: 2020 shouldn’t be Dublin’s year of the tax cut

Dublin City Council cut local property tax as much as they could this year. I think that’s a mistake and voted for a modest increase. Here’s my speech on the night:

Surely the lesson of 2020 is just how important public services are to our city.

This shouldn't be yet another year where Dublin City Council cuts taxes for the wealthy at the expense of public services, yet that's exactly how the vote tonight went: 34 to 21.

Here's my speech: pic.twitter.com/ncRXUgGnhV
— Michael Pidgeon (@Pidge) September 21, 2020

Idea: A Phoenix Park to Grand Canal Cycle Path

There’s nothing engineers hate more than politicians getting their crayons out to come up with a scheme. But I’ve had an idea all the same and would welcome thoughts! (I’m on michael@pidgeon.ie – or the Twitter discussion is here.)

Where next for the Phoenix Park?

For a space over 350 years old, the last few months have seen a lot of changes in the Phoenix Park.

Eamon Ryan’s getting my number 1 vote

I’m voting for Eamon for Green leader. I was proud to nominate him too. I’m doing it mainly because I think he’s a rare politician in Ireland who combines a wider vision with minute policy depth and detail.

What needs to change in the Bailey Gibson proposal

Below is an observation I am submitting on the proposals for the Bailey Gibson site, from property developer Hines. As the site is so large, it is going directly to An Bord Pleanála, bypassing the Council. You can see the full plans here.

Note: Since initially publishing this post, I have updated the document with some suggestions from residents and people who got in touch via social media, in particular on offering some units for sale and for pointing me to improved bike parking national standards (point 6 below).

Why I’m supporting the Programme for Government

I started off against all this.

I’m generally keen to see the Greens in government, but was concerned that the kinds of policy change we wanted to see would be near-impossible in a government twinned with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.