Reclaim The Letters Page

Below you'll find a letter entitled 'Reclaiming' The Streets' which was published in yesterday's Irish Times. We here at Urban Ramblings are currently tracking this man down, with a view towards having him spayed. Read on.

'Madam - I see that the capital's citizens are about to be subject to needless disruption once again on foot of this risible 'Reclaim The Streets' rubbish.
Even the title is arrant nonsense. What exactly are these people trying to achieve, other than inconveniencing the rest of the populace, for some nebulous reason best known to themselves? The term 'street' stems from Latin, meaning 'paved road' and is defined by the Encarta Internet Dictionary as 'part of the road between sidewalks' and 'used by vehicles' Therefore, given that streets, by definition, were always designed with the express purpose of conveying vehicular traffic from A to B, how exactly does one go about reclaiming something that one never had any claim to to begin with?'

I've been troubled since reading this regarding what exactly antagonizes me the most about the gimp of this ginnet. It could be any one of the following:

1. Reclaim the Streets is held on the May Bank Holiday. Considering most people are off work and the city is generally emptier than a usual day, how exactly is this inconveniencing the 'populace'?

2. The writer's tone; He clearly enjoys playing the lawyer, but his argument is fallacious. He bases his claim that protesters have no right to reclaim something that never belong to them in the first place is based on Encarta's definition of a street!! Now, I'm no fan of the law, but if you're going to dabble in it, and use lofty terms such as 'populace' surely your complaints should be based on a more solid legal foundation, like eh, the Constitution, or better yet, where Joe Duffy stands on the issue?

3. Perceiving a street to be solely for allowing vehicular access between A and B is precisely what drives(!) the movement onwards. Reclaim the Streets is a response to the abominable level of traffic that chokes our city. It is about giving the streets, which Urban Ramblings defines as societal highways belonging to each and every inhabitant and tourist, back to the 'populace.' And if we are talking about inconvencing citizens, how about having a go at the thousands, no, tens of thousands of lazy bastard punters who drive to the city centre every day from Donnybrook, Rathmines and Ranelagh, to name but a few suburbs that are within easy walking distance of the streets that we are trying to reclaim.

4. Dublin has come on leaps and bounds in many respects since I arrived here five years ago. After creating a decidedly commendable replica of Beirut, the Corpo is finally coming up trumps and giving us a city that may, just may, be able to hold its head up high with other European capitals. But the entire ambience is devastated by the absurd amount of traffic in the city centre. Reclaim the Streets seeks to create spaces that allow the Arts to flourish, while families play and lovers frolic without being poisoned by pointless car fumes. It represents an attempt, if you like, to breathe new life into the decaying lungs of urban life.

5. What bothers me most of all, though, about this writer's intolerance and bigotry - he's from Kenilworth Park, incidentally, and probably drives to work. I'd also venture as far as to say that he's not particularly popular at parties - is that his argument is commonplace. Reclaim the Streets occurs once a year, just once, and exudes a carefree, ebullient celebration of human life in a city that has come to value convenience more than citizenship. It hardly impinges upon the public psyche, except when the guards decide to beat the shit out of the most vociferous of the protesters, and yet the greatest emotion aroused within most Irish people when confronted with this genuine attempt to make the city a better place for everyone is derision. This town drags me down. So please, go along on Monday and give support to the campaign. A vibrant city centre would benefit us all, as anyone who has visited Covent Garden in London, or the Tuileries Gardens in Paris will know. Reclaim the Streets! And if you're at a party and you meet someone from Kenilworth Road who is boring the life out of you, let us know. We have ways of dealing with his type.

'Only after the last tree has been cut down
Only after the last river has been poisoned,
Only after the last fish has been caught,
Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten.'
Indian Proverb.