Road to ruin for your car or bike!

For those who have been reading this blog for some six months now will know that in the last year I have quite openly come out and I am now a MAMIL (Middle Aged Man In Lycra)!

Yes, I have taken up road cycling with the Waterford Biscuit Club and I have somehow now become one of those people on a bike that one way or another seem to infuriate some of our vehicular brethren.

I have read and heard about cyclist hating drivers’ texting, emailing and commenting on programmes such as Deise AM, in recent weeks, and also passing sentencing on cyclist in line with Minister Donohoe’s new fines for us MAMIL’s.

Readers who know me more intimately will know that I am a self-confessed petrol head and I have raced XR2’s around Knockhill and also owned all manner of interesting cars from a 1964 Mini Cooper S, Triumph Dolomite Sprint, MKII Escort Mexico, Escort Turbo, Astra GTE and so on right through to my current generation one Mini Cooper S – I really have had the whole gamut of boy racer cars and some say I am still driving one today (midlife crisis maybe)!

Whilst, I do agree that there are some poor cyclists on our roads I see proportionately far more very bad drivers who still insist on using their mobile phones, I see children not suitably restrained in the front and backs of cars, people who treat a roundabout as a “squareabout”, people who ignore the speed restriction signage and above all I see lots of very angry people in vehicles who are quite plainly one hoot of their horn away from a serious road rage incident!

The fact is that everyone who is entitled to use our roadways and laneways should do so with the utmost respect for other road users. And yes this might mean having to lift the occasional hand to say sorry rather than flicking one or two other digits at an offending road user. Life is far too short to be Mr Angry all the time and to be honest it does take far more effort and concentration to be the ubiquitous “I don’t believe it!” grumpy Mr Victor Meldrew rather than a Mr Happy.

All local road users share the same tarmac or in the case of the roads in Waterford City I would imagine we share some of the worst road surfaces in the whole of Ireland!

I travel in and out to the City Centre on most days of the week in my wee Mini Cooper S and due to the hard suspension and low profile tyres I feel every bump and hole in the patch work quilt that we now call the Dunmore Road. Yes, I understand that the roadwork’s are a necessity and that at some time in the very far, far future the surface will allegedly be remedied but we all know that the surface will NEVER be returned to resemble what is was prior to the road works starting. We will end up with a rubbish surface that needs and demands constant future attention and expensive Council resources.

However, I did not quite realise just how bad the Dunmore Road surface had become until I had the misfortune of cycling up it last Sunday with fellow Biscuit Ian. I would describe the experience similar to hiking in the Alps or Munro bagging in Scotland. To justify the surface as a “road surface” is to say the very least stretching the boundaries of the definition of both of these words. To make matters worse I have recently upgraded my “shite bike” and now ride a thoroughbred steed and naturally enough I wish to look after this bike and I believe that sometimes the road surfaces around the City must be damaging my bike, my car and me!

 

From the People’s Park to Ardkeen roundabout is patchwork quilt of varying surface materials, lots of very big lumps and some huge bumps, sharp edges that will tear at tyres and alloy wheels, gravel and loose material that has simply been swept into the cycle lane, drain and form edges that stand proud of the road and a whole myriad of other issues that should be of concern to every vehicular and cycle users alike.

I cannot for one minute accept that what we are currently being asked to navigate on is tolerable to any road users and you have to wonder if the people in charge of this engineering catastrophe actually use this road for their daily commute. And as for the radio adverts asking people to find alternative route well I am sorry but this is Waterford and not London and there are NO alternative routes especially when school term time is upon us and the airing of these advert seems to be a simple box ticking statutory exercise.

Also, remember that this road is THE gateway to our coastal villages and sandy beaches and in many respects our shop window to and from the City. This is one of the main arteries that feeds our City and brings commerce into and out of the City Centre. The Dunmore Road is also the main access route that cuts a swath right through the City Centre to access all parts north, northwest and east of Waterford City.

During these summer months and weeks just how many visitors, tourists or cruiser liner visitors will travel this route in and out of our City Centre and wonder if they are in fact travelling on some sort of third-world dirt track road when they should be one of the smoothest surfaces available to vehicular traffic?

This the wrong impression we will be giving the very people who we need to come to Waterford to spend their money directly into our local economy? As we are lagging so far behind other tourism destinations do we not have to be ahead of the game and constantly be better than our competitors.

If we are collectively promoting a positive message around our wonder coastline, our heritage, our culture and so on, the very least we can do is ensure that the roads that people need to travel on to access these attractions needs to be up to par and unfortunately they are not.

Is it acceptable that at the height of our tourist season we are willing to accept the “Boys from the Blackstuff” finish? Albeit a temporary finish, we are told, but as temporary finishes go this has to be atrocious, appalling, inexcusable and is it in fact an intolerable surface for any of us to use?

As our shop window to the City and the County the Dunmore Road is at the moment the worst window display you will ever see and we have to ask just what are we saying about our City if we find this surface appropriate?

I have a feeling that just as Minister Donohoe’s new cycling fines will see lots of Lance Armstrong’s now living in the City the Dunmore Road will remain a navigational nightmare until such times as the whole road is resurfaced perfectly.

We really have such a long way to go to get the simplest of things right.

Unchained melody hits the wrong note!

Positive public relations (PR) for the City and County is an essential part of our marketing mix and is something that, as I have said time and time again, we ALL need to be aware of if we are to promote that City and County in a positive light.

The last seven to ten days have been filled with positive news stories right across the City and County. From the opening of the Lafcadio Hearn Japanese styled gardens in Tramore to the Medieval Festivals in the City and Dungarvan, Dromana 800 in West Waterford to the Promenade Festival in Tramore, Day Tripper concerts in Bolton Street and the Summer In The City musical treats in John Roberts Square and Wyse Park, (to name but a few) we really did have an awful lot to take in over the last seven to ten days.

And all of these events help create a general positive experience when it comes to making us feel better about our City and County and with the local papers full of pictures of our smiling sun drenched beaming pasty faces, eating ice cream, and attending these events, this creates a sense that we are all very predisposed to the upbeat PR messaging we are reading. These messages make us feel warm and fuzzy inside and that is good.

These most simple of generic PR messages have reinforced our knowledge that when all is said and done Waterford really is a great place to live, work and play.

The opposite side of the coin is of course how we might view and comprehend the mountains of self generated PR we come across on a daily basis.

For example, over the last 7 to 10 days we can also throw into the mix all the media and social media commentary on the appointment of the Mayor of Waterford City and County and the appointment of the Mayor of the Waterford Metropolitan area. And when we sit down in the cold light of day to review this messaging do we all believe that these types’ messages also show the City and County in the same positive light?

We have one Mayor serving the City and County (who chairs the main Waterford Council plenary meetings) and one Mayor serving the Metropolitan area of the City (who chairs the Metropolitan area Council meetings). This does of course lead to some confusion on behalf of, us, the members of the public and also leads to a number of protocol issues around who will or will not wear the ceremonial chains at this event and that event.

There is also another interesting PR dynamic that we will all see develop over the next ten months with both Mayoral councillors no doubt keeping one beady eye on the date of the next general election. Councillor Quinlan has already thrown his hat into the ring and I have no doubt the Councillor Cummins may well be contemplating doing the same.

With both of these Councillors in opposing political camps it will be very interesting to see who actually takes the lead in are

a of self generated PR and will the vast pages PR that each will undoubtedly generate be for the benefit of the City and County or the benefit of the individual?

Let us not be fooled as this process has already started and we have begun to see “the chains” being rolled out at this event and that event. The race has begun to stake a claim as a preferred candidate for the next general election and it will be most intriguing to monitor the progress of these two Councillors as they begin to position themselves with their respective party hierarchy.

So we must review and interpret the entire mountains of PR we read and are bombarded with on a daily basis and any messaging contained therein must be scrutinised and understood. We all must look at what we are reading and assess if this is, at the time of reading, relevant to “me” and if it is we will remember the context of what we read and therefore we will be more apt to regurgitate at a later date. If however, what we are reading is of no interest whatsoever to us we will conveniently forget what we have read and have no further interaction with the content of any PR article.

To be able to be interactive with any PR that we come across it is important that it is of relevance to us and perhaps more importantly it is vital that what we read connects with us and therefore plays in some way with our senses. PR will take us through a whole roller coaster of emotions and cleverly written PR will drive home specific messages that will become pertinent to us time and time again.

For Waterford City and County to continue to exponentially grow in importance within ALL of us we must keep reading positive PR messages. Messages that are not about individual self promotion rather messages that are about the greater good of Waterford Inc.

Remember to read between the lines to get the real meaning of any PR.

Ireland's Ancient East needs to deliver today!

On Thursday 25^th June I was kindly invited, by Minister Paudie Coffey TD, to attend a workshop on the tourism project called Ireland’s Ancient East, which was chaired by Minister Pascal Donohoe TD, Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport.

So many holiday choices.

It was great to note that Minister Donohoe spent the whole day in Waterford City and County seeing at firsthand our tourism offering and also I am sure that he took the opportunity to meet and greet many businesses involved in his ministerial portfolio.

We met in the Granville Hotel with industry representatives and members of the Council Executive.

As we are all aware Ireland’s Ancient East project was muted quite some time ago (possible as long ago as two years) and is in every single way the response to the highly successful Wild Atlantic Way project launched a number of years ago. The Wild Atlantic Way is literally pulling hundreds of thousands of tourists to the West and the unfortunate consequence of this is that less and less International tourists are coming to the Waterford and the South East. The Wild Atlantic Way has been a massively successful project and there can be absolutely no doubt that the strength of this new west coast brand will be nearly impossible to compete with and therefore we are yet again playing catch up to the rest of Ireland Inc.

Ireland's Ancient East.

The simple truth is that Waterford and the South East get the smallest amount of International tourist and more alarmingly we get a very insignificant amount of the available overseas tourism spend. And it is this very small percentage of spend that we should all be very concerned about. It is Tourism Ireland that promotes all things Irish in terms of this Emerald Isle as a destination. They really are only concerned with visiting numbers and the reality is that it makes no difference if 7 million tourists come to just one place as long as that place is in Ireland somewhere. So as a destination attractor Ireland’s Ancient East will have to be very special indeed if we are to get an ever increasing larger slice of the International tourism pie.

Despite all the efforts over the last number of years Waterford is still seen as a “very quick visit” for International tourists and as a results many spend literally a couple of hours, and a couple of Euro, in Waterford Crystal and the Viking Triangle and then hop back on to a tour bus and then it is off to Kilkenny or off down to the West of Ireland.

This of course is not what we want and the Ireland’s Ancient East project has to go an awful long way go to remedy this leakage of tourists and their much needed injection of Euro into our local economy. We are almost back to the same old scenario when our tourist numbers visited Kilbarry, bypassing the City altogether, and stayed two hours then it was off down the Cork Road and into the West.

The Wild Atlantic Way.

The fact the politicians from within Fine Gael cannot agree on whether Waterford should have its own tourism offering as part of Ireland’s Ancient East or be part of the wider Wild Atlantic Way does give cause for concern when you consider just how far behind we are in terms of our offering. On the day the Minister Donohoe was in Waterford his party colleague, Mr Deasy TD, was on WLR FM calling for Waterford Council to once again push for inclusion in the Wild Atlantic way. I personally believe that we have to have our own unique offering and from my very limited knowledge of all things Wild and Atlantic I do not believe we are in fact on the Atlantic at all, and we are on the Celtic Sea (I think) and as such we need our own unique selling point as part of a wider tourism offering! 

Interesting to note that Cork is hedging its bets and is on both maps of the Wild Atlantic Way and Ireland's Ancient East - you have got to hand it to them!

Minister Donohoe stated that he wished to see 600,000 additional tourists come to the South East by 2020, but that timescale is of course far too late or Waterford City and the wider South East region and this was pointed out to the Minister during the workshop. Quite simply need those 600,000 additional tourist now and next year and not 4 or 5 years away. Like our retail sector we need to see increased numbers coming immediately to the City and County, and all manner of hills and mountains need to be moved to achieve this. I often wonder if it is only me that can see the need for urgency and rapid implementation of projects that will bring financial security to the City and I do wonder if other see the City and County through a pair of optically challenge set of rose tinted glasses.

I pointed out to the Minister that communicating the messaging of the project is key and vital to its success, and that all front-line responders needed to be aware of the project and its objectives so that tourist would benefit from the correct information. Unfortunately, as is so often the case, unless the appropriate senior civil servants and their departments get behind the project it is doomed to be moving along at a snail’s pace when we require the implementation speed of a Peregrine falcon!

When you consider that most tour operators are already selling 18 to 24 months ahead we are realistically taking about 2017 at the very earliest before we can even look at persuading these tour operators to come and consider Ireland’s Ancient East. And we will then have try to persuade these operators to leave their traditional markets and bear in mind that these existing markets will be fighting tooth and nail to keep their existing supply chain and that tourism income. It really will be an monumental uphill struggle.

The success of Ireland’s Ancient East project will ultimately be down to buy-in from all sectors concerned within the tourism industry and history tells us, which we never seems to learn from, that for such a project to work we need to see real on-the-ground-work being down and figuratively speaking we need to see people prepared to “wear out their shoe leather”.

Failure to get the industry informed and get the industry enthused will deliver nothing. It is all very well communicating this message internally and within Government Departments but getting the message out to a wider stakeholder group is a whole different proposition.

And we can see similar mistakes with the opportunities around the Purple Flag in Waterford, where there has been a communication void in terms of message reinforcement. Yes, we need better stakeholder buy-in but the whole message dissemination around the Purple Flag in Waterford leaves one wondering if it could not have been done better.

Alchemists workshop.

So, the Ireland’s Ancient East project has the potential to deliver, but only if Minister Donohoe is prepared to rattle a few cages, stand on a few toes and move the year 2020 to 2017.

Though I am not sure alchemy is in his portfolio!

Waterford - a busier City than you might think!

Summer Solstice

So the longest day of the year has now passed us by and from now on the days start to get much shorter and we shall start to notice it is getting darker much earlier in the evening – just how depressing is that thought!

Still on the plus side there is much to look forward to this summer in and around Waterford City and County. I would urge everyone to actually seek out the many wonderful events and activities that have been scheduled for our entertainment and for the entertainment of the thousands of visitors we expect to see over the rest of the Summer months. And remember that many of these events and activities are actually free to attend – now if that has not lifted your spirits’ I do not know what will.

Starting this weekend is the return of the very successful Summer In The City programme of events. We will see bands and tribute acts returning to the stage in John Robert’s Square every Friday evening and every Saturday afternoon. In addition there will be family fun and kiddie orientated entertainment from 12:30 on Saturday until 14:30. ArtBeat will also be performing with live acts across the City and will be delivering their usual cutting edge blend of new local musical talent. ALL of these events are free to attend courtesy of Waterford Council and Waterford Business Group. This is the second year of Summer In The City and the programme continues to grow in popularity and is something that we all should and need to start supporting.

There can be no more excuses that the City Centre has “nothing on” as this programme of 12 weeks of  entertainment starts off this Friday and Saturday with Suzie Q and Thank Funk and runs right through until Saturday 12^th September.

A City In Bloom.

You may also have noticed that the City Centre is beginning to look “Blooming Marvellous” as more and more City Centre shops and business from the Train Station to The Quay to John Robert’s Square to Michael Street to Arundel Square start to display wonderfully colourful hanging baskets and flower boxes. This voluntary initiative started last year with the Council and Waterford Business Group and is beginning to spread right across the City Centre and in time will no doubt include Ferrybank as well. This five year project will grow exponentially year on year and we would like to believe that by the end of year five every single business in the City will partake in the initiative. The cost is minimal, the initiative supports local businesses and best of all, the entire City looks fantastic to citizens and visitors alike.

City In Bloom makes us stand out from the crowd and let us not forget that colour and flowers make people smile and the colourful displays will also make people look up at a our wonderful buildings and architecture.

But the City In Bloom needs everyone to play their part and we must be encouraging people to keep their City clean and tidy, keep their City void of dog poop and ensure that we all, where possible, encourage shops and businesses to participate in City In Bloom. There is still time for business to get involved and they only have to ask a member of the Waterford Business Group for information.

As our Summer rolls on we can look forward to Day Tripper with its blend of old and new music and this year we can all relax with a glass of Red Red Wine. The Tramore Promenade Festival in early July promises to deliver a whole host of exciting events and activities. Spraoi comes around every year at the end of July beginning of August and the 2015 event promises to bring a wonderful array of diverse acts back to Waterford City once again. The annual Harvest Festival comes to us early in September when we can celebrate all things foodie and look forward to sampling some of the best our local food producers can provide.

And outside of the events there are many, many more local events taking place such as the Boobs and Balls Solas Centre motorcycle show, National Heritage Week, Dunmore East Bluegrass Festival, Robert Boyle Summer School and much, much more.

For those feeling a little more energetic you can run in the Viking Marathon or cycle in the Sean Kelly Tour of Waterford or partake in the Comeraghs Wild Festival.

We so often hear and read about other about other towns and cities being much, much busier than Waterford and perhaps the reality is that this is simply not true. It may just be the case that these urban areas have been in this space far longer than Waterford. These urban areas have been attracting tourist and their citizens into the centres for far longer than Waterford and as a result are perceived to be much better at this process. The truth is they are much better at the Public Relations and spin and this in part makes these areas seem more attractive.

Waterford has an awful lot of catching up to do and this will take time. But we are moving in the right direction and we need to keep up the engagement with organisers of the right events that will attract the right people to Waterford and its City Centre.

I have always said that Waterford has the right people to make the City and County the MUST place to visit. It is just that so often many stakeholders are much happier to engage with people and businesses from outside of the Waterford environs. This needs to stop and these decision makers need to be secure in the knowledge that the talented people of Waterford can deliver just as much as the talented people of Kilkenny, Dublin, Galway and so on.

Once you start to dig just a wee bit deeper you start to see a picture emerging that there is actually an awful lot of events and activities going on this Summer across the whole of Waterford and many taking place in the City Centre itself.

We are really quite fortunate to have so many organisations, often thanklessly working away on our behalf, creating and running events for our enjoyment.

It really is time to celebrate the fact the as our days are beginning to get shorter there are more and more events available for us to attend. There can be no more excuses that other places do it better than Waterford because quite clearly we are leading the way and this alone is worth shouting about.

Quay to success lies in our City Centre!

North Quays artist impression.

I read with interest last week’s blanket coverage around the purchase of the North Quays by Waterford Council or the fact it has now been stated that the Council will take control of the North Quays – two completely different scenarios. What this actually means for the City and County will no doubt come out over time and as they say the devil is always in the detail.

Of course the development of this prime real estate has to be warmly welcomed and yet we are already reading proposal from various sources that this option and that option would be the best for the City. But what surely matters is that this area of the City’s infrastructure is developed rapidly and must also be developed in such a way as not to stop the critical and much needed development of the actual City Centre – the very heart of Waterford.

There were many attention-grabbing reports last week including, what I think was a ridiculous suggestion, that DIT should get involved in this process. Now where is the sense in that when we have our own WIT is screaming for University status and yet we have a Councillor wanting to involve a Dublin third level institute in what has to be a jealously safeguarded Waterford City project! The mind boggles sometimes.

Bustling market in the City Centre.

The North Quays could and should be one of the most attractive areas of the City and has to be developed for the benefit of the City, the County and the South East and it has to be selfishly developed in this order of priority.

It would also be worthwhile finally tackling the issue of Ferrybank and the complicated legacy of should this area be part of the City or part of Kilkenny. I would hope that there will be an announcement around this topic, in the near future, and again I would hope that the decision will be made for the betterment of the City, County and South East.

Developing the North Quays will of course bring the north side of the river back into the heart of the City if developed sympathetically and correctly. And as I have said this can only be good for the future of Waterford City.

But what of the very heart of Waterford City, its City Centre, which has in many people’s eyes been neglected from development for many, many years?

Can we justify spending or investing more money in the development of the North Quays without first of all redeveloping our City Centre?

We now know that the development of the Viking Triangle (VK) which has been welcomed but has the VK area driven the much promised footfall back into the heart of our City Centre? Have we seen the promised connectivity between the VK and retail core of the City? And have we educated tourists to stopping in the City for more than a few hours to ultimately staying a few nights in our City hotels and accommodation providers?

These questions must be answered before we rush to develop the North Quays. We have been quite rightly told for years that out of City development will not be permitted as this will destroy the very heart of our City Centre and yet we have failed to see equal investment support for the City Centre when compared to areas such as the VK and now perhaps the North Quay.

Blackfriars.

We cannot keep going on ignoring the fact that the City Centre needs investment, the City Centre needs to incentivise new retailers and the City Centre needs to have lower commercial rates to encourage retail and service industry investment. These plans have to be implemented otherwise we will see yet another area of the City be developed to the detriment of the City Centre. At a time when we need to be concentrating on creating the most attractive City Centre in Ireland and creating an experience that is uniquely Waterford focused will we be distracted by this exciting new project that has now appeared on the horizon?

There is limited funding available for every type of development and the simple fact is that we cannot be sidetracked and surely our priority now has to the City Centre’s development.

Without a vibrant City Centre we will not attract investment, we will not attract tourists, and we will not attract the people of Waterford into our City. The vivacity of the City Centre cannot be underestimated and when I walk in to the City at the start of the week or in the evenings and see just how quiet it is it begs the question “Have we collectively forgotten about developing OUR City Centre?”

The black fountain/obelisk does not work, the “car wash” on Broad Street has never worked, we have crocked lighting pillars in George’s Street, Blackfriars is very uninviting and so on and so on.

Purple Flag for Waterford City.

We have literally spent thousands of Euro investing in the Purple Flag initiative and thankfully this achieved an accredited award. However, the flag is flying rather limply now and this is in part due to a lack of external communication outside of the stakeholder group. Now is the time to bring home ALL our birds to roost and play to our strengths and deliver a City Centre worthy of this Purple Flag award. If we do not invest now in the City Centre we will very quickly come to the stage where we have deliberately created our own City Centre doughnut with an empty centre and lots of exciting opportunities around the periphery.

This course of action will over time once and for all “kill” our City Centre and there will be no recovery from such a doomsday scenario. If we are not careful and if we as citizens do not have our say then it may well be too late for all of us to see the genuine regeneration of the Waterford City Centre.

Waterford City South Quay at night.

In a time when there is so much pressure of inter-web shopping we must create a shopping experience like no other and we must give the very best service to every single customer that comes to Waterford. Until we are prepared to go that extra mile how can we expect others to travel ten of hundreds of miles to visit our historic City?

OUR City Centre has been crying out for urgent investment for a number of years and the money must be found to ensure the City Centre at the very least keeps pace with the VK and any proposed North Quays development.

Do we take the very innovative step of claiming back the South Quays as well and once and for all introduce affordable car parking to drive footfall back into the City Centre. This of course would be too easy and too simplistic – or would it?

Finally, we must all remember that without a healthy heart no one can survive!

A Challenge That Takes The Biscuit!

It is in the genes.

I referenced a few weeks ago a quote from a poem about doing your very best against all the odds and the particular lines from the poem that have most meaning were; “Rise and rise again, until the sheep have become lions”.

We saw again on Sunday from our young group of Waterford hurlers a collective will, drive and determination to well and truly uncork the bottle and we outplayed a more experienced team of hurlers. This true grit and determination is something that we all should and need to aspire to. To be part of a winning team means setting yourself your own challenging goals and this in turn will have a positive effect on those around you whether that be in your home, at work or during you

r leisure time.

Defining you role within an organisation is a challenge to all of us and we all know those individuals that appear to take this in their stride and emerge, on the surface anyway, to be cool as the proverbial cucumber and these people seem to have a great degree of confidence and very, very little self-doubt. We need to surround ourselves with these drivers and achievers in business if said business is to have longevity.

Like our young Waterford hurlers who have no doubt set themselves the tough goal of winning a Munster title, myself and seven other members of The Biscuit Club, a cycling sportif, set ourselves a very challenging goal of completing the Wicklow 200km cycle on Sunday 7^th June. Individually, we were all working away on our own fitness and I am sure we were all working out in our own minds just how we were to complete this gargantuan challenge. However we could all take comfort in the knowledge that we would collectively suffer the pain together.

I myself, having literally only picked up racing road bike in August of last year (2014), found the task in hand very daunting and I believed that for me to complete the 200km within my timeframe of under eight hours would be a huge mental challenge for myself. However, my past life and business experiences have taught me that the greater the challenge the greater my focus and this in turn drives me forward at an accelerated pace to relish whatever challenge is put in front of me. I am that dog who will not let the bone go and I know from my rugby playing days that I would always have sought out the biggest maddest player on the opposition team and smash them within the first few minutes of a game, just to lay down a marker. I suppose that in a way my Scottish genes mean that I really do savour a challenge.

Typical MAMIL.

On the Sunday 7^th June I was mentally prepared to tackle the very best of the hills and mountains that the Wicklow 200km could throw at me. Even a flat tyre before I set off would not distract my mind from the task in hand. And so eight intrepid Middle Aged Men In Lycra (MAMILs) set off at around 07:00 on Sunday morning to test our fitness, endurance, mental fortitude and no doubt there was just an edge of competitiveness to see just how we would compete against much more seasoned cyclists.

After many, many, many hours literally welded to the saddle we managed to come back, in ones and twos, to the finish line, at Bray Leisure Centre, in around 7 hours and 15 to 25 minutes. Remarkable times from everyone who took part and all the more remarkable as these MAMIL’s all have day jobs and cycling is after all a hobby and a pastime. The Wicklow 200km challenged all of us in a very personal way and to a man everyone stood up to the challenge and although utterly exhausted we managed to still smile at the end of an epic journey.

For me personally to get round the 200km in approximately seven hours and twenty minutes meant that I had over achieved on my goal of competing the 200km in less than eight hours. Having smashed my own personal goal I am already considering setting an under seven hours target for next year! Now there is a challenge!!!!!

Michael, Declan, John, Gary, Stephen & Ray.

Ambitious, absolutely YES. Is this actually achievable for me? Well I will find out in twelve months time and I am sure an increased number of Biscuits from Waterford City will join us in the challenge.

The setting of tough ambitious goals and targets works for me and works for those around me. This in part means that many of the people I surround myself with are by their very nature extremely positive people and certainly will not fear a challenge. Whilst we may all get slightly apprehensive about the challenges we set ourselves, a tough challenge tests our very character and our mental resolve. If you are sound in mind then anything is possible and you will go through life seeking out new opportunities with a degree of excitement that is palpable for all to see.

As a life lesson I see at the moment many teenagers getting overly stressed and worried about leaving certification examinations. These young adults who have done the hard work, put in the study times and covered the course work will do well. They just need to believe that they have prepared enough for the challenges of examinations.  They need to believe that they will do well and it is the responsibility of those positive people around these young adults to install the confidence that is needed to face the challenges of the examination room.

In life we all should be seeking out bigger tougher challenges that will stretch us both physically and mentally. Our mind and body both crave regular exercise and the more we work our bodies constituent parts the better we will be to meet whatever challenge our work life and leisure life throws at us.

Too big a challenge?

Being able to say that you have done your absolute best and could give no more is the most any business can ask of its employees. If that business is lucky enough to have a motivated workforce and the business knows how to challenges it staff members then such a business will have longevity. However, surround yourself with lazy, negative, pessimistic and unmotivated staff members this will ensure that a business has no future.

How we tackle challenges in life and in business define us. So remember that every uphill has a downhill just over the summit and the tougher the uphill the greater the reward coming down the other side.

The worst "since records began!"

In meteorological terms the 1^st of June always marks that start of summer.

Irish weather forecasting!

This date is the reference point that is used by meteorologists to allow year on year comparison with weather related statistics and probably allows comparisons “since records began”. Not that many of us actually understand what this phrase really means. We apparently had absolutely no records of any weather patterns until one day some bright spark started writing down what the weather was like on any given day they woke up, and so “since records began” started. That first date must have been an amazing date when it was simply the hottest, wettest, driest, windiest and coldest day on record!

Not that the weather this week has felt anything like summer and as we all hope that, that one day of wonderful weather we had back in May was not summer, we all keep our fingers crossed that this summer will be the best “since records began”.

The compiling of statistical information is hugely important for businesses when they need to refer back to weekly, monthly and yearly key performance indicators. This inevitably leads to direct comparison and more importantly details a statistical evaluation of how the business is performing. This can then allow for real time adjustments to strategy to get a business back on track in terms of the annual budgetary goals that would have been set at the start of the financial year.

Using the correct statistical information is also a fundamental if we are to assess accurately how we are performing.

I heard only last week a lot of commentary that Waterford is now “moving in the right direction” in terms of its economic recovery. Well this is and is not true.

Footfall!

Yes, we are seeing some great economic news on the jobs front, particularly in the pharmaceutical and service sectors. And these positive news stories will no doubt bring greater attention to the City and hopefully more investment.

But our retail sector continues to struggle with falling footfall (stagnant at best), very low disposable income per household, high commercial rates, high cost of planning regulation and years of neglect. As we are selling Waterford Inc to potential investors the very heart of Waterford, its City Centre, MUST develop at an accelerated pace in order to keep up with other industry led expansion.

The lowering of the cost of operating a business in the City Centre will bring in a better retail mix and will, I am sure, give additional impetus to the Michael Street and Apple Market projects. Both of these projects incidentally have been championed by the Waterford Business Group for the last two years and it is refreshing to see this level of commercialism from within the Council. However, the caveat to this is to have the Council drive the project at a commercial pace and deliver for the City in a shortened time frame. There are far too many examples of Local Government and National Government moving at a snail’s pace when a cheetah’s pace is needed. Waterford is a prime example where not only is the clock ticking but we will very shortly need a Doctor Who like time machine to catch up.  

By the end of the first month of the summer we will be halfway through the financial year for many companies in Waterford. There will be much soul searching and pressing of calculator buttons, as businesses right across the City Centre realise that the financial predictions made at the start of the year are falling way short of what is needed to actually keep trading and stay in business.

Apple Market artists impression.

This is the actual position many of the businesses in our City Centre find themselves in today. They are not worried about lasting to the end of the year or lasting to the end of the summer, they are worried about surviving to the end of the week!

Reality bites when as a business owner you have no salary to take home and you are sacrificing your own wellbeing in order to keep your staff employed. Yet there is an assumption that the business owners of Waterford City are somehow making absolute fortunes at the moment as we hear more and more misplaced commentary about the economic recovery across Waterford City. 

Yes, there are astonishingly rapid recoveries happening in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Limerick but these four Cities are not in the third tier of economic recovery. Waterford and the South East are and this is a fact. You only have to look at the Pobal HP Deprivation Index, as used recently by Mr Browne and his boys, to understand just the scale of the economic recovery needed across the South East. Just to catch up with the likes of Galway and Limerick there is a massive amount of work needed and it is not as though the Pobal information is old. The Pobal HP Deprivation Index was generated in 2011/2012 some four summers ago!

So how are the City Centre’s businesses going to survive this week, this month and this summer?

The very minimum that is needed is a further 20% reduction in the commercial rates for City Centre businesses in 2016. A 20% reduction was enabled two years ago when Minister Hogan was lobbied by the Waterford Business Group.

There are now more commercial rates going into the City’s coffers with the many new industrial premises being built and the various expansions taking place. This increase in industrial rates must be offset against a reduction in City Centre commercial rates and every Councillor in the City and County must start working on driving the cost of operating a business in our City Centre DOWN.

 Omnishambles or Dr Who?

Our City Centre can only be at the heart of our City and County if we have a progressive commercial rates structure, which in turn will attract a wider variety of retailers, which in turn will increase footfall, which in turn will increase employment, which in turn will increase commercial rates revenue for the Council and so on. It is very simple and is a WIN, WIN for all.

If we do not want this summer to be the worst “since records began” for our City Centre businesses we must act now or it will simply be too late and even Doctor Who will not be able to help.