Signs are good for Dunfermline
Published 2 Oct 2012 13:38
23 Comments
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City of Dunfermline area committee chairman Councillor Mike Rumney with one of the new boards.
NEW interpretation boards will be springing up across Dunfermline helping visitors navigate their way around.
Chair of the council's City of Dunfermline area committee Councillor Mike Rumney unveiled the first of the new high quality boards this week at Carnegie's Birthplace Museum in St Margaret's Street.
He said, "This is one of the first actions to come about following our successful town centre summit earlier in the summer.
"These new boards will be a fantastic addition to the town, replacing the old, faded signage that's been around for 15 years or more.
"They highlight the wealth of history to be enjoyed in Dunfermline and help our commitment to make our town more attractive as a visitor destination."
There will eventually be 11 boards across the town centre. At a cost of around £25,000 they are made of high-quality enamel on a steel base and have been designed to last.
The erection of the new signage follows on from other recent improvement work in the town including Free School Close, Lorne House Steps, St John's Vennel and Kingsgate Square.
This article appeared in Dunfermline Press 02 Oct 12
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Mikeintheknow
37 posts
Oct 2, 16:58
Report commentI see one has popped up on James street, kinda a waste of money that one.
Recommend?
Yes 4
No 7
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redrobin
285 posts
Oct 2, 20:27
Report commentSigns are good for dunfermline are they?....jjb closed...beggars on the streets....council removing tables and chairs heavy handedly...yeah signs are good!!!
Recommend? Yes 9
No 10
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char
131 posts
Oct 2, 22:07
Report commentSigns ARE good although I'd prefer something less modern. Dunfermline is a historic place after all. Suppose it comes down to cost. Let's get one with updating the public realm. Get the bollards in, cars and vans out. New paving, new benches and lamp-posts. Ban the A-boards and encourage tasteful advertising on the lamp-posts. This can generate income for the Council to spend on maintaining hanging baskets or whatever.
Redrobin - JJB, beggars and table-gate happened BEFORE the signs...so far nothing has gotten with rise since the signs were installed ;-)
Recommend? Yes 7
No 4
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SmarmyGit
320 posts
Oct 3, 09:28
Report commentThe Sofa warriors are out in force again i see........
JJB? Eh? Dunfermlines fault? I don't see the connection there i'm afraid......beggars are a national problem not ONLY a Dunfermline problem, but lets not let that get in the way of a good old moan tho eh?
Recommend? Yes 10
No 3
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itsallwentpetetong2012
145 posts
Oct 3, 09:35
Report commentaw your article in the Dunfermline Press and was shocked that you have chosen metal sign's when digital signage is the way ahead, the metal signs that you have chosen are all good for places like Pittencrief Park and Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Museum, but to get rid of the A boards that i know you don't like on the High Street digital signage would be best idea's and would be a one stop shop for many business and pubs and tourist attractions.
After speaking to several shop keepers in the Maygate and Bonar Street they are all lacking business or footfall because lack of decent signage and that why they have A boards all over the High Street, if you are thinking of putting metal signs in the High Street that would be a waste of money and they would need updated all the time if a shop closed or moved.
It all well and good putting metal signs up for tourist attractions in Dunfermline but the town summit was to do with shop keepers and the lack of footfall to specific area's of the High Street and surrounding areas.
My idea was to install 4 digital signage totem(picture attached) in the city centre. Below is where i would install them
1. Mercet Cross(Next to Santander) serving shops and pubs and places to eat in Guildhall Street,Maygate,Abbot Street,St Margaret St,Queen Anne Street,Cross Wynd
2.Top Of High Street(Next to Marks & Spencer -Opposite Early Learning Center) serving shops and pubs and places to eat in Bonar Street,Eastport,James Street,New Row,Douglas Street and top end of the High Street.
3.Bottom End Of High Street(Next Tourist Information) serving Kirkgate,Bruce Street,Bridge Street,Chalmers Street & the bottom half of the High Street.
4. Canmore Street-(Next to Green Room)-serving Albrahama and Canmore Street and bottom half of the New Row, the reason i say Canmore Street is that is where footfall will start with people coming from the Dunfermline Town Train Station.
The reason i think digital signage would be better for the High Street is that the signs can cover so many so many shops and pubs and places to eat and tourist attractions in the city centre and at the night the signs can be switched over to cover the clubs and pubs in Dunfermline and also be used for travel information like night buses and taxi's etc.
Digital signage can also be updated with offers for shops and pubs and clubs and places to eat and also travel information.
As you all know gentlemen in 2014 there is a major event happening in Gleneagles with over 250 000 people expected to attend the Ryder Cup and revenue streams of £100 million pound made by the event to the local economy so you Dunfermline & Fife Council better have Dunfermline ship shape or Dunfermline is going to lose out on a lot of tourist money.
I am sorry to say this but Dunfermline needs to stop living in the PAST and do what right for the people who live here just now and and future because Dunfermline is only going to get bigger and bigger and we are doing nothing at all to have infustruture ready for all these tourists and people.
Digital signage is you answer all you problems with A Boards etc and solve all of problems with shops closing due to the lack business.Digital signage does not cost that much either with digital totem signage coming in at £2000 each but if we need money to keep them updated we could collect money via the BID that Dunfermline Delivers use to fund several projects.
P.S, I am just a member of the general public who is notice's Dunfermline short comings when it comes to idea's how to improve Dunfermline and i will try and help by putting forward idea's to make Dunfermline great again like it used to be when i got brought here a kid from East Lothian.
At the moment if i was my mum and dad i would not bring my kids to Dunfermline as the High Street is a disgrace and you do not have things for kids to do.
But Dunfermline has forward thinking people who are trying to make it great again like Bill Fletcher(Albrahama),Thomas Moffat(Visit Dunfermline),Maggie Mitchell(Dunfermline Delivers) and people who own Fabric & Rubens & Grill 48.
Dunfermline needs to embrace the FUTURE and use technology to help bring it back to its former glory by using social media and digital signage to help promote itself and stop living in the PAST.
Recommend? Yes 10
No 2
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SmarmyGit
320 posts
Oct 3, 09:48
Report comment@itsallwentpetetong
You seem to know what Dunfermline needs so why (and i'm being sincere here) not put yourself forward either at a local community council OR at a councillor election?
The usual Sofa warriors and moaners get my goat because its all they seem to do on here is bemoan that fact that Dunfermline and in particular Fife council (decisions made by elected members lets not forget) is so bad and poorly run BUT and here's the great thing, the same moaners and whingers are part of the problem becasue instead of getting involved they don't or won't want to be part of ANY thing to make it better.
You post seemed like a good, well constructed argument for what you believe in and you'd get my vote!
Recommend? Yes 9
No 2
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kaka30
311 posts
Oct 3, 09:52
Report commentWe constantly post on here the need for Dunfermline to better itself & the new signs are a welcome addition. We moan & put suggestions forward so when something positive is done, we should applaud it.
Recommend? Yes 8
No 1
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TheDEXExpress
109 posts
Oct 3, 11:18
Report commentSG, I am a big fan of your posts. You talk a lot of sense, and I, too, find folk who routinely moan as some sort of pavlovian reaction a bit irritating too. But I find your logic a bit difficult to follow here. You seem to be suggesting that unless someone stands for election, they cannot express a view about anything affecting the delivery of public services. We should just let the experts get on with it. How do you know that the 'moaners'/'sofa warriers' don't already do something other than post on the Press website? People can make a difference in many ways without becoming councillors and beyond voting.
Increasingly councillors and others who serve on quango boards and the like, even if they are elected, do it as almost a full time job for which they receive reasonable financial reward. That's probably inevitable, as these organisations are very complex and it's not the sort of thing you can do as a sideline nowadays. That rules out much of the population from serving in this way. As a result, there is a danger that they tend to see their role more as representing the Council/Health Board etc to the public rather than representing the interests of the public in the work of the Council.
Any public-facing organisation, whether in the public or private sector, should welcome complaints as many are well-intentioned and, if acted on, will bring about improvements. The more scrutiny of the performance of these bodies there is, the better they will perform. By contrast, in Edinburgh they are seeing in the trams and the statutory notice fiascos the consequences of a lack of effective scrutiny and accountability. Time will tell how serious these two issues will turn out to be but they do not paint local democracy in Edinburgh, at least, in a very flattering light.
I agree that posting on a newspaper website is not obviously going to achieve very much. Writing to your councillor/MSP, making FoI requests, volunteeering to help with community groups, serve on Parent Councils etc, all of which I do myself, are more obviously constructive things that members of the public can do. But we have seen in recent years that the use of social media can have a dramatic effect. And a good local newspaper can exert a lot of pressure on organisations that are not performing - The Press has made a big thing recently of what it did in the Munro case, for example, and I'd say it has helped to generate a debate on the state of the centre of Dunfermline. Who knows who might be reading some of the points made by folk like 'petetong', Tradesman and the like? That discussion over recent months has gone into enormous detail and folk have had plenty of interesting ideas. I do think the Press could be doing much more than it currently does to ask difficult questions of both public and private organisations in the area - there's too much uncritical reprinting of self-congratulatory news releases for my liking. If people can moan in a constructive sort of way, that might encourage the journalists to be a bit more proactive.
Recommend? Yes 9
No 0
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TheDEXExpress
109 posts
Oct 3, 11:21
Report commentI think the signs are a good idea, by the way.
Recommend? Yes 4
No 0
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ningin
85 posts
Oct 3, 13:14
Report commentwill they be able to resist the dreaded aerosol graffiti artists though.....i hope so ....anything that gives strangers to the town information cant be bad...
Recommend? Yes 3
No 1
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redrobin
285 posts
Oct 3, 13:36
Report commentah come on Char...I was having a poke...get a life...
Signs are great...but what for? in the current financial climate this 'city' is going nowhere...because this council is so...so so.out of touch
Recommend? Yes 1
No 6
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SmarmyGit
320 posts
Oct 3, 14:30
Report comment@Dex
As for standing for election, yip its one way of getting things done but what i mean as well as, is the moaners to actually get off their bums and help instead of moaning.
I know some will but it seems to me that there are legions of Sofa/Armchair warriors that moan and whinge but will not even go and vote in national and local elections etc and expect eveyone else (including the council) to do their dirty work for them, the 'its not my joab' brigade that moan when little or nothing gets done.....
Getting involved at a local level (community councils for example) and not even being on the committee can help in a masive way, i know because where i live there is great community spirit and in the past 6 months the mood and moral of the place has improved 10 fold, we have grabbed the bull by the horns to get things done, use the councillors for what they are actually meant to be doing and if the naysayers say 'they da dee nihin onywy' need to remove the heads from the rear ends and contact them, they do actually get results as i know this from experience.........
A local councillor told me that one of the community council meetings they regularily attend (apart from the committee) had no one, not one person from the local area attending, this is month after month......
Recommend? Yes 3
No 0
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redrobin
285 posts
Oct 3, 16:09
Report commentYou know...talk about no sense of humour and writing a book!...yeah says it all about Dunfermline...and u get what u deserve
All mouth and no action!
Recommend? Yes 1
No 6
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char
131 posts
Oct 3, 21:22
Report commentAllwentpetetong, like the idea of the digital signs but still think these need complemented by vinyls.
You're spot on about 2014 and it's great seeing the people you've mentioned making an effort. I've certainly seen on twitter an eagerness to promote the town for the benefit of ALL business rather than just individuals businesses. One of the BIG obstacles is people in Dunfermline. Aimless moaning and constant negativity about Dunfermline. I've had friends and even my wife comment on how surprised they are when they visit Dunfermline as other folk from Dunfermline always say it's a dump/dive/hole etc. Show some pride in your town.
At the same time the pressure needs to continue on Fife Council. They need Dunfermline to succeed for the good of the region. Get going with the High Street improvements NOW so they're ready for 2014. Get the place looking good to attract tourists.
I don't live in Dunfermline but I'll be chasing up Mike Rumney about progressing the Masterplan.
Recommend? Yes 5
No 0
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SmarmyGit
320 posts
Oct 3, 21:22
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SmarmyGit
320 posts
Oct 3, 21:24
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itsallwentpetetong2012
145 posts
Oct 4, 00:34
Report commentWell i not moaned on here the post i posted earlier was a copy of a email that i sent to City of Dunfermline area committee chairman Councillor Mike Rumney and Alex Rowley and several high members of local groups that like to help try and help make Dunfermline great again.Mike Rumney advised that these signs that are being installed are only for tourist information regarding historic places in Dunfermline,like the Glen,Abbey etc but a decision on High Street signs has not been made so if we all send emails to our local councilors advising them that we would like Digital Signage on the High Street then maybe this would happen...Smarmy git i would love to be on the council or help out as most of my idea's are just common sense but there seems to be people stuck in the PAST who work for the council who do not want these idea's to happen.. We all need to club to together to help make Dunfermline great again instead of slaging each other off .Start a facebook campaign.......
Recommend? Yes 4
No 0
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itsallwentpetetong2012
145 posts
Oct 4, 00:55
Report commentChar,SmarmyGit,TheDEXExpress,kaka30 we all seem to want the same thing for for Dunfermline why don't we club together and try and make a difference, i ve met with several high up people in Dunfermline regarding my suggestion to help make Dunfermline a better place for everybody.But i am only one voice,if we group together then we can put pressure on our local councilmen.Like chasing up the Public Realm Masterplan for improvements in the town center.
Recommend? Yes 10
No 0
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SmarmyGit
320 posts
Oct 4, 09:50
Report commentAlready do my friend, THATS why i get annoyed at the moaners as the solution is there at hand......
Recommend? Yes 2
No 0
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supersonic
228 posts
Oct 4, 16:01
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stormxxx
137 posts
Oct 5, 03:04
Report commentWaste of money!! apart from natural historic places..what else have we here? No museums apart from Andrew Carnegie's birth place. Kingsgate is dead beat..High Street is dead beat. No potential jobs anywhere in town apart from a few hours per week!! Shops closing down..what a dead, dreary, driecht place is this town..even when its not rainin!! Kind of gettin really depressing now at the thought of having to enter the town, so called beggars apart!! Im not even goin to get started on that lot!!!
Recommend? Yes 1
No 5
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SmarmyGit
320 posts
Oct 5, 16:49
Report commentBut apart from that stormxxx your quite a happy go lucky person, no?
Recommend? Yes 4
No 0
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bert29
1 post
Oct 12, 14:28
Report commentInteresting to read the comments, but no one mentions the mistakes on the panels! so have they read them?
These panels are obviously needed to teach residents about The City and Royal Burgh of Dunfermline.
Recommend? Yes 0
No 0
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