#bekind
Facebook is like owning a car. On a personal level, we all enjoy the freedoms our motor brings us but we all know that mass car ownership is an environmental disaster even possibly contributing to our own demise. So it is with Facebook. On an individual level, we all like to post and receive pictures of cute, cuddly kittens. Collectively, Facebook is a cesspool of fomented discord that is poisonous and unpleasant. Ask both Trump and Biden about their (opposing) views on Facebook.
Whatever happened to consideration and respect?
On the one hand, we see posts on Rhuthun/Ruthin's communal Facebook sites welcoming newcomers and commending the town as such a friendly place in which to live. On the other, we see little other than vitriol and hostility on the same Facebook page. Aren't Facebook commenters supposed to be FANS of Rhuthun?
One Angharad Rees put it well on Facebook when during the debate on the new one-way system she said that Rhuthun/Ruthin is 'fast becoming one of the most negative towns I know'. There is certainly an emerging view that Rhuthun is fast becoming a moany town.
Most of the noise is on social media and the majority oppose. There aren't many who have weighed in and is it just a vocal few? It certainly doesn't mean that the majority of residents believe it to be a bad idea. Some may like it and others may have no strong preference.
Perhaps we all just need to take a leaf out of Angharard Rees's book and calm down. It surely isn't the end of our world. It's designed to make life safer in a virus-laden world. Reading the online reaction, it's clear some people don't fully understand some of the issues. There are a few myths to bust:
No one has removed any on-street parking
People who visit Market Street or Well Street are not disadvantaged any more than they were before. Nothing's changed on that score. Neither street had any parking during business hours. Those who say otherwise are either unfamiliar with our town or they are parking unlawfully. Market Street car park is yards from The Square and Costa. Dog Lane is yards from Well Street. Both regularly have spaces and if they do not there are alternatives.
The drabness of the barriers, planters and poles is actually deliberate
This is a temporary measure to gauge reaction and to test it out. It would be unthinkable to spend huge sums only to find that the system has to change (there are going to be tweaks) or even come out. If and when this becomes permanent, we should hope and expect a decently designed scheme. And, if you really want colour, go to Yr Wyddgrug/Mold, where for their scheme you will find orange cones and battered red signs aplenty. Did anyone moan there? You bet not.
The new one-way system does not suddenly cut off Well Street or Market Street
Neither street has allowed parking during business hours.
This isn't pedestrianisation
It does try to make the pedestrian area better and *safer* for us all. We all have to leave our cars at some point and if in town we do not then perhaps we should be sticking to Park Road and not rat running through the centre. There is an alternative! And there always has been. We should be considering pedestrian priority in town, especially across the Square, but the current scheme is neither that nor full pedestrianisation.
But it does offer pedestrians just that little bit more security, a little more elbow room to pass others safely. That is so welcome. Even motorists have to leave tbheir car sometimes and take to the streets. In fact, it's a pity this greater pedestrian flexibility is confined to Market and Well Streets. Given that we had to do something, this is the best we could in the short term. We now just need to get on with it. It isn't the end of the world... but catching covid-19 could be.