Ulsara 2020 newsletter

THE UPPER LEESON STREET AREA RESIDENTS’ ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER
ULSARA, the next 50 years
The committee had enjoyed
celebrating the many achievements
of Ulsara on its 50th anniversary
in 2018, and we were particularly
pleased with members’ response
to the publication of our book,
Preserving Heritage, Cherishing
Community.
As we moved past our landmark
50th anniversary, the Ulsara
committee felt it appropriate to think
about the next 50 years. We began
2020 full of energy and ambition and
held a strategy session in February.
It was attended by current and past
committee members and facilitated
by a professional strategy consultant.
Our goal was to: 1, check our
relevance to residents; 2, review and
redefine our purpose; 3, identify
the initiatives and activities that
will enable us to achieve our goals
in 2020 – 2022. There was some
debate and much consensus on the
issues and threats facing Dublin,
the ULSARA area and our residents.
Planning will always be an issue for
us, especially office development
and enforcement of planning
regulations and directives. We
discussed housing, and the future
of urban planning, the impact of
demographic changes, and emergent
models of living and working. We
also considered some of the building
and environmental issues around
the housing stock in our area,
including preservation, maintenance,
conversion and retrospective
insulation. We know environmental
concerns will gain significant focus
in the future and we need to be
mindful of a range of issues including
flooding, public spaces, air quality,
trees and planting and our built
heritage.
Through all of these issues, one
overriding theme stood out:
Community. The whole ULSARA
community: residents, workers,
short-term renters and long-time
residents. We feel it is now more
important than ever to foster a sense
of place and encourage physical
community spaces. We know people
feel more a sense of community
when they have sense of place and
where neighbours look out for each
other and help one another.
All of this was reinforced with
the arrival of Covid-19 and the
restrictions it placed on individuals
and movement. It felt right that
ULSARA members should come
together and offer a neighbourly
hand to those who could not do their
normal shopping and other errands.
Looking back, it seems prescient
that the title of our 50th anniversary
book was Preserving Heritage,
Cherishing Community. It feels right
that we should continue to look
after our heritage; it feels even more
right that we should help create a
new future by helping to build and
cherish community.
Communicating ULSARA
Newsletter
This newsletter has long been an important annual record of the association’s activities. The committee aims to
continue to publish it and to deliver it throughout the area.
Twitter @ulsaradublin
Follow us on Twitter (@ULSARAdublin) for regular and immediate news and updates. Tweets are also posted on our
website at www.ULSARA.ie.
Members’ E-News
The members who keep the association going through their annual subscriptions are very much appreciated. Regular
updates are now issued via email newsletter and online surveys are used to gather views on current issues. We avoid
inundating members with messages and endeavour to get the balance right in terms of email volume.
Please sign up for our e-newsletter on www.ulsara.ie. If, on the other hand, you would rather not receive email
communication from us, please click ‘Unsubscribe’ on any of our emails.
Website www.ulsara.ie
Please check www.ULSARA.ie for local information and up-to-date news on ULSARA activities. The site includes links
to Dublin City Council services including Property Flood Protection and Planning Applications, further articles on the
local area, and an archive of newsletters dating back to the 1980s.
6 ULSARA NEWS Summer 2020
ULSARA 2020 Draft 3.indd 6 23/07/2020 15:54