Thieving scum targetting Balbriggan?

blastman

Last Friday I arrived back from my uncle's funeral in England to find the passenger window of my car smashed and the stereo stolen. Apparently three or four other cars in the area (two others on my road for sure that I know of, at least) were done the same night (last Thursday at about 4am). Was anyone else here one of the unlucky ones? This is the second time this has happened around the area. a guy across the road was done a couple of months ago. Is there a gang operating around the north county area?

Oh, and a big hand for the guards, who were called by an elderly neighbour who knew there was no-one in my house at the time. Did they arrive on the scene efficiently and take a statement with a minimum of fuss? Did they balls!! Fcukers never showed up AT ALL....

The Hill Billy

blastman - Were the malfeasants still there when the old dear called the Gardai? If so, get on to Balbriggan Garda Station (01 8030510) & read them the riot act for not coming to the scene while a crime was taking place.

I'd also advise getting on to your local TDs (& prospective TDs for the upcoming general election) & tell them how p!ssed off you are with staffing levels in Balbriggan. TBH - The Gardai are run off their flat feet in North Fingal (which comes under the Louth/Meath Division). The local population & crime has boomed in recent years, but there's been no more Gardai put on the beat.

catch--22

Yeah, we should make this a big issue for our local TD's in the coming months! The staffing in Rush is brutal! Most times you press the buzzer on the door you end up talking to Balbriggan station since there is nobody in Rush. They are highly under staffed for the big job they have to do in the area with rising problems with population!

dubmick

where do you live Blastman?

Wishbone Ash

catch--22 wrote:

The staffing in Rush is brutal!

Yes, there were more Gardai assigned to Rush in the 1950s. It's even worse in Donabate where there is no Garda Station. It comes under the Romeo Bravo (Swords) district.

Bluetonic

Personally I would say it's people from the town, can't see people from outside the town coming down to rob a few car stereos which would shift for a few quid. Too much hassle for not enough return.

Considering I'm guessing you live on one end of the town (and I'm hoping you don't go down the route of naming the exact area) I'd imagine it's wandering souls from the other end.

If I'm guessing correclty theres a lot of cars on the street in question and it's quite strange that only three were touched, mind you all the cars in question wouldn't have an intergrated car stereo so I'm guessing they were easier targets.

blastman

Bluetonic, I'd tend to agree. I know mine wasn't integrated and one of the others wasn't as I heard he'd just got it for Christmas. I strongly suspect the other side of town given the alleged activities that go on there that I've already heard about. If they were any sort of professional they could have opened the door in a couple of seconds without leaving a mark. I can do it myself!

Hill Billy, no they were long gone at that stage, the guy lives up the other end of my road and wouldn't have heard it. I presume he rang the following morning.

dubmick, the clue is in the the thread title!

dubmick

I meant where in Balbriggan.

catch--22

Wishbone Ash wrote:

Yes, there were more Gardai assigned to Rush in the 1950s. It's even worse in Donabate where there is no Garda Station. It comes under the Romeo Bravo (Swords) district.

Can you imagine being in a situation in somewhere like Donabate, needed a Garda response ASAP and finding out they had to come all the way from Swords (where they are prob already run off their feat!?

My own experience of the Gardai in Rush has always been good...seem like a plesant bunch but can't help but feel they are trying to do a loveless job with one hand tied behind their back!

The Hill Billy

The cops in Rush have never had it easy.

I remember poor Garda Henry (don't know if he's still there) who used to drive the light blue Renault 4 cop car.
Anyway, back in the 80's some ne'er-do-wells robbed the Post Office in Rush.
The story goes that Henry took off after them through the Blackhills in his little Renault 4 only to run out of petrol.
The baddies copped this, ran back & took poor Henry's wallet before making their escape.

Bluetonic

Lester would take no prisoners over in Rush, that's for sure.

Wishbone Ash

Bluetonic wrote:

Lester would take no prisoners over in Rush, that's for sure.

LOL I haven't seen him in a while. Is he still there?

blastman

He used to live up the road from me.

dubmick, don't want to say exactly, lets just say it's not the "new" end of town.

catch--22

Hill Billy wrote:

The cops in Rush have never had it easy.

I remember poor Garda Henry (don't know if he's still there) who used to drive the light blue Renault 4 cop car.
Anyway, back in the 80's some ne'er-do-wells robbed the Post Office in Rush.
The story goes that Henry took off after them through the Blackhills in his little Renault 4 only to run out of petrol.
The baddies copped this, ran back & took poor Henry's wallet before making their escape.

That's very irish really! Made me smile! He's retired now but still living in the town! I rememebr that Renault very well....great little motor!

Chinafoot

blastman wrote:

He used to live up the road from me.

Same here...

Don't tell me there's three of us here living on the same road?

catch--22

Chinafoot wrote:

Same here...

Don't tell me there's three of us here living on the same road?

ha ha! interesting! And which road would that be? Anywhere near the old Golf rd by any chance?

Chinafoot

heh, i'll not be naming areas.

catch--22

yeah, sorry....better off!

wow sierra

As someone who lives in the "new end of the town" I wish people would refrain from insulting the whole area. I am a blowin but I thought ye Balbriggan people were nice:( Ye wouldn't have your cinema, new restaurants etc if if wasn't for us blowins - we are not all bad you know;)

PS I've had my car stolen once and broken into 4 times (In Inchicore, Dublin City Centre, Drumcondra (twice) and Castleknock) Never yet in Balbriggan.

seanos

All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the blowins ever done for us?


*cough* a blowin not even here four months myself.

Chinafoot

wow sierra wrote:

As someone who lives in the "new end of the town" I wish people would refrain from insulting the whole area. I am a blowin but I thought ye Balbriggan people were nice:( Ye wouldn't have your cinema, new restaurants etc if if wasn't for us blowins - we are not all bad you know;)

Have to say, you need to understand that Balbriggan, while not exactly a small town, was never a big town and it was very "local". If you were born here chances are you know most of the people that lived here.

The boom in population came very suddenly and loads of housing estates were put up very quickly. I was born and reared here and where I work I have people coming in telling me they live in estates I've never heard of. There's an estate in the town called SALMON......wtf!!!

We have no problem with "blow ins" and anyone that calls you a blow in more than likely means in that jokey irish way, and not as an insult. The fact that you mention the new cinema and restaurants, however, may hit a nerve with some locals, as the town needs far more important things than a cinema. Look at the schools situation for an example!

If we refer to where you live as legoland, it's no reflexion on the people that live there, but rather the money hungry developers that were after a quick buck with no regard for the problems that would arise from so many people with so few facilities.

Personally I welcome you to the town and I hope you enjoy living here and ge to know lots of people. We're a friendly bunch, believe it ro not, and if you give us a chance you'll see that.

Bluetonic

wow sierra wrote:

As someone who lives in the "new end of the town" I wish people would refrain from insulting the whole area. I am a blowin but I thought ye Balbriggan people were nice:( Ye wouldn't have your cinema, new restaurants etc if if wasn't for us blowins - we are not all bad you know;)

The mind boggles at how you come to that conclusion.

This topic has come up already. Bad developments, lack of recreational and social amenities, and lack of integration will always attract criticisms. Try not to take it personally, if you think all is wonderful well then you must have your head in the sand.

ps I would say Balbriggan people are fair, not necessarily nice.

100gSoma

seanos wrote:

All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the blowins ever done for us?


*cough* a blowin not even here four months myself.

LOL....

The developers should be held to account. Or the council. As I understand it the council is responsible for providing guidelines (orders) to the builders on what type of dwellings to build.

I was looking at the planning map for joe wades new houses. up behind wavin... you drive down the new road off the church roundabout and then turn right up behind wavin to get to them...

phase 1. about 50 new houses. 3 bed terraced. 3 bed semi. and 4 bed semi. and 3 bed detached bungalows. not bad size houses, BUT.... no driveway. LOL Can you understand this? a 425k 4 bed semi detached house with shared parking bays outside the front door? WTF?
this is seriously annoying me. I gues sIm missing something but can someone explain to me why it is better to have 8 shared parking bays right in front of a house instead of a driveway in front of each door. I know for a fact its not a money issue, its a "planning" issue. I just don't understand it. You end up with someone with a white transit parked who take sup 1.5 spaces etc, an deach house has 2 cars on average so you can see the issues... why do they do this? I await someones enlightenment.

catch--22

No driveways = more space = more houses = more money!

100gSoma

catch--22 wrote:

No driveways = more space = more houses = more money!

if you look at the plans you can see that it would not use more space actually. you could fit the same houses in the same footprint with a driveway instead of a 6foot path in front of your porch, then a shared parking bay. They could easily have a small driveway. I'd like to think it was all issues of saving space, but I dunno. I think its disgusting though. charging 400,000euro for a house without even somewhere to park your car that is exclusively yours. I guess the majority are not bothered either way as the houses will see no bother. I reckon if they got rid of the gardens, the driveway, and added a 1st floor 1 bed apartment underneath your house, people would still be happy to buy them. oh wait, they have done that. sweet.

Fingleberries

I'll let you in on a secret ... The whole building thing is a sham (not necessarily Joe Wade, you understand). Designed to screw as much money out of people for as little work / effort as possible.

This can be seen by the 'townhouse' phenomenon. Where on the site of an average 3-bed house a developer can squeeze a two or three bedroom house upstairs and a small flat downstairs (one or two bed)

When it comes to cost to build, it's not a lot more to build than an average house ... but. They get to charge €270k for the miniscule downstairs place and €300k+ for the upstairs one.

Hmm. So they can get away with earning €600k+ (on average) for what definitely cost less than €100k to build, instead of earning €300k for a nice home on the same site.

It's a case of greed, and the economy and dire planning system that lets them away with it. (who said brown envelopes?)

Look at the new houses being built by the graveyard for instance. They look butt-ugly. Given the volume of houses and allowing for 1.3 cars per houshold and the entrance / exits are almost directly on to the traffic lights and are going to cause traffic problems


If you ask me, I think Westbrook were probably the last decent houses built in the town.
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Edited to correct typos

100gSoma

great points there fingleberries... I agree with all of that. its a damn shame though. sad but true.

MAYPOP

Fingleberries wrote:

This can be seen by the 'townhouse' phenomenon. Where on the site of an average 3-bed house a developer can squeeze a two or three bedroom house upstairs and a small flat downstairs (one or two bed)

I agree, plus the idea of building apartments in housing estates pisses me off too. Why on earth is it deemed necessary to build apartment blocks in an area surrounded by miles and miles of fields??? They aren't exactly cheap either!

The Hill Billy

MAYPOP wrote:

Why on earth is it deemed necessary to build apartment blocks in an area surrounded by miles and miles of fields???

An excellent point. Apartment living is more suited to a strictly urban setting with all of the usual amenities (like a fcuking shop for instance) in the immediate locality. Look at any other european country - Do they throw up apartment blocks on the edge of small towns? No. Why not? Because they know that it leads to chronic social issues due to isolation/lack of facilities.

FFS - For any poor fecker living in Kelly's Bay in Skerries for example - the nearest decent shop is at least a 20 minute walk away. 40 minutes if you've got kids. And now they're panning on putting in another few hundred apartments in Barnageera? They'd nearly be better off walking to Dave's Mini Mart in Balrothery!

Planners? Spanners!

Bluetonic

Hill Billy wrote:

They'd nearly be better off walking to Dave's Mini Mart in Balrothery!

They'd be quicker heading over 'The Springers' and down into the shop in Pinewood!

sgarvan

100gSoma wrote:

if you look at the plans you can see that it would not use more space actually. you could fit the same houses in the same footprint with a driveway instead of a 6foot path in front of your porch, then a shared parking bay. They could easily have a small driveway. I'd like to think it was all issues of saving space, but I dunno. I think its disgusting though. charging 400,000euro for a house without even somewhere to park your car that is exclusively yours.

it may not save space, but it gives an impression that there is more room in a housing estate as there is no walls separating the gardens. i.e the open plan effect.

100gSoma wrote:

I guess the majority are not bothered either way as the houses will see no bother. I reckon if they got rid of the gardens, the driveway, and added a 1st floor 1 bed apartment underneath your house, people would still be happy to buy them. oh wait, they have done that. sweet.

This really is the main issue, Irish peoples lack of complaining. People are buying the houses so the builders will keep building. Also alot of daily commuting people dont want gardens. That just leads to more work for them at home

Fingleberries wrote:

Look at the new houses being built by the graveyard for instance. They look butt-ugly. Given the volume of houses and allowing for 1.3 cars per houshold and the entrance / exits are almost directly on to the traffic lights and are going to cause traffic problems

If you ask me, I think Westbrook were probably the last decent houses built in the down.

Gotta agree 100% with this. The houses are a disgrace at the graveyard. They should of been told to keep the design of them as close to the Westbrook/Chapel Gate design. But no the planners just agree to let them build what they want