Dublin now worse than NYC for junkie scum on the streets?

Sykk

Jimmy Carr wrote:

Did you know you're 10 times more likely to get mugged in London than you are in New York City?....

That's because you don't live in New York City.

:pac:

sink

Literally just got back from staying in Brooklyn, NYC for a few days. Can't say I felt any different then walking around the streets of Dublin. Never really been hassled on the street in either city. Just don't act conspicuous and no one will take any notice.

JONJO THE MISER

Mogadishu on a Friday after prayers is safer than Dublin on a Tuesday afternoon or so i hear from the neighbours who ventured to the big smoke a decade back.

gazzer

I have been out at night in Sydney, Melbourne, Manhattan, various UK cities and Cape Town over the years and imo they are all safer to walk around than Dublin. The amount of scumbags walking around out capital cities main street and the streets around (as well as the liffey boardwalk) is unreal.

I agree with you 100 % OP.
But I feel you are pssing in the wind on this forum. People here like to pretend Dublin is a great place, when in fact, it IS a kip.
I almost got stabbed for not giving someone a smoke on the board walk, but people here just say,' ah Sure Its a great little place..' Like if they pretend hard enough it WILL be a great place. Its a ****ing disgrace what we irish seem to find acceptable these days.
Ive actually seen a woman defecate on the boardwalk.
Junkies own this town now. make no mistake about it.

El Horseboxo

Never feel unsafe in either cities to be honest. In Dublin i have no need to be walking into kips of estates at night or dark lanes reeking of piss. Also while in NY i have no need to be walking into projects up past 130th street or strolling around parts of the Bronx or Brooklyn. In NY there's a very defined grid of where tourists go and they are well policed. Especially post September 11th.

I've been in a lot of the world's supposed dangeorus cities such as Kingston, San Salvador, Detroit, Tegucigalpa, Guate City, Bogotá, Caracas, Rio, Nairobi, Johannesburg, etc and never felt unsafe. A majority of the time people get themselves into dangerous situations through stupidity. "Let's stroll down this shít hole of a street with our cameras around our necks". If you use common sense you should avoid most of the danger people associate with cities like the above.

gazzer

El Horseboxo wrote: »

Never feel unsafe in either cities to be honest. In Dublin i have no need to be walking into kips of estates at night or dark lanes reeking of piss. Also while in NY i have no need to be walking into projects up past 130th street or strolling around parts of the Bronx or Brooklyn. In NY there's a very defined grid of where tourists go and they are well policed. Especially post September 11th.

I've been in a lot of the world's supposed dangeorus cities such as Kingston, San Salvador, Detroit, Tegucigalpa, Guate City, Bogotá, Caracas, Rio, Nairobi, Johannesburg, etc and never felt unsafe. A majority of the time people get themselves into dangerous situations through stupidity. "Let's stroll down this shít hole of a street with our cameras around our necks". If you use common sense you should avoid most of the danger people associate with cities like the above.

I agree with you for the most party but I have to say that when it comes to Dublin the scum are on the main streets of the capital. Its not a question of taking a wrong turn and ending up in some hell hole. In Dublin you can be walking down O'Connell St, Henry St, Temple Bar and some scummer will jump on your because you dont give him a cigerette. I mean the Boardwalk should be a nice place to walk along but it is junkie heaven.

I also was not refering to walking down any lanes. I was refering to the main Street in the Capital, Talbot Street, Marlborough Street, The Boardwalk, all these places, in case you are not from Dublin, are busy streets, not some poky back alley.
What are we to do, keep away from town???
The boardwalk cost a feckin fortune, and its a shooting gallery.

Yesterday I was in town, went over to temple bar, saw some rookie from Templemore, moving all the Emo kids from the Central Bank area, who were only sitting talking, yet two minutes down the road, in TEMPLE BAR SQUARE, theres a load of pissheads and junkies tormenting the tourists??? leaning drunk over the coffee table, trying to intimadate people,while on O Conell bridge you can buy Crack , Smack, now probably Whack LOL
I wish I had a stun gun for the next one who ****ing harasses me.

Dont tase me bro...

Lux23

Most junkies can't put one foot in front of the other so for the most part they are pretty mellow and will just walk away if you say no to their request to change. Are people seriously scared of herion addicts? They aren't going to attack you if you don't give them change, they do mug people but not if you refuse to give them change. Most of them are pretty harmless although kind of annoying and pathetic to look at.

Hazys

I live in Boston and one thing i find is that the homeless are so much more polite and nicer than the homeless back home. Theres this one old guy i pass most days at lunch and he ask's "Could you spare some change please?" and if i say i cant, he just says "God, bless you".

As opposed to the homeless guy i used to pass everyday back in Cork in my school days who would shout obsenities at you if you didnt give him money or one day he started throwing calvita cheese singles at anybody who walked by (strange considering i thought he would be hungry and not throwing food at people).

Even tho i don't like giving money to beggers, i'm way more likely to give it to somebody who is polite and non-threatening.

Lux23

Hazys wrote: »

I live in Boston and one thing i find is that the homeless are so much more polite and nicer than the homeless back home. Theres this one old guy i pass most days at lunch and he ask's "Could you spare some change please?" and if i say i cant, he just says "God, bless you".

.

I find most homeless people in Dublin are like that to be honest. It actually annoys me more, I don't want God to bless me.

rossie1977

Jake1 wrote: »

I agree with you 100 % OP.
But I feel you are pssing in the wind on this forum. People here like to pretend Dublin is a great place, when in fact, it IS a kip.
I almost got stabbed for not giving someone a smoke on the board walk, but people here just say,' ah Sure Its a great little place..' Like if they pretend hard enough it WILL be a great place. Its a ****ing disgrace what we irish seem to find acceptable these days.
Ive actually seen a woman defecate on the boardwalk.
Junkies own this town now. make no mistake about it.

yes the old "head in the sand" mentality is a bit of a problem on this forum all-right

luckily i have never been attacked or even harrassed in dublin but the visible junkie problem is clearly getting worse by the day in town, junkies are everywhere now in dublins city center, by contrast cities of dublins size in other countries eg. oslo, copenhagen are almost completely devoid of visible street junkies, belfast city center has gone from a warzone in the 80s to looking like a proper 21st century city, dublin has and continues to go backwards

Lux23

So what do people think should be done? Round them all up and gas them.

Mike 1972

Saskia wrote: »

Manhatten. Not a single Heroin head harrasing us ......

Arent they more into Crystal Meth or Crack Cocaine over there ?

maninasia wrote: »

The scumbags in Dublin have a big chip on their shoulder. They're angry at everything. They like laying into schoolkids, students, anybody different looking, anybody on their own or that even looks at them sideways. Notice how the kid who used to skate around the city got attacked so many times, intolerance, a major problem. .............

That particular problem evidently extends far beyond the demographic in question

Lux23

Lux23 wrote: »

Most junkies can't put one foot in front of the other so for the most part they are pretty mellow and will just walk away if you say no to their request to change. Are people seriously scared of herion addicts? They aren't going to attack you if you don't give them change, they do mug people but not if you refuse to give them change. Most of them are pretty harmless although kind of annoying and pathetic to look at


What planet are you on?? Junkies mellow?? thats why the courts are clogged up?? people don actually get hurt or injured by junkies??? Wow, id love to live in your head.

'They do mug you, but not if you refuse to give them money'.. ok so they only mug you if you dont give them what they want? ah I see...

What about people whose homes they rob, are you saying that ??? Should people just lean out their bedroom windows at night now and hand out the keys to their properties? Just in case the junkie robbing them isnt mellow??

The mind boggles, I have to go away from this thread LOL

Lux23

Lux23 wrote: »

So what do people think should be done? Round them all up and gas them.

it would be a good start...
nah, silly ol me, lets spend millions on rehab instead.

Lux23

I live in Dublin city centre and I am really used to them. I am not saying some addicts don't rob but plenty have never resorted to violent crime to feed their habit. They don't have to if they beg or whore themselves out. Or are you saying begging is the same as mugging someone?

Jake1 wrote: »

Lux23 wrote: »

Most junkies can't put one foot in front of the other so for the most part they are pretty mellow and will just walk away if you say no to their request to change. Are people seriously scared of herion addicts? They aren't going to attack you if you don't give them change, they do mug people but not if you refuse to give them change. Most of them are pretty harmless although kind of annoying and pathetic to look at


What planet are you on?? Junkies mellow?? thats why the courts are clogged up?? people don actually get hurt or injured by junkies??? Wow, id love to live in your head.

'They do mug you, but not if you refuse to give them money'.. ok so they only mug you if you dont give them what they want? ah I see...

What about people whose homes they rob, are you saying that ??? Should people just lean out their bedroom windows at night now and hand out the keys to their properties? Just in case the junkie robbing them isnt mellow??

The mind boggles, I have to go away from this thread LOL

rossie1977

Lux23 wrote: »

So what do people think should be done? Round them all up and gas them.

two choices either you do nothing and continue along the same road and dublin turns into something out of a George A. Romero movie or you adopt a zero tolerance policy along the lines of the one NYC used to clean up its streets in the early 90s, NYC was in a far worse state in the 80s/early 90s than dublin is today but it transformed itself into a world class destination in little under a decade

ICE HOUSE

After Spending 8 years living all over the states and in some of the "roughest neighbourhoods" including parts of new york I can honestly say dublin is more dangerous and thats a fact. I always felt in the states that you only get trouble if you look for it where here in dublin trouble finds you first. Theres also a different breed of scumbag here in dublin too, than new york

Lux23

rossie1977 wrote: »

two choices either you do nothing and continue along the same road and dublin turns into something out of a George A. Romero movie or you adopt a zero tolerance policy along the lines of the one NYC used to clean up its streets in the early 90s, NYC was in a far worse state in the 80s/early 90s than dublin is today but it transformed itself into a world class destination in little under a decade

So imprison people for begging? As this is what most of these people are doing, I do think cops could get them to move on more. Most of the time they just walk by.

griffdaddy

rossie1977 wrote: »

two choices either you do nothing and continue along the same road and dublin turns into something out of a George A. Romero movie or you adopt a zero tolerance policy along the lines of the one NYC used to clean up its streets in the early 90s, NYC was in a far worse state in the 80s/early 90s than dublin is today but it transformed itself into a world class destination in little under a decade

Or actually plan your city so that you don't have methadone clinics in the main tourist and shopping areas, put them in an industrial area, down by the docks or something. It's a seriously stupid set up at the moment. Average junkie gets his dose on Pearse St, walks over to the board walk at Butt Bridge, does a bit of wheelin' and dealin' then heads around the Gardiner St. area to mug/scab off/beg from tourists, walks up Talbot St./ Marlborough St., maybe stopping to do a bit of shoplifting/shouting at their bird, buy a strawberry Yop in Spar then has McDonalds or Burgerking and starts drinking cans, scabbing and generally being a scum bag. You can imagine that there's no real incentive to stop when you live like that, almost unabated by the Gardaí. In all fairness, the Gardaí are fighting a losing battle, there's just too many junkies and there are not enough cops. There's enough other stuff that they need to be getting on with as well. Why don't the council move these centres away from the middle of the city? Why don't they put them in some area with little-to-no passing-trade and residents? We're hardly the first city with a drugs problem, it's just that it's being mishandled grossly by the council and health board.

prinz

griffdaddy wrote: »

Or actually plan your city so that you don't have methadone clinics in the main tourist and shopping areas, put them in an industrial area, down by the docks or something..... We're hardly the first city with a drugs problem, it's just that it's being mishandled grossly by the council and health board.

Nail and head. The whole set up attracts scumbags into the city centre where you should feel safest.

sagat2

For me, 7 and a half years living in New York and have spent the last 3 working for an charitable organization that sends me into some of the roughest parts of America (Newark, West Englewood Chicago, North Philly, Camden, Baltimore). Dublin where I return home to twice a year is far more dangerous than any of them to the average person. You can walk into the ****tiest place in America and people will ignore you unless you flash gang colours, but you can't walk through Dublin city center without some junkie sizing you up as a potential target. Drug addicts over here are far less aggressive and rarely approach people directly looking for money/change/etc in the same manner that you would have somebody walk right up to you in Dublin as you are using an ATM and pester you for change. Petty theft and burglary in the US also pales in comparison to Ireland, I don't know where the junkies are getting their cash over here but they don't seem to have the same fondness for beating up grannies or stealing your garden tools that they do back home.

gsxr1

Saskia wrote: »

Hi all, Im just back from New York where I couldnt believe how safer it felt compared to Dublin. All the beggers from years ago seem to be all but gone but more importantly I felt SAFE.

Compare to this to Dublin where walking down Eden quay or O Connell street during the DAY and you'll see or be approached by someone off their head.

How can somewhere like New York now be safer than Dublin?

Anyone else feel we're on the cusp of some major drug/knacker problems in this country?

I compleatly agree with you Saskia.

I also lived in NY for 4 year. I Lived in Brooklyn Redhook near the projects.

I then moved to Christ Church Dublin.

New york is safer . In fact the whole big bad city tag NY got is long gone. Rudy Giuliani cleaned that place up well

Unless you are trying to cross the road. Jasuz. those yellow cab aim for you

_sparkie_

Saskia wrote: »

How can somewhere like New York now be safer than Dublin?

it probably has something to do with the people of america giving up their 'rights' to a certain extent. armed guards are everywhere, you cant even take pictures in public without it being noticed and watched.

i feel a lot safer in dublin then i do in new york but i think that has more to do with me knowing my way around then junkies.

genericguy

sagat2 wrote: »

Drug addicts over here are far less aggressive and rarely approach people directly looking for money/change/etc in the same manner that you would have somebody walk right up to you in Dublin as you are using an ATM and pester you for change.

i agree that dublin is getting extremely bad for junkies and general scumbaggery. and the amount of beggars is fcuking ludicrous.

i generally pass no heed on beggars - and i'm going to stick my neck out here and say that all people who are beggars are addicts - but i draw the line with skags pestering people at atm machines. i'd slap the fcuking yellow off their teeth if any of them tried to pull that shyte with me.

and for those who say that beggars are good souls and that we should help them - if we forced all the beggars into one area, merrion square park for example, would you go there?

while we're on the point of scum on the streets of dublin - i'm sure that there exists a decent roma, somewhere, but i've never encountered one.

Lux23

So what makes Irish addicts so bad then?

prinz

Lux23 wrote: »

So what makes Irish addicts so bad then?

It's not only addicts, it's scumbags of all sorts.

Lux23

prinz wrote: »

It's not only addicts, it's scumbags of all sorts.

So why are they so bad in Ireland then? Are the Irish just scumbags? Do we live up to the drunken, useless stereotype?

prinz

Lux23 wrote: »

So why are they so bad in Ireland then? Are the Irish just scumbags? Do we live up to the drunken, useless stereotype?

:rolleyes: Oh yes that's it, obviously everyone means all Irish etc etc. Give it a break ffs, I AM Irish. Not once have I said all Irish are scumbags.


What makes Irish scumbags worse is that they go out looking for trouble. There are scumbags everywhere but in any city I have been to I have never had as many issues with scumbags as in Dublin, like I said any place I have been, be it winos or junkies or all round scumbags they tend to keep to themselves, usually congregate in certain areas, and normally ignore everyone else. Contrast to Dublin where your average knack's goal seems to be to attract as much attention as possible from people minding their own business be it shouting at people from the back of the bus, screaming and following people on the street because I have no smokes, asking for money constantly, say no and get an earful of abuse.. etc