UL student behaviour / Stop Charity Week

seen2Bgreen

Why do a certain minority of UL students insist on breaking bottles on the footpaths and roads. in Milford Grange where children play? As for the litter, don't get me started. Students don't give a crap as long as its not their property.

Seloth

Three reasons.

1.They are drunk.

2.There are no bins.I know its a residential area but if they had a bit of cop on they would put in two-three bins as they would be used if they where there.

3.Most students walking that way only do so at night and presume its mostly students living there.I was shocked to find kids lived there when I had to pass through day.


Its not just students its anyone drunk in general,If they are walking along and have drink with them they can hardly carry it to the club.I know people will say they shouldnt have it in the first place but they will and thats why bins would be ideal.Sure they may sometimes be wrecked but it far out ways the amount of litter that would be gathered rather than discarded.

seen2Bgreen

You're probably right there, that's just the reality. You'd think the SU or Uni would do something though, with or without the council. It would be a good gesture to the community. Pity they all turn a blind eye to the litter because it seems like a nice place. They should stop nicking the street signs too. Very funny until someone needs an ambulance.

highlydebased

The SU DO do things. Not so long ago the community welfare officer organised a clean up of the estates and almost certainly Milford Grange was one of them.

cson

seen2Bgreen wrote: »

You're probably right there, that's just the reality. You'd think the SU or Uni would do something though, with or without the council. It would be a good gesture to the community. Pity they all turn a blind eye to the litter because it seems like a nice place. They should stop nicking the street signs too. Very funny until someone needs an ambulance.

What exactly can they do? In reality you'd need 24/7 policing. Ultimately there are 13,000 students in UL and its sadly a minority that is doing this - I'm positive of this. So it's disingenuous in my mind to just outright label it "UL Student Behaviour" -> Some of us have respect for ourselves and the area we live in.

TheTownie

I think there is a fundamental reason that has been mention on topics like this before but I'll say it again, just because a person attends a university it does not naturally infer that they have common sense or even intelligence (outside of the academic subset which got them where they are to date).

Unfortunately I don't think there is any level of 'minimum expectation' you can expect from everyone but as the OP mentioned such issues involve a minority and the majority are well intentioned, respectful people.

brucechan

Neon Circles, theres very little evidence of SU doing things except maybe during Rag Week / Charity Week. I would be more upset with the University authorities. It is a fact that 3 guys took Presidential salaries. Couldn't UL make a gesture and just pay some guy part-time to pick up some loose litter (just a thought...)

Cson, perhaps we should title it "the behaviour of a minority of UL students particularly on Tuesday and Thursday nights". Only kidding, but in fairness to the original post, its easy to see why residents get upset. Kicking over wheelie bins, breaking wing mirrors, broken glass everywhere, road signs not only being robbed, but being uprooted and left across the streets, mudballing properties, turning over cars (the photos were published)... Hardly the behaviour appropriate of future leaders of industry!

FerrisBueller

There is a lot of it to be fair, but as highlighted above it's not just UL students and it's not very fair to paint us all with the same brush, although in a residential area it's really not fair either.

County Council workers are generally paid for this sort of thing, maybe that's another thing which could be looked at, along with the university authorities, etc.

seen2Bgreen

To be honest lads and ladies I think it IS mainly UL students causing the mess. As was pointed out theres a few thousand walking around going from party to party or to the locals pubs / discos and that's where the problems start. I don't think there are enough residents to make that mess, and I doubt they're throwing vodka bottles and pizza boxes around the place (or robbing their own signs!)
I definately think its a minority that start the littering and vandalism, but if someone else who wouldnt normally throw a bottle on the ground sees others doing it and getting away with it, they'll say "why not" rather than carry it to a bin (of which there are hardly any).
I think the idea of the UL President covering the cost of a pick-up on Weds and Fri mornings for a few hours is a good idea. Pay a guy €70 for 5 or 6 hours waking around with a litter picker would work well with the locals imo. (The President gets paid €230,000 so he'd hardly miss it).

highlydebased

brucechan wrote: »

It is a fact that 3 guys took Presidential salaries.

What, has that got to do with litter on the street? these three men acted as president for a period therefore they are entitled to a presidents salary...

On the topic of the SU doing a cleanup there were several last semester and I expect the same this semester. There will be a daily cleanup at 7am everyday of rag week.

SarahBeep!

brucechan wrote: »

Neon Circles, theres very little evidence of SU doing things except maybe during Rag Week / Charity Week. I would be more upset with the University authorities. It is a fact that 3 guys took Presidential salaries. Couldn't UL make a gesture and just pay some guy part-time to pick up some loose litter (just a thought...)!

The community relations officer organises SEVERAL clean ups a semester, last semester it was 2 weekly. And she and the cso got 'rape alley' by briarfield cleaned up.

Neon-Circles wrote: »

On the topic of the SU doing a cleanup there were several last semester and I expect the same this semester. There will be a daily cleanup at 7am everyday of rag week.

....charity week :P

Stuffy

SarahBeep! wrote: »

The community relations officer organises SEVERAL clean ups a semester, last semester it was 2 weekly. And she and the cso got 'rape alley' by briarfield cleaned up.



....charity week :P

Classy bird

brucechan

The point about the 3 Presidents is that they were paid Presidential salaries at the same time, which shows that UL have cash to spend and could surely throw a measley few euros into a kitty for a regular clean up.
The other point was the lack of "evidence" of any clean up. If there was one clean up in Elm Park or Milford Grange last year that would be the sum total.
Looks like I've hit a nerve with the SU, which isn't the intention. But I'm agreeing wiith the residents on this one. A token clean up on a rare occasion is no good, not with the amount of crap being thrown around the place.

AlwaysRight

brucechan wrote: »

The point about the 3 Presidents is that they were paid Presidential salaries at the same time, which shows that UL have cash to spend and could surely throw a measley few euros into a kitty for a regular clean up.
The other point was the lack of "evidence" of any clean up. If there was one clean up in Elm Park or Milford Grange last year that would be the sum total.
Looks like I've hit a nerve with the SU, which isn't the intention. But I'm agreeing wiith the residents on this one. A token clean up on a rare occasion is no good, not with the amount of crap being thrown around the place.

I would guess that its not so much "hitting a nerve" as being blatantly wrong. There were clean ups being organised every week by Community Relations Officer. This info was communicated through Class Reps. If you didn't hear about blame your rep, if you don't have one then be one or elect one and if your not in college then I am sorry but just because you don't see them when they are out doesn't mean its not happening.

Considering that there aren't that many volunteers I would guess that it would be a very hard job to clean everywhere to an immaculate condition, wouldn't you say? Solution being more volunteers presumably but were are they going to come from?? Might I suggest that everyone posting here who cares about the state of the place might stand up and volunteer to help. You might not have caused the mess, but the people who are already volunteering didn't cause it either.

I will always say, don't criticise something unless you are willing to do something about it yourself...and I will always stand by that.

PeakOutput

brucechan wrote: »

The point about the 3 Presidents is that they were paid Presidential salaries at the same time, which shows that UL have cash to spend and could surely throw a measley few euros into a kitty for a regular clean up.

why should they?

there are people whose job it is right now to prevent anti social behaviour, keep the peace and prevent littering and vandalism. the university spends its money preventing such activity on the campus (and its a pretty clean campus and i dont see much vandalism so they must be doing a good job)

seen2Bgreen

AlwaysRight: Weekly clean-ups? You're taking the piss! There is'nt a chance that that happened! And it certainly doesn't happen now. Look at the pathway on the way to the Lodge, or the crap left at the East Gate lights, or the green between Milford and Elm Park. The evidence being that litter is left blowing all over the place for ages. I think its sad to see the senior citizens sweeping up glass from outside their homes or parents having to do likewise in case their kids fall and slice themselves. If there are weekly clean-ups as you say, is this communicated to the Res. Assoc?

Peak Output: You've answered the question yourself. If they pay someone as their job to maintain the campus, then it looks great. If UL made a GESTURE, it would help keep Elm Park / Milford Grange clean. Even if they did a 50/50 arrangement with the local Res. Assoc. for example, so both parties play a role and are visibly (nb AlwaysRight) doing something to help out.

I want to stress my earlier point that I've no doubt that its a minority of students doing this, but that minority are definately doing a lot of damage on Tues and Thurs nights. And as long as it happens outside of the UL gates, UL don't give a toss.

cson

Out of interest have you contacted the University or the ULSU about it to voice your concerns? Don't take any offence from this, but I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that just complaining on a message board will get you nowhere.

PeakOutput

seen2Bgreen wrote: »

Peak Output: You've answered the question yourself. If they pay someone as their job to maintain the campus, then it looks great. If UL made a GESTURE, it would help keep Elm Park / Milford Grange clean. Even if they did a 50/50 arrangement with the local Res. Assoc. for example, so both parties play a role and are visibly (nb AlwaysRight) doing something to help out.

no i didnt answer my own question.

im asking you why should the university pay to clean up public streets? im not saying a gesture is out of the question but a gesture is just that it isnt a solution to the problem. the solution is for you to get the people who are actually paid to keep the streets clean and safe already to do their jobs. these people are the police and the country council and focusing your attention / blame on the university lets them off scott free

seen2Bgreen

PeakOutput: I'm not fighting with you here, I actually agree with most of what youre saying, but youre missing my point a bit. UL have worked and invested in projects in areas such as Moyross, but ignore the estates just across the road! Yes, people are paid to police and do CoCo work, but they will not have a presence there fulltime or even part time. Sure, if there was a Garda station in Castletroy it would be a massive help, but that ain't gonna happen now. Gestures do go a long way and at the very least it shows that a big institution is someway considerate of its neighbours. There are some great students in UL and they themselves have done some great things, but it doesn't change the fact that the place looks like plane load of ****e has been dropped on Tues and Thursday nights! Everyone has to do their bit. Residents do some picking up, the SU (apparently) do some as well. So why can't the UL Authorities acknowledge the issue?

Cson: Good call, I might just do that. I don't expect a message board to fix the problem, I just want to know what people are thinking.

brucechan

Of course, if students just STOPPED THROWING their bottles and cans around the place, we wouldn't be having this discussion...

CiaranMT

brucechan wrote: »

Of course, if students just STOPPED THROWING their bottles and cans around the place, we wouldn't be having this discussion...

The idea of people engaging in some sort of basic social responsibility.. Almost unfathomable.

highlydebased

seen2Bgreen wrote: »

AlwaysRight: Weekly clean-ups? You're taking the piss! There is'nt a chance that that happened! And it certainly doesn't happen now. Look at the pathway on the way to the Lodge, or the crap left at the East Gate lights, or the green between Milford and Elm Park. The evidence being that litter is left blowing all over the place for ages. I think its sad to see the senior citizens sweeping up glass from outside their homes or parents having to do likewise in case their kids fall and slice themselves. If there are weekly clean-ups as you say, is this communicated to the Res. Assoc?

The Lodge no longer operates so you wont be having that problem anymore.

Rubbish by the lights? I walk by there daily and it seems relevantly clean.

AlwaysRight

Well maybe contacting the SU directly is the best option here, because I am not going to post the minutes of all meetings since the start of the year (college year) stating that estate clean ups were being done.

It has been stated in Wk 2 and 4 of this semester that estate clean ups are being conducted by the SU on Wednesdays between 12 and 1pm. And an appeal was made for volunteers.

Beyond this I don't know enough to debate any further so I shall butt out at this point.

DJCR

AlwaysRight wrote: »

Well maybe contacting the SU directly is the best option here, because I am not going to post the minutes of all meetings since the start of the year (college year) stating that estate clean ups were being done.

It has been stated in Wk 2 and 4 of this semester that estate clean ups are being conducted by the SU on Wednesdays between 12 and 1pm. And an appeal was made for volunteers.

Beyond this I don't know enough to debate any further so I shall butt out at this point.

Or you could just call the County Council? Its what they are there for.

brucechan

Ah the County Council. Just pick up the phone and theyll jump into their wagons with a smile - and straightaway too - and have the place spotless in a jiffy.

Not having a go at you DJCR, just that you'd have more chance of getting Gadaffi to call to Elm Park before the Council!

DesQ2

I pass the area by the lights most mornings and don't see the tip you describe, I also lived in Milford Grange a few yrs back and there was never really much hassle with rubbish but there was big issues with the local residents group.

I'm back in college now as a mature student but a few yrs ago I lived in Milford Grange with some friends, we were all working good jobs at the time, I left Milford from the amount of crap I was getting off the local residents group blaming me for crap I had nothing to do with, I came in from work one night just after some students let off a firework and I had some auld rag banging on my door screaming at me the next day, we had all sorts of issues with them including issues of how we parked in our driveway etc etc

Not that i'm trying to start an arguement but I def felt from my time in Milford Grange it wasn't the students causing most of the hassle.

brucechan

Yes the residents can be awkward alright. The nerve of them to complain about the broken glass that they have to drive over, or the parties that keep their kids awake or the wheelie bins that get kicked over. How dare they complain about your inconsiderate parking across a footpath that forces a woman pushing a pram or the old guy on crutches on to road - to walk around the cars parked on the verges destroying them in the process. The auld one was totally wrong to go mad simply because fireworks were set off.
Do you blame her? You say you had more hassle from the residents? Its the students that are causing the residents to react! I did a Masters in UL, lived in Dun an Oir for a while before getting the hell out. It was like Beirut! I got on grand with residents but got embarrassed during Rag Week cos the place was left in ****e. Come on man, get a grip. People pay mortgages there and plain and simple, some students just wreck the place. Would you accept it where you come from?

DesQ2

brucechan wrote: »

Yes the residents can be awkward alright. The nerve of them to complain about the broken glass that they have to drive over, or the parties that keep their kids awake or the wheelie bins that get kicked over. How dare they complain about your inconsiderate parking across a footpath that forces a woman pushing a pram or the old guy on crutches on to road - to walk around the cars parked on the verges destroying them in the process. The auld one was totally wrong to go mad simply because fireworks were set off.
Do you blame her? You say you had more hassle from the residents? Its the students that are causing the residents to react! I did a Masters in UL, lived in Dun an Oir for a while before getting the hell out. It was like Beirut! I got on grand with residents but got embarrassed during Rag Week cos the place was left in ****e. Come on man, get a grip. People pay mortgages there and plain and simple, some students just wreck the place. Would you accept it where you come from?

I never said I parked across a footpath, this one was out complaining over one of the wheels being up on our lawn, which was nothing to do with her. She did have the right to be pissed over a firework going off but didn't have the right to come down screaming at me over something I had nothing to do with, she only calmed down when she heard i wasn't a student. We had a lot of hassle with them to be fair, they picked a lot of arguments with us over nothing. If the OP wants to get something done about the state of her area there's better places to resolve it than on boards, maybe she should become a litter warden and start handing out on the spot fines. I understand people have mortgages and have the right not to be disturbed in their home area but IMHO, from experience they bring a lot of it on themselves. While that is another matter, i feel i had a right to give my 2 cents over the title of thread and the tone of OP's comments towards students.

davidmichael

I think Milford Grange needs to tackle the issue of landlords who neglect their properties. Its the broken window effect. if students come to a place that looks like ****, they will treat it like ****. especially 1st years. the su did a good job for charity week last year, and hopefully it will be the same this year. they should think about an ents crew patrol every tues and thurs night. the lodge closing is a big help. no doubt the place will be open next year. still its closure will prob encourage more houseparties.

its the best estate in limerick, best built houses, best location, more green areas than any newer estate.....if the university could build enough on campus accom it would be great. would that stop students driving across the greens? hopefully.

brucechan

Neon and DesQ, when you're passing by the "relatively clean" lights at the East Gates, just look up the road to the top of that road (Eldorado?). Shocking. Came back to Castletroy tonight and in fairness walking frrom the gates up through the estate is bad but that litter is terrible, what makes it worse is that the students (yes) are inside so they walked past it. Its outside their own houses coming out of their own bins! Respect, anyone?

seen2Bgreen

OH MY GOD. Just went through Compostella and Elderado to get to the lights. The 4 houses at the top of elderado are a disgrace, and all 4 are student houses too. Forget the council and the cops, the students who live there have some cheek to be walking in and out over the rubbish, and with residential neighbours too. No wonder the residents are kicking up. Its terrible.