Vandals

Wook

Article:


No civic pride - the cowboys intent on wrecking our cities

It has been a long time since cattle graced the streets of Dublin but earlier this month a series of cows could be spotted near the capital's busiest thoroughfares.

That they were sculptures, rather than live animals, hardly seemed to stem the surprise of pedestrians who happened upon them.

The CowParade, the curious soon discovered, is an exhibition that travels from city to city, aiming to bring art out of the galleries and onto the streets. The Irish herd were created by, among others, John Rocha, Graham Knuttel and Robert Ballagh.

Its organisers call it the world's largest public art exhibition. And it has been warmly applauded in every city it has visited.

But the way the life-size sculptures were greeted in Dublin was shocking.

The initial 10 sculptures placed were so badly vandalised that organisers were forced to move them into indoor locations. Plans to have the remaining 60 cows placed outdoors have been scrapped.

The cow on Westmoreland Street was ripped up within 24 hours, while the striking sculpture on Liffey Street was beheaded. "It was made of fibreglass," says Irish project director Gerard Beshoff. "Someone needed a saw to do that. The head was found outside Clery's on O'Connell Street. They didn't even take it for posterity.

"A cow was stolen in Navan and a few days later someone rang a local radio station to say they had it and were looking for a ransom to return it. People probably think it's funny, but a lot of work has gone into the sculptures and they are being auctioned for charity in September."

Not to be outdone, vandals in Galway damaged and then stole a large fibreglass pig which was designed for the city's arts festival. It was, as one wag put it, a prime example of our pig ignorance.

Nothing seems to be sacred, as tens of thousands of euro worth of damage to irreplaceable gravestones in Glasnevin cemetery shows. The vandals used a JCB to smash at least 40 headstones in the oldest part of the historic Dublin landmark earlier this year. They caused damage totalling €45,000 to gravestones, some of which date back to the 1830s, and the digger which was valued at €30,000 was written off. And, last Christmas many were shocked when vandals set fire to the famous live crib outside the mansion house.

Smaller towns are not immune to the problem. Bus Eireann was forced to close the station at Ballyshannon, Co Donegal, because local secondary school children were alleged to have damaged toilets, display cases, walls and bins.

A report by the Irish Small and Medium Enterprise Association (ISME) in June revealed that 50 pc of all businesses in this country has been victims of crime, including vandalism.

Civic pride is not among the traits normally associated with this country, according to Tom Cavanagh, head of Irish Business Against Litter. "We seem to be more disrespectful towards our environment and heritage than before. Maybe it's something to do with affluence, but people don't seem terribly bothered if they see somebody urinating on the street or vandalising something."

Cavanagh believes the failure of gardai to enforce the law is responsible. "It seems the gardai don't put vandalism and littering very high on their priorities. The only way, we can see change is for the small things to be improved. More often than not, they just turn a blind eye. Only about half the local authorities have bothered to appoint a litter warden, for example."

Much of our carefree attitude towards civic responsibility could be a result of our colonial past. "It's well known that colonised countries are not as law-abiding as colonising countries. The attitude can last generations."

Cavanagh is adamant that alcohol is responsible for much of the behaviour. "When people come out of the pubs they seem to think they have a licence to behave anyway they want - whether it's littering the streets or damaging public property. Without question, our increasing alcohol consumption has a big part to play."

He says it is wrong to blame young people exclusively for vandalism. "Even the people who are supposed to lead the way are not."

Only last month, Duchas, the State heritage agency, was found guilty of illegally dumping waste on a scenic game reserve. The idea of the very body that was set up to try and protect our fast-eroding natural beauty actually illegally burying bags of asbestos in South Tipperary sounds incredible, but not perhaps in Ireland.

Tom Cavanagh believes the government should look to the example of New York. The city was becoming decayed until Rudi Guiliani became mayor. While his zero tolerance earned him many enemies, most agree that he helped regenerate the city again.

Much of that was down to the 'Broken Window' theory of James Q Wilson, which holds that minor crimes, such as graffiti and smashed windows, demoralised the population and created an environment supporting an epidemic of more major crimes.

Guiliani set out to tackle the small problems - whether it was the repair of derelict buildings or the crackdown on the sex industry. Visitors to Time Square will be surprised with how clean and safe it has become in the past decade.

Unequivocally, the 'Broken Window' strategy worked. Crime dropped dramatically. New Yorkers were proud of their great city again.

The authorities here are saying they are doing what they can. But Gerard Beshoff says the gardai have not assisted them with using CCTV footage to discover the culprits who damaged the cows. "There's a general attitude of 'what were they doing on the street in the first place'?"

Dublin City Council says it is doing more than people give it credit for to tackle litter and vandalism. A spokesperson points to the work of its litter wardens and a dedicated unit which removes graffiti.

There are numerous incentives in operation to improve our sense of civic duty, such as the evergreen Tidy Towns Competition. One of the longest running awards schemes is the Guinness Living Dublin competition. In existence since 1994, it attracted over 600 entrants last year across a number of categories including a competition to select the best-kept street.

"Schemes like this encourage community leaders to make an even bigger effort to enhance their environment," says project co-ordinator Emma Kytzia. "We find that people and areas that are highly commended for their work one year pull out all the stops to win the award the following year. When change happens on a big enough scale they difference will gradually be seen."

John Meagher

Note: I never understood people vandalising their own turf-city.
Especially cultural aspects that gives your city a certain 'flash', Do people actually want the city grey and looking like a derelict ?
I can understand that people don't want to lecture other people caught in the act (primarily because they could get into different problems then) Do Irish people not care or not enough ?

BKtje

some of the cultural things ina city are vandalised purely so people can have the bragging rights. 'Look at that, i did that'
etc. I've heard it and it pisses me off.

In fairness Dublin is a much cleaner city these days imo, i feel that there is less litter about and a friend of mine who was over from nl last week commented on how clean stephens green was. Said it was much cleaner than anything in Holland. Holland was always a place i considered fairly clean tho im not sure if its gotten a lot worse or us that bit better.

The Guards really need to stamp down hard on vandalism or it could become an even greater problem.

Val

Hi!
I am doing a research about the situation of these cows for an article, can you tell me where you found this article? Cheers
Val

sceptre

James Wilson's theory certainly seems to hold water. They've applied the principle in NYC, Rome & Paris and it's borne fruit in all three cities.

I can't understand the scum element myself. Interesting that this wasn't confined to Dublin though - proof for those who read that this vandalism element is thriving in all our urban centres. I'm loath to close this post by merely saying that something has to be done but short of a curfew or a Michael McDowell draconian measure I can't think of anything as a quick fix. Obviously there's a need to instill in people while they're still young the idea that everything they destroy is something that they and everyone else will lose. Leave it too late and they just don't give a damn.

Moriarty

90% of irish people are muck-savages. 9% have given up to varying degrees with society in general. 1% try to truly improve the situation. Its so very irish.

Boston

Do you really think a curfew would have any affect on the peopel causing the problem. On drug dealers, and joy riders? i don't think so. Once again i see the probelsm on modern ireland being blamed on drink. Heres a news flash, they drank a hundread years ago and didn't have these problems. More and more people are using crack cocaine, speed, E, whatever when going out, and this is resulting in increased violence on our streets. I was just thinkign today, i wouldn't call any part of dublin "safe" and that is really sad.

DriftingRain

The poor cows...Um..I mean art-work. That is terrible. :mad:
Curfews are working in many places where some slugs think they are above the law and everyone else. Although if drugs are going to get out there, there going to get out there, and there is nothing anyone can do about it. .Sad situation I hope some of the art work can be fixed? Terrible to see such a thing ruined.

skipn_easy

I don't think drugs are to blame for vandalism of that sort. Its people's attitude and disrespect to their own city that is the problem and that is what has to be changed.

As sceptre said it needs to start with teaching kids how to respect everything, including things that aren't theirs, and in that way vandalism and littering will decrease hopefully. There's not much point in just putting more policemen on the streets and having curfews - it might work for a bit, but I think it would be better to get rid of the desire to vandalise rather than just take away the means.

Also i would think that boredom plays a large part in those activities - kids just hanging around wondering what to do, and someone gets the bright idea of beheading a cow or something. Encouraging other legal activities and providing safe community centres for such activities would help.

On my way home I pass a couple of those bottle and clothes recycling banks. The clothes bank was set on fire nearly every week, and eventually had to be taken away. The kids that hang around the area also take great joy in smashing the bottles up and putting a nice strip of broken glass across the road - to me this is completely senseless and dangerous, but it obviously keeps those kids entertained.

LegacyUser

vandalism is bad enough without the likes of dublin bus & eircom encouraging them, those glass bus shelters are just screaming for a brick to fly at them, in fact they should come with a big "Smash Me" poster stuck to em, same for the phone boxes, thought they would have learnt to use clear plastics by now ?

Boston

Originally posted by Wyvern
I don't think drugs are to blame for vandalism of that sort.

well drink would be, specially the one of west morland street that was destroyed, around 3am that whople area is paced with people

Wook

Originally posted by bananayoghurt
vandalism is bad enough without the likes of dublin bus & eircom encouraging them, those glass bus shelters are just screaming for a brick to fly at them, in fact they should come with a big "Smash Me" poster stuck to em, same for the phone boxes, thought they would have learnt to use clear plastics by now ?

euh i don't see your point , whats so attractive about them ?most likely the shelters are glass because it's 'safety glass' which plastic would not be.
It happends much less on the continent that those shelters would have been smashed unless there is football-happening-demonstration but not so much out of 'it's saturday and nothing to do- feeling'

Imposter

Originally posted by Wyvern
As sceptre said it needs to start with teaching kids how to respect everything, including things that aren't theirs, and in that way vandalism and littering will decrease hopefully. There's not much point in just putting more policemen on the streets and having curfews - it might work for a bit, but I think it would be better to get rid of the desire to vandalise rather than just take away the means.

I agree with this but how do you teach kids who, if they actually turn up to school, don't actually want to be there and cause as much trouble for their teachers as possible. These morals/values/whatever need to be thought ot the kids by their parents but then somebody needs to teach the parents before that!

Also i would think that boredom plays a large part in those activities - kids just hanging around wondering what to do, and someone gets the bright idea of beheading a cow or something. Encouraging other legal activities and providing safe community centres for such activities would help.

A big no to this. If I remember rightly some council tried to introduce skate parks a few years ago only to have them vandalised. Any playgrounds (admittedly for a younger crowd, possibly, than is causing the damage) are also vandalised. Nothing that is provided for the good of the community even those things targeted at the 'bored' group is safe. Plus the compo culture doesn't help in having any facilities for anyone!

As for a solution I dunno. Policing and education seem the obvoius starting point for me. Parental education rather than the children though would be a better solution imo. And then in maybe 10-15 years, these facilities, if provided, might be appreciated.

LegacyUser

Originally posted by Wook
euh i don't see your point , whats so attractive about them ?most likely the shelters are glass because it's 'safety glass' which plastic would not be.

safety glass ? why would you need safety glass in a bus shelter ?
the plastic bus shelters are pretty much vandal proof, I've yet to see one left in thousands of pieces on a saturday morning, the glass ones attract vandals, theres prolly not much better than putting a brick through a 8 by 5 foot sheet of glass on the vandalism scale, all the glass ones should be replaced with plastic, then if anyone fecks a brick at it it might bounce back and skull them.

growler

there seems to be an inherent need in young males to destroy , I remember my own teenage years featured a few destructive episodes that could not be blamed on drink , drugs , poor parenting, a colonial hangover, angst, religious vacuums or much else tangible for that matter, it was just a way to release energy i guess.

If fear of the consequences is taken away then kids feel they have free reign. I'm inclined to think that anyone old enought to "know better" should be dealt a hefty fine.

i doubt that a fibreglass cow was considered art by the vandals, nor are teenagers lilely to have much appreciation for cow art in the first place.

I was in Birmingham recently and vandals had set fire to a huge fibreglass sculpture in the city centre, so at least the problem is not confined to Ireland. Graffiti was (and probably still is in many cases) considered vandalism , but i've seen it develop into a sorta sub-culture in the UK and USA of late , street art as it were, is it any more acceptable culturally than a plastic cow on o'connel st i wonder ?

maybe the answer is in controlled destruction ,giving youths who feel the need to destroy a channel to feed this energy into, hand them a baseball bat and give them an hour to tackle a car (preferably one parked in a bus lane while the driver popped into the shops for the paper) , tire em out !!

Ireland couldn't be a zero tolerance society , as a society we have feck all respect for all but the most serious laws.
my two cents

Silent Bob

Originally posted by Imposter
I agree with this but how do you teach kids who, if they actually turn up to school, don't actually want to be there and cause as much trouble for their teachers as possible.

A big stick.

bugler

Yes, violence will show those pesky kids the error of their ways! Oh no wait, it would make you feel better, and them feel worse and most likely more destructive. Result!

Once again i see the probelsm on modern ireland being blamed on drink. Heres a news flash, they drank a hundread years ago and didn't have these problems. More and more people are using crack cocaine, speed, E, whatever when going out, and this is resulting in increased violence on our streets. I was just thinkign today, i wouldn't call any part of dublin "safe" and that is really sad.

This paragraph is so wrong it's not even funny. I take it you have never taken Ecstacy, Boston? There's very little strong evidence to link drug use with an increase in aggression or partaking in mindless violence. I would exclude PCP from the ambit of this statement. Unfortunately standing outside any nightclub in any city can show you alcohol's particular talent for inducing violent behaviour in many people. The violence associated with drugs is far more likely to be economically motivated i.e heroin users needing to rob to pay for their fix, or gangs fighting over their turf, killing thieves etc. And Ireland has no notable record of crack usage. Hopefully this will continue to be the case, though one doubts it.

Just something to bear in mind when jumping on the "oh kids these days off their heads on drugs and going wild" bandwagon.

Drink is a far more prominent factor in this low-level thuggery than drugs. I doubt either plays a huge role though, in order for you to mindlessly go out of your way to deface something I think you will probably have low self-esteem, be generally ignorant of what you're doing, and probably hold a nilihistic attitude toward society in general.

I'm also tired of substances (be it alcohol or drugs) being blamed entirely for peoples actions. Whatever happened to personal responsibility? If you find you get aggressive when you drink a lot then don't drink a lot, it's up to you, not the pint. Drink won't turn some nice calm character into a raving thug. You have to have it in you already.

Silent Bob

Originally posted by bugler
Yes, violence will show those pesky kids the error of their ways! Oh no wait, it would make you feel better, and them feel worse and most likely more destructive. Result!

The Isle of Man has a practically non-existant crime rate. I can't help but think that it is the practice of 'the birch' that maintains this.

Rather than giving people community service for small crimes they get hit with a big stick of birch wood.

Which is a more effective deterrent, having to pick up rubbish for two weeks or being given the birch?

bugler

Having studied Criminology, I know the answer.

The Aran Islands has an extremely low crime rate too bob, presumably it's due to the Iron-fisted corporal punishment squads that roam free, dishing out glorious justice with their bundles of birch.

Orion

Originally posted by Wook
Article:

Dublin City Council says it is doing more than people give it credit for to tackle litter and vandalism. A spokesperson points to the work of its litter wardens and a dedicated unit which removes graffiti.

The DCC do great work. But they are only fighting the symptoms of the malaise that has affected Dublin over the past number of years. The Council don't have the resources to fight the cause.

I was born and bred in Dublin and I saw 10 years ago what kind of a place it was becoming. And it's got worse. Even 7 or 8 years ago you could walk down O'Connell St without looking over your shoulder. If someone was beaten in the centre it was headline news. Now it's commonplace.

Some work needs to be done on the cause of this vandalism/thuggery/violence etc. Ireland in general and Dublin in particular has become a stagnant society where the only outlet for some people is violence - whether against other people or static images like the cow parade.

The only reason that I am still near Ath Cliath is my partner, who's a Dublin girl through and through. We are expecting twins next month and now she's agreed that Dublin is a place that she would not want to bring up children - something I've said for at least 5 years. There's something seriously wrong when people don't want to raise their children in the place they were raised themselves.

Wook

Originally posted by Macros42
The DCC do great work. But they are only fighting the symptoms of the malaise that has affected Dublin over the past number of years. The Council don't have the resources to fight the cause.

but it should not be fought, instead it should be every persons responsibility to be proud on the area they live in. The city they have grown up. But they clearly aren't...

Where i come from , there used to be loads of small estates where kids protect theyre own turf , and you would be silly to damage or be a vandal on this ground.
Now the attitude is more of , we love our city , it's a cool city and i would look stupid to attack my own livingspace.

Off course we have our share of graffiti and the likes but the mentality is different.

bloggs

Hmm, in Saudi Arabia they would cut of the hands of the vandals for this, perhaps its time we took a few leaves out of their book :mad:

Orion

Originally posted by Wook
but it should not be fought, instead it should be every persons responsibility to be proud on the area they live in. The city they have grown up. But they clearly aren't...

Sad but true.

Cabaal

Originally posted by Moriarty
90% of irish people are muck-savages. 9% have given up to varying degrees with society in general. 1% try to truly improve the situation. Its so very irish.

90% may be muck-saveges but atleast they don't go around the place braking things and spray painting walls etc

Its the 9% prats that do the damage and to be honest I imagine there made up of around 10 - 19 year olds thats do most of the vandalisem

Orion

Originally posted by Cabaal
to be honest I imagine there made up of around 10 - 19 year olds thats do most of the vandalisem

I disagree completely. You can see these assholes in town. If you want to pick a demograph it's the 25-35 white males that are the main culprits for vandalism, brawling, littering etc etc. And that's just from empirical experience.

On the other hand you have the 25-35 mothers. I was crossing the road (with the little green man) at Tara St. Station a few weeks ago and a mother with her 5ish yr old was coming the other way. She said to the boy "if they're in your way just kick them". I felt like kicking her when I heard that.

DadaKopf

I saw the cow on Westmoreland Street. It was a cow with big wings. It was brutalised. Every word in that article raced through my head.

Civic irresponsibility is a personal pet hate/crusade of mine (as people might have guessed from other threads).

I think the major pertinent point made in the article was the one about our colonial past. We continue going around acting as if those in the government, but particularly the civil service are an alien power. That finished over 50 years ago!

I agree with much of that article and I agree that civic pride can be restored by taking care of "the little things" like litter and public urination. However, I'm skeptical of the long-term effect of 'zero-tolerance' campaigns. Given our post-colonial legacy, I feel it would, at this point, be counter-productive.

DadaKopf

Oh yeah and speaking of the "little green man": I've started only crossing with him, never with the "little bad red man". I thought, what's the rush? I just stand there, waiting, watching everyone else risking their lives and, you know, I always catch up with them.

They do this in Scandinavia.

I used to feel uncomfortable standing there on my own until the green man came along - it was as if the peer pressure was overwhelming - but now I feel as if I'm enjoying being in Dublin much more than anyone else.

I get much less radge at people now and I'm rediscovering the art of 'promenading'.

It's the little things, you know?

Silent Bob

Stupid thing about most pedestrian lights is that the green man lasts about halfway across the road. Then it goes orange for about a minute. Then it goes red (even though it is still safe to cross, you can tell because the lights keep the traffic stopped).

This stupid behaviour strips the orange and red lights of any proper meaning.

The light should be green when it is safe to cross, orange when you won't make it completely across the road in time and red when it is dangerous to cross

chewy

im so there with you dadakoph unless there absolutly no cars anywhere in sight ill stop and wait , you see so many near misses and people just walking out with prmas and all you'd think they be more careful with them im uncomfortable i wait

Von

Originally posted by DadaKopf
Oh yeah and speaking of the "little green man": I've started only crossing with him, never with the "little bad red man". I thought, what's the rush? I just stand there, waiting, watching everyone else risking their lives and, you know, I always catch up with them.

They do this in Scandinavia.

I noticed it in Germany too. In east Berlin they have this pleasant little fellow on the lights.

Karl Hungus

You know, I've always wondered... If there is so much blindness on the side of the Gardi, why haven't some would be do-gooders out there formed vigilante gangs!? I'm serious, with the amount of criminals who beat and brutalize people each and every day and get away scott free, it would be imaginable that a couple of lads with baseball bats who broke the kneecaps of some John-joe, or Anto who was trying to rob poor Billy's mobile phone, that they wouldn't get away with it easily. I'm sure this thought has gone through quite a few people's minds already.

There must be quite a few wannabe Joe Pesci's out there who still take pride in Ireland, and would give a good smack to someone trying to vandalize, or beat the life out of someone needlessly. I'd say that yes, it is a rather rash, and admittedly alcohol fueled idea, but if no-one else is gonna stand up against this kind of civic ignorance, then why not?

Personally, if I saw headlines about John-Joe Ward and Anto Dooley getting their arms broken for trying to rob some average punter, then I would certainly be cheering.

And yes, I do realise there's a bit of agression towards this country's knacker population.
Please forgive me.

gurramok

There must be quite a few wannabe Joe Pesci's out there who still take pride in Ireland, and would give a good smack to someone trying to vandalize, or beat the life out of someone needlessly. I'd say that yes, it is a rather rash, and admittedly alcohol fueled idea, but if no-one else is gonna stand up against this kind of civic ignorance, then why not?

Never happen as your more likely to be jailed for been a vigilante type than the thug itself plus the duty is on the non-existent gards to do law enforcement not the individual.
Its not worth a knifing stopping a kid hurling a brick at a bus shelter!
Its a catch 22 where the law is stacked against the do-gooder

Karl Hungus

Not so much, I'd think. I would more be a case of the Gardi having to get up off their asses if they have to get out there to stop said vigilantes. If it ended up with a constant watch by the gardi to try and stop these fellows, then its pretty much a win win situation, as they'd finally be off their asses, and no thugs are going to be running about beating people up for mobile phones and the like with that many cops about.

spongebob

get the vigilantes to keep an eye on the Guards and make them do some work.