Charlesland Grove Green

eleMental

Since the lifting of restrictions 2 weeks ago, a quite large gang of kids (ages 10-14) have been hanging around the green area by Supervalu in Charlesland Grove. Most of the boys are on mountain bikes. For the most part its all grand and innocent and its nice to see kids out and about again.

However there have been repeated incidences of vandalism - I've seen several of the kids scaling the fence / breaking through the fence into the Little Explorer playground area and climbing over the kids play equipment. I've also seen them breaking into the shed in the grounds. They've repeatedly left litter (Monster drink cans, smoothie cups, wrappers) all over the grass that local residents have to clean up. Some of the older "cooler" boys continuously roar and shout obscenities in full earshot of lots of smaller kids who play here too.

If your kids are going back out to hang out with their friends please remind them to respect the areas they're hanging out in, to take their rubbish with them (or put it in the bin) and to not vandalise local amenities. You wouldnt want it outside your own front door....and neither do we. Thanks.

eleMental

Anyone know is there a way to contact the Community Garda directly rather than the Greystones station? These kids are really becoming an issue - intimidating people going in and out of Supervalu and the younger local kids, wrecking greenery, smashing bottles onto the carpark ramp, screaming and shouting obscenities and deliberately cycling and doing wheelies out infront of cars coming and going from the carparks. Thanks.

oinkely

Effective immediately – or thereabouts – there will be a pop-up garda station at the community centre.
Open every Monday evening from 6pm to 8pm, it will give locals a chance to get forms stamped, questions answered and missing husbands sorted.
The two garda on duty will be Molly Colbert and Alan Thompson, and they can be contacted directly on molly.a.corbett@garda.ie and alan.m.thompson@garda.ie.


https://www.greystonesguide.ie/kilcooles-pop-up-cop-shop/

Feasog Dearg

eleMental wrote: »

Anyone know is there a way to contact the Community Garda directly rather than the Greystones station? These kids are really becoming an issue - intimidating people going in and out of Supervalu and the younger local kids, wrecking greenery, smashing bottles onto the carpark ramp, screaming and shouting obscenities and deliberately cycling and doing wheelies out infront of cars coming and going from the carparks. Thanks.

A lot of the kids in this group aren't from Charlesland, and are from as far away as Kilmac. They're not only tormenting those at the shopping centre, they've been harassing residents in Charlesland Wood, particularly along the river walk. I know one of the kids and have contacted the parents who were appalled. I've encouraged other residents to contact parents if they know who they are.


We've had similar issues - intimidation, littering, property destruction. Some parents approached them and asked them to leave, advisign them they were on private property - you can imagine the response...

eleMental

Thanks for the feedback all. Looks like teenage anti-social behaviour in Charlesland has made the Greystones Guide again - the community garda is looking for feedback from residents so make your feelings known!

https://www.greystonesguide.ie/busy-weekend-for-scumbags/

Annasopra

What happened to the youth centre that was promised by Stephen Donnelly and Jennifer Whitmore?

jpd

Joeytheparrot wrote: »

What happened to the youth centre that was promised by Stephen Donnelly and Jennifer Whitmore?

Seriously, election time promises?

eleMental

Problem seems to be getting worse again . Yesterday afternoon there were 20-30 kids on the green outside Supervalu running and cycling out in front of traffic and also throwing traffic cones out in front of moving cars. Another older group of lads over by the creche were smashing a football into the wall which would then subsequently smash into the glass windows of the creche or resident's cars. All very intimidating given the volume of them. Theres also been fireworks let off AT people and along the road, in the underground carpark and over in the corner where the gate to the new school is.
Spoke to the gardai who said theyre well aware of the problem and are happy to respond to calls from residents which is good to know. Apparantly Charlesland is the midpoint between Kilcoole / Delgany / Kilmac etc and so that's why they're choosing here to congregate (as none of them seem to live here). Some are known to attend St Davids so I think it's being addressed by the Community Garda with them too.

2011

I feel your pain. There is an element of this carry on everywhere now.
Parents need to get their sh!t together. There are very few gardai to cover a massive area which doesn’t help either.

Taltos

eleMental wrote: »

.... Some are known to attend St Davids so I think it's being addressed by the Community Garda with them too.

Don’t hold your breath. Some kids from there at least last week 3 mornings in a row were doing soft drugs within spitting distance of the Garda station. Not a sight of them being moved on.
And we all know the spot they were at so it isn’t a one off.

jpd

Without condoning the behaviour of the group of teenagers, the lack of facilities for teenagers in Greystones must be a factor in this behaviour and looks like it will only get worse as the population increases in the next 10 years

2011

jpd wrote: »

Without condoning the behaviour of the group of teenagers, the lack of facilities for teenagers in Greystones must be a factor in this behaviour and looks like it will only get worse as the population increases in the next 10 years

Lack of facilities???
You have to be joking.
Teenagers in the area are spoilt for choice.
There is no shortage of clubs, activities and facilities to suit every pocket and age group.

Just look at what Greystones has in the town or very near by:

- Swimming pool
- tennis club
- GAA
- Baseball club
- Cricket club
- lawn bowling club
- More than one gym
- rugby club
- Football pitches
- Sailing club
- rowing club
- fishing
- scuba diving club
- scouts
- local road cycling club
- fantastic mountain biking nearby
- golf clubs
- various dance groups (multiple)
- theater
- badminton
- martial arts
- boxing club
- walking group
- bridge club
- athletics / running clubs
- running track
- horse riding

^^^ That is just for starters

What exactly did you have in mind???

loyatemu

those are all organised activities, many of which cost money.
Teenagers generally just want to hang out with their mates, they're not all going to go scuba diving or do dressage.

(I'm not excusing these scrotes causing aggro, but often teens get given out to for just hanging around because adults fear large groups of teens).

2011

loyatemu wrote: »

those are all organised activities, many of which cost money.

Agreed, but my reply was a response to post that I believe to be very inaccurate in it’s assertion that there is a "lack of facilities for teenagers in Greystones".

I think you will find that plenty of these "scrotes" are well able to afford many of the activities mentioned but would rather spend their money on designer clothing and pot.

jpd

Sorry, I was not clear - I didn't mean organised activities, of which as you rightly point out there are many.

In my experience, teenagers tend to shy away from organised activities of the sort you mention - prefering to "hang out" with their friends.

Again, I am not condoning any of the behaviour

If it's any use to anyone, large groups of teenagers can be intimidating and rude being in a gang seems to egg them on.

It was the same when my youngest was a teen they use to hang around down the far end of the south beach drinking or in the park in the Burnaby, fifteen years on they are working in finance, engineers, nurses, etc some have had children some have brought a house, some have moved away, perfectly normal adults.

It was very stressful at the time but it does in the vast majority of cases gets better.


The scouts did wonders for one of mine as a teenager so I wouldn't dismiss organised activities for teenagers.

I have had two encounters with aggressive rude teenagers in Greystones over the years once at the playground so I know they are not all angles by any means.

2011

jpd wrote: »

Again, I am not condoning any of the behaviour

Understood.

I think that the issue is parents not knowing or in some cases not caring what their teenagers get up to. No amount of facilities will solve that.

From what I see these kids have no shortage of cash. Those designer labels and the latest iPhones are not cheap.

eleMental

Could be unrelated but there was a fire engine, fire ambulance car and police car all in the upper Supervalu car park last night, blue lights on etc - was there a fire caused by the fireworks??

eleMental

The situation has reached new lows. Same extended gang of 25-30 have now made the green at Supervalu their new meet-up spot. Several in school uniforms, they spent 6 hours yesterday afternoon shouting abuse and fighting, throwing traffic cones at each other, lounging on residents cars. They also significantly damaged a large amount of greenery in the area - pulling plants apart, stomping on bushes and trees, throwing rubbish everywhere. They laughed off the gardai and openly sneered in the faces of multiple residents who over the course of the afternoon asked them to get off theirs cars, move along, stop damaging greenery etc. AFAIK schools (David's, Templecarraig) are aware, Mgmt Co are aware, gardai are more than aware but there's nothing that can be "done" because they're juveniles. It's upsetting and sad to see the decline of what was once a really nice place to live but has now just become an estate overrun with intimidating teenagers with no respect for property and an over-inflated sense of entitlement.

Sunrise_Sunset

The whole estate is not overrun. Unfortunately for the Grove, it is situated right beside the shops, the car park etc and is a convenient hang out place for teens.
It is sad to see alright, I wish more could be done about it too and I feel for the residents in the Grove.

2011

eleMental wrote: »

The situation has reached new lows. Same extended gang of 25-30 have now made the green at Supervalu their new meet-up spot. Several in school uniforms, they spent 6 hours yesterday afternoon shouting abuse and fighting, throwing traffic cones at each other, lounging on residents cars. They also significantly damaged a large amount of greenery in the area - pulling plants apart, stomping on bushes and trees, throwing rubbish everywhere. They laughed off the gardai and openly sneered in the faces of multiple residents who over the course of the afternoon asked them to get off theirs cars, move along, stop damaging greenery etc. AFAIK schools (David's, Templecarraig) are aware, Mgmt Co are aware, gardai are more than aware but there's nothing that can be "done" because they're juveniles. It's upsetting and sad to see the decline of what was once a really nice place to live but has now just become an estate overrun with intimidating teenagers with no respect for property and an over-inflated sense of entitlement.

This all sounds very frustrating. I’m not sure what the best course of action is. I can’t help thinking that the parents of these kids would be appalled if they knew. This may be the key. Perhaps you could try approaching the schools? Or perhaps you could convince the Garda to ?

jkp

Has there been any improvement?
Was looking renting in Charlesland Grove, is the antisocial behaviour bad enough to reconsider?

abacus120

jkp wrote: »

Has there been any improvement?
Was looking renting in Charlesland Grove, is the antisocial behaviour bad enough to reconsider?

No improvement,if anything its worse.
They were in full swing the last few evenings,throwing rocks at cars,knocked an elderly gentleman over off his walker and throwing bottles and litter all over the place.
The guards were on foot talking to them and not two ****s given.

2011

abacus120 wrote: »

No improvement,if anything its worse.
They were in full swing the last few evenings,throwing rocks at cars,knocked an elderly gentleman over off his walker and throwing bottles and litter all over the place.
The guards were on foot talking to them and not two ****s given.

That’s terrible.
I don’t know what to suggest other than have a residents meeting to try to formulate a plan.

I would like to think that the parents of these teenagers would be appalled by this behavior if they knew.