Youth Problems in Portobello...

[Genbukan]

Hello, I really hate to have my first post here being one that some may dismiss as a moaning one but I feel I have a valid concern which I want to share.

It's come to my attention that, more and more, Portobello has become somewhat of a youth ghetto with lots of teenagers hanging around in the evenings. Now, a great many of these are no trouble at all and, I concede, are on the streets because there is very little else for them to do around here.

However, there is definitely a more troublesome element, those who are abusive, threatening and malicious in nature. My partner, our young son and I live in a quiet lane at the Joppa end of Portobello. Actually, we WISH it were quiet because it regularly becomes a haunt for youths.

In the past they've gathered in fairly large numbers to drink and smoke out of sight of main roads and the police (the evidence was plain to see by the broken bottles they left discarded) but now it has mostly become a thoroughfare for them, a short cut that they use to get from the high street to the promenade.

They, like everyone else have a right to travel down the lane, but that's not enough for them. No, they have to ring the doorbell, bang on or throw things at the windows and kick the door on their way past, scaring our young son and making my partner very upset. Unsurprisingly if you say anything to them you get nothing but obscene abuse back. Calling the police is of little help either as they are always far too slow to respond. By the time an officer arrives, they've long gone.

What kind of brainless idiots think it’s fun to frighten a wee boy anyway???

The garages further up the lane have been vandalised and we've even witnessed several of them having a go at the locks. More recently work has been happening at the top end of the lane and workmen had set up a portaloo for them to use throughout the day. Almost without fail at some point in the evening we'd hear a crash as youths would push it over.

The final straw came this afternoon though when, arriving back home, we were shocked to find a fire engine backing into the lane. Turning the corner we saw that not only had portaloo been pushed over but had been set on fire too. It was quite a blaze and flames were licking up the fronts of some of the garages. Had it taken hold the fire would have quickly worked its way down the row of garages - right to where we live!!! It was only the vigilant action of some unknown person who called the fire brigade, and their subsequent speedy response that averted what could have been a much worse situation.

Enough is enough I say. I'm sick and tired of my partner and son jumping at every sound made in the lane each evening, and now this fire has made them doubly nervous. I'm not one of these people who just want to shout "something must be done" and sit back and expect action. No, I'm willing to do something...but what??? What can you do when you feel so powerless?

Portobello is a nice place to live, it very much has the potential to be a great little community, but troublesome youth issues are really dragging it down and it seems like the yobs, wherever they're from (I don't believe that all of them are Portobello youths either) are going to keep it up as long as Portobello is viewed as a "soft target".

[Porty]

[DG]

[Bob Jefferson]

[foxy]

[Gemini]

http://www.youthlink.co.uk/parliamentar ... behaviour(

[Epykat]

[Jamesie]

[Mimpty]

[bellybabe]

[Porty]

[Gemini]

[Mimpty]

[quote="Porty
Also, you have no idea how pis sed off I am that you have your own Bus Stop. Are you sleeping with a Councillor?[/quote]

Are you implying I sell my favours for bus stops? The tolerance zone is on another thread, my friend!

[Porty]

[Mimpty]

[quote="Porty Wonder how much it is for one of those ones that all the buses stop at? [/quote]

You know what they say..."If you have to ask, you can't afford it!"

[Poppy]

[Epykat]

There were two policemen and a policewoman escorting a lad of about 13 or 14 around all the bushes from outside Phoenix House to past the Surgery about 5pm last night. In and out of the buckets and under cars too. Do you think he'd lost his cat?

[Jamesie]

Did anyone make it along to the Neighbourhood Watch meething this evening in the library?

[Bob Jefferson]

[Jamesie]

[Bob Jefferson]

[teddygirl]

[Sandra]

[Maria]