Queens have renamed the area. The word Holylands has obvious embarrassing connotations.
From now on the area previously known as the Holylands will be known as Queens' Quarter
The Belfast Holyland Regeneration Association has been so successful that the handwriting's on the wall.
I thought I'd give you a guided tour through the new Queens' Quarter.
As you can see, the "students" have got their priorities straight.
Because their tenants are "students", the landlords do not have to pay rates on their properties. This is one of a number of massive redistributions of wealth from you, the public, into the pockets of the super-rich. Let's look at the service provided by Belfast City Council with your money.
The landlords refuse to buy wheelie bins, so your rates are paying for these industrial Eurobins. At one point the council took them out, so you can imagine what things were like without them.
In the South Belfast News BHRA claimed that we don't have rats here. I kid you not.
You may have noticed that we are in the middle of a housing crisis. Over the last ten years homelessness has trebled from 7,000 to 20,000. Someone somewhere is proud of this achievement. The reasons behind it merit investigation. Ten years ago, in the wake of the Good Friday Agreement, a hidden agenda began to unfold. The Housing Executive was prohibited from building houses. The funds were redirected elsewhere. The official responsible for doling out conversion grants to landlords revealed at a residents' meeting that the average grant per property was £24,000 and could go up to £36,000. It appears that the entire housing budget, untold tens of millions of pounds, has been doled out to property developers and has financed the rape of communities all over South Belfast and the rest of the province. The application of simple mathematics suggests a truly shocking figure. 10,000 HMO's in Northern Ireland multiplied by £24,000 per property equals £240 million, of which £120 million would have been doled out in South Belfast alone. This is an enormous redistribution of wealth from the public to the Rentier Class. I feel a James Connolly quote coming on, but will refrain lest I offend those who desecrate his name by hanging it on the front door of their head office.
Let's see what the modern day Rachmans have got for your money.
Families used to live here
And here
and here
and here
Another one bites the dust......
OOPS!!!!!As you're probably aware, the cops have a crisis of credibility when it comes to community relations.
That completes this tour of the new Queens' Quarter. Those of us who remember when the Holyland was a cultured, Bohemian, tolerant place where we were free to be ourselves and not some sectarian stereotype will forever mourn it's passing.
15 comments:
Where is the Holylands? It is the four/five streets that are named Damascus, Jerusalem etc? Or is it the area that takes in Carmel Street and Rugby Street? Or does it extend further to places like University Street, Westminster Street, Eblana Street? I'm just a bit confused about this, and would appreciate any answer.
There is no clear demarcation between "Holylands" and "Botanic". Most people consider the Holylands to stretch from University street to the river, and from the Ormeau road to Botanic Gardens. It is, however, more complicated than that. Rugby Road has it's own residents group and they are increasingly uncomfortable about associating with the Holylands Fake Residents' Group. The constitution of this fraudulent entity excludes Fitzroy avenue and University Street. In doing so they ignore the tenants in the Fold Residential Care Home in Fitzroy. These people are elderly and I dread to think what it's like for them spending their twilight years in the middle of Studentland. Their is one settled resident left in Fitzroy Avenue. she is elderly and the houses on either side of her have been demolished and are being replaced by flats. She is not happy.
Many people would say that the "Holylands" proper include only the houses from Rugby Avenue to the River and goes from the Ormeau Road to Carmel Street. This definition has intuitive merit, but ignores the shared experience of people in the broader locale. One could argue that the area from the river to the railway tracks was traditionally a bohemian and desectarianised area. Of course most of the private rental property was of extremely low quality. Think of the slums in Wolesley Street. However many young people tolerated that because they were free to be themselves. This was the greater prize and the price of living in freezing, damp conditions was worth paying. Most of the rooms had old open fires and people would raid wood from left, right and centre to feed them, eking it out with a few peat briquettes. I have fond memories of those days and will never forget what we once had. Real students lived here, and they sought, and achieved genuine cultural experiences, not the ersatz variety that involves GAA tops, cheap booze, rebel songs and all the paraphernalia of designer sectarian chauvinism.
It's a long winded answer, but the issue is interesting and complicated,
Get a job & get a life!!!!!!!!
I think the problems of the area have been well proven and discussed ad nausem in this blog.
Perhaps it is time to discuss solutions rather than problems? This blog could be a useful thing if the tit for tat point scoring and bickering gave way to useful dialouge.
So here we go...roughly the problem can be broken down into 3 "sides" for want of a better word: The Authorities [University, Council, Police, Wardens etc], The Long Term Residents and the student population.
Perhaps these suggestions might stimulate some debate:
1)Police actually enforcing the anti-alcohol legislation and taking names to forward to the council for prosecution. How hard can it be to make a note of someone's details and fill a form in? The law is being broken, flouted even, and it's simply not good enough for police to pretend this is not the case.
2)Residents and Students: How about befriending your student/resident neighbours? Yes, rising above the tensions and hatred. A "Hello, how's it going?" on the doorstep is all it takes to get things going. Simple neighbourly acts, keeping a spare key for example, lead to a bit of harmony. There's an upside to this. Students: If your neighbour knows you then they will know if someone is out of place hanging about outside your house. In other words they will know what's suspicious and not. This just might reduce the amount of students getting burgled. Also there's the added incentive to both students and residents that if you are stuck in an emergency your not on your own.
Half of the areas problems stem from the fact that no one knows who their neighbours are. This leaves the area wide open for burglarly, drug-dealing, rehousing of sex offenders, violent offenders and other associated scumbags who have been thrown out of the worst parts of Belfast.
Residents: befriending your student neighbours may also mean they won't go "Fuck it" and crank up the Stereo at 4am.
3) Residents: Understand that students have a right to be here and vice versa. This is not to say that some students have a right to act like idiots. But we have to understand that students have a right to be here. Furthermore they have a right to be part of the community whilst they are here. It wasn't that long ago that students and residents had a bit of craic and banter. We residents have to get beyond the "siege mentality" that says it's them against us. Students should be part of the community and welcomed as such. When this happens student misbehaviour will therefore be condemmed by residents and students alike.
4) Students: Realistically the things that wind up residents are few and easily avoided. No residents really begrudge students partying away in their own homes. We have thick walls round here and noise inside properties isn't the real issue.
It's street noise and disruption that is the main complaint, I mean running about the streets shouting at the top of your voice, kicking things over, pissing and puking everwhwere.
If these things stopped, which realistically asking students to walk home from the pub without doing the above things isn't a lot to ask, if these stopped there wouldn't be police and wardens on your case and potentially getting you into serious trouble with the University and / or the law.
Just a few ideas to get some debate going...hopefully it'll be published despite being a long post
I had to sleep on this, not least because I couldn't believe what I was reading. This person purports to be living in this fucking place.
"We have thick walls round here so noise inside buildings isn't really the problem"
What The Fuck???!!!!!!!
Four inch walls transmit noise readily and the landlords refuse to soundproof them. I mean refuse outright. If you don't like it they'll get a builder to intimidate you. Noise coming through the walls destroyed my health and that of a hell of a lot of neighbours. For at least 15 years landlords have been putting scumbags in next door to pensioners and families to drive them out. Now we have no community. We have been socially cleansed.
"Students have a right to be part of the community"
"Students" have destroyed the community. They want us out. They want us to,
"Sell your home and get the fuck out of the Holylands. This is our area now."
Don't pretend this is not the case. Why do you think people left? No-one wanted to go, they couldn't take it any more. The only sane approach is a siege mentality because that's what we're facing. These people have no desire to engage with us other than by showing us that they're the masters and we can fuck off. We know not to complain. We know not to make targets of ourselves. Anne Monaghan taught us that lesson. Now she claims to speak for us, like a rapist speaking for the victim.
"Befriend your neighbours"
Next you'll be talking about "partnership" you know, between the rapist and the victim. After all it's the line the universities, cops, and our Fake Residents' Group have been pushing for four fucking years.
"Police enforce anti- alcohol legislation"
You should write for the Andytown News, you really should. The Fucking Provo Hypocrite Cunts want the cops to enforce Zero Tolerance on Working Class People. They won't call for it's imposition on rich fucking scum. They want the cops to deal with "Quality of life Crimes"???? Can you picture Ogra Sinn Fein calling for that round here?
"Arrest and prosecute us and our mates" !!!????
The Provos blew the knees off working class children. They would never even put a scratch on rich cunts. If they did the Hatfield would go out of business, and they could kiss all the votes from all those same comfy pampered rich cunts goodbye.
The cops refuse to enforce the law here. At least not against "Students". They wouldn't even arrest those who assaulted a loyal prison trusty like David Farrell. Of course it's Zero Tolerance for residents. Taking wood from skips? We'll bang you up. Criticise our "Partners in the Community"? We'll see you in court Sonny!!! Attempted Murder?? If you're gonna stand up to our prison trustys what do you expect? They work for us and they'll keep you in line any way they see fit. Don't expect us to prosecute them. We're the masters and they work for us. They have to make an example of someone to make sure the rest of you get the message. Stay in your Fucking place and keep your fucking mouth shut.
For four years we've been hearing about your "Solutions". Now it's over. There is no more community. I hope you're proud of what you've achieved. Look at the pictures in this photo essay.
I hear the complaints, mostly valid, but no solutions? Let's hear some solutions from the blog author...or perhaps this is just a "have a moan blog"?
There are three kinds of residents here. There are those who want out and should be rehoused in new accommodation nearby. Then there are those, mostly elderly who have lived here decades. They will not go. I admire their tenacity. They should be given soundproofing of the highest standard. Landlords should be required to soundproof party walls at their own expense and under state supervision. Triple glazing, soundproof glass, insulated exterior walls, expense should be no issue because the landlords and universities should be made to pay for it, as well as the cost of rehousing those who want out. Belfast Community Housing Association should sell off the properties vacated so no-one else is imprisoned in them and use the money to build new houses elsewhere.
You may think this a pipe dream, but the universities' academic reputation is going down the toilet fast. Enrolments for Queens are down 10%. Long may that continue. Real students are saying
"Fuck this. We'll go anywhere, but nowhere near those inbred cunts that have invaded the Holylands. What kind of institution lets them in the door?"
Rehousing us makes good economic sense, seeing as as academia has been reduced to a business not a public service. This society's experiencing a brain drain and someone's got to realise that it needs to maintain a proper professional class rather than be run by drunken yokels from Deliverance. If the best they can produce is a thug like Conor Murphy, who sullies the name of a man beaten to death by his friends, the outlook is truly bleak.
The universities know they must get rid of the Holylands as a public issue. It will take them years, maybe decades to recover their credibility. The image of inbred pigfuckers waving degrees will not go away overnight. Gerry McCormack's already got my letter telling them to stop digging and start climbing. I suspect that they're slowly backing away from the Holylands Fake Residents' Group before it implodes and fucks their remaining credibility even further.
If you're wondering what the third type of resident is, it's the kind that feeds off other people's pain in order to make themselves feel important. These people have been offering a free PR service to the universities for four fucking years, but now that we no longer have a community they're of no use, especially when people associate them with extreme violence. Gerry McCormack has seen the photos. He knows he has a ticking bomb on his hands. So some people can kiss their importance bye bye. Their contribution will not be missed.
The solution to fund a home improvement scheme to soundproof residents homes would be an excellent idea
I'm currently doing an assignment on HMO's and their affect on long-term residents and was wondering if anyone knows how many long-term residents there are in Fitzroy Ave? Any information would be greatly appreciated!
There is one settled resident left in Fitzroy Avenue. There are a number of pensioners living in the Fold Residential Home. I don't know how many.
The case of Roma Tumelty is the most infamous example of Social Cleansing I have heard of. The developer bought the house next door to her and demolished half of it, leaving her with four inches of brick between her and the elements and noise. Eventually she could take no more and sold up. She lives in North Belfast now and is greatly relieved to have escaped from here.The developer bought her house and demolished three in a row, building flats.
There were many families in Fitzroy Avenue. They have all gone. It was a lovely street once. Now it's a building site. The one settled resident who remains is elderly and sandwiched between two examples of regeneration; family homes are being pulled down and replaced with flats. She gets the noise in stereo. I remember the building work next door to me. No sleep till 4am, builders at 7.30. Kango Hammers should be listed as instruments of torture. Sleep deprivation and extreme noise undeniably are. A community has been tortured out of their homes. Roma Tumelty said it well,
"No-one wanted to go. They just couldn't take it anymore.
Would you please consider posting about your blog and this situation on this forum, it is mainly young peopel who are deeply concerned with such comunity issues and would like to learn more. One member posted a bit from this blog here
http://admin2.7.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=8566
thanks
why should people have to sound proof their homes? i was walking through the holylands a few days ago and the state of most of the streets was disgusting.. i dont see why the residents put up with it...
Any Comments on how St. Patrick's Day went this year in the Holyland? I've heard that it wasn't as bad this year?...also I've heard the reason it wasn't as bad was a matter of chance...owing to it being on a Monday and being so close to easter? Any Comments?
I'm preparing a post on St Patrick's day, but have had computer problems.
Things were far less extreme than most previous years. A primary factor would be that it was not term time, therefore these people had no excuse for being up in Belfast. I suspect that pressure from parents played a part in keeping them down in Deliverance.
"Why do residents put up with it?"
This is a good question and merits a short historical discussion. The community faded away very slowly and almost imperceptibly. People did not perceive the threat as immediate. When a residents' group was finally formed nine years ago it was too late. The community had no cohesion and so could not provide a united front. The residents' group crumbled and people left one by one at an ever increasing rate. The Holyland Fake Residents' Group was set up by the University of Ulster to manage perceptions and silence dissent. It has been enormously successful. The community has died with scarcely a whimper being heard. Now we live in a slum with house after house being demolished and replaced with flats. The area is finished. Only our fake representatives, loyal and obsequious servants of power, will claim otherwise. There is no community left to organise, just disparate individuals terrified to stand up to the Katrina O'Neills of this world. People have seen what happens to those who do.
Get a fucking job, make some money and rent out a house somewhere near the lisburn road! Thats what most people do. You are bitching about being placed in the holylands, you are lucky to get a house at all. For someone who clearly thinks of themselves as remotely intelligent this shouldn't be hard to do, and it is bound to be more satisfying than pathetically living of benefits
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