25 March 2012

Binge Drinking in Civic - What can be done?

| Canberragal123
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Saturday night (March 24, 2012) a group of friends went out for dinner in civic. Now, I live on the south side so this would be one of the first times going out for dinner and a little karaoke in Civic – but I was pretty excited to visit the “northside” after dark.

After a great evening of dinner and karoake, we left the karaoke bar and to my utter shock and disbelief, I entered into a whole new world…. I saw (in completely unrelated incidents):

– people getting pushed into police cars

– people lying on the cold cement, lying motionless with blood everywhere

– Hundreds of drunk teens falling over themselves

– girls wearing next to nothing.

– cops everywhere!

I was honestly scared for my life….so I found the next available taxi and went home.

Now I don’t have the answers… but I honestly think there needs to be a cultural shift to curb binge drinking amongst uni students…. but where do you begin?

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That’s why I love to go the Charnwood Labor Club on a weekend – all the old dears having a bet, lots of locals to talk to, everyone is polite to each other, the bar staff have been there for years which shows that it’s a nice, decent place to work. None of the stuff that’s going on in Civic!

Skidd Marx said :

Maybe this account is a tad exagerrated, but I agree with the sentiment that civic is an alcohol-induced wasteland early on a Sunday morning. Name one place in Europe (UK excepted) where you’d see this kind of loutish behaviour?

Why oh why can’t we be more like the Netherlands?

Maybe this account is a tad exagerrated, but I agree with the sentiment that civic is an alcohol-induced wasteland early on a Sunday morning. Name one place in Europe (UK excepted) where you’d see this kind of loutish behaviour?

The wasted seed of the bulldog breed.

I’m assuming you stopped to render assistance to those “people lying on the cold cement, lying motionless with blood everywhere”. Nothing like a bit of over dramatisation!

Or you could go to my local park in Queanbeyan, where I saw people doing this in the middle of the day, and the cops didn’t turn up until the perps had nicked off in their commodore (brown) and a hotted up “rice rocket”.

People not like us. They should be banned.

I love it how some people think that because they live on the “southside” that some how that separates them from the rest of Canberra and they see travelling to the CBD as something exotic. Having lived both North and South myself, I don’t get it. Canberra’s a really small city. Southside, Northside? What’s really the difference besides physical distance?

Tetranitrate11:54 pm 26 Mar 12

Bramina said :

On one hand I suspect the violence is related to the drinking levels. As the Queensland police Commissioner said once, he wished that people would take ecstasy because people wouldn’t be so violent.

Yeah well unfortunately the supply chain for ecstasy is relatively easy to disrupt and the police (here and abroad) have been relatively successful in doing it over the years. Shame the they aren’t so good at doing it for Methamphetamine.
Now the same people who might have been taking ecstasy in the 90s are taking methamphetamine and all sorts of assortments of pills containing f*ck knows what.

Utter failure of policy, it’s be better to selectively decriminalize or hell, outright legalize the less harmful drugs while still cracking down hard on Cocaine, Heroin, Amphetamines and the like to take advantage of substitution among the consumers.

Bramina said :

But I also suspect that people make imperfect comparisons with the past somehow. I know lots of middle aged and older people who have told horrific stories about their drinking and about violence back in the 70s and 80s beforehand. Yet they for some reason they can’t make the connection between this and when they hear about things that go on today.

Yeah, don’t forget drink driving there too: it was utterly rampant.

TheDancingDjinn10:37 pm 26 Mar 12

The Person you could have walked by bleeding might have possibly been a good friend of mine, who i have just found out was beaten and robbed very very badly in Civic this weekend – my friend who was assulted is one of the most gentle people you would ever find alive, never thrown a punch unless it was in a boxing wii game. He is in hospital at the moment and will be there for some time, he has massive injuries including facial breaks and head injuries, – i hope who ever it was gets it back or at least gets some legal justice. That being said – Where did you go to karaoke???, i love karaoke!!

murraythecat10:14 pm 26 Mar 12

Tetranitrate said :

murraythecat said :

milkman said :

Tetranitrate said :

“- girls wearing next to nothing.”
Oh the horror…

I, for one, strongly encourage the ‘less is more’ approach to female clothing.

Does that extend to your own daughters/wife/mother/aunties? I’m sure you encourage “show us ya tits” at summernats as well, um, until that is, it is directed to someone in your own family.

Never been to summernats so I wouldn’t know, but young women have been wearing relatively revealing evening-wear on and off (as fashion changed) for about 90 years now.
(thinking ‘little black dress’es in the 1920s here)

True, & i have no probs with that. I do have a problem with the predatory nature of milkman’s comments, and with the hypocrisy that this only applies to women who these guys are not related to, pretty sure they would not like that sort of attention directed at their own daughters.

00davist said :

I think some of the problem actually comes down to liquor pricing designed to try and curb issues like this.

As far as i know, there have always been plenty of people who want to go out on a Saturday night with the aim of downing as much as they can, it’s not an new craze, and there has always been a few brawls, and rowdy behavior.

However, a few things have changed in my eyes, one, is clubs, where people originally went out, got pissed, played a bit of pool, and danced etc, now it’s all packed in tight, sweaty, sticky, dirty and to be honest, awful, so may people want to go further, as it’s not a scene for the sober.

Second, the mindset seems to have shifted slightly, while there have always been those who go out to get drunk, it seems more that people don’t want to get just drunk, they want to get blind raging out of it.

And finally, when you mix those with the increased price in booze, it becomes less about aiming for drunk, and more about just aiming for ‘F*cked up’ I can’t count how many people I’ve overheard say “Why spend $200 on booze to get off your face, when you can spend a hell of allot less on a couple of pills”

I am in no way condoning drugs here, it just seems that the element of society only interested in loosing control are also thrifty about doing it!

On one hand I suspect the violence is related to the drinking levels. As the Queensland police Commissioner said once, he wished that people would take ecstasy because people wouldn’t be so violent.

But I also suspect that people make imperfect comparisons with the past somehow. I know lots of middle aged and older people who have told horrific stories about their drinking and about violence back in the 70s and 80s beforehand. Yet they for some reason they can’t make the connection between this and when they hear about things that go on today.

schmeah said :

I was always ALWAYS able to afford to drink; I just drank cheap, lived off microwave noodles and the local soupie.

Ah, what it is to be young and stupid. To be so misguided that you “live” off cheap food so you have money left over to blow on cheap goon.

Why even drink cheap, does the cheap stuff taste any good?

So that’s what happens in Civic at night? Lived in Canberra for 4 years, never been to Civic after dark. I value my sanity.

Tetranitrate7:34 pm 26 Mar 12

murraythecat said :

milkman said :

Tetranitrate said :

“- girls wearing next to nothing.”
Oh the horror…

I, for one, strongly encourage the ‘less is more’ approach to female clothing.

Does that extend to your own daughters/wife/mother/aunties? I’m sure you encourage “show us ya tits” at summernats as well, um, until that is, it is directed to someone in your own family.

Never been to summernats so I wouldn’t know, but young women have been wearing relatively revealing evening-wear on and off (as fashion changed) for about 90 years now.
(thinking ‘little black dress’es in the 1920s here)

Canberragal1236:20 pm 26 Mar 12

Alright – point taken that they were not uni students…sorry for that generalisation.I made that call due to the sheer numbers of people and based on the fact that when I went to uni (not so long ago -2000 to 2004 the uni students ruled the clubs from Wed – sun included. Not sure who is ruling the clubs now a days. Back when I went to uni people went to clubs to have fun with their friends and get drunk…and hey I am all for it!! I think it has gotten a little out of hand with the violence.

And in regard to what the girls the girls were wearing, back in the day, your outfit was decided by the nice shirt that you chose and your nice pair of jeans.

Look, I am just calling it as I see it. I urge you all to go out on Saturday night at 1am to see for yourself. Maybe all the violence was an irregular occurrence

Micky_P said :

I hate to disagree with your conclusions – but, as a 20 year old uni student I feel somewhat compelled to shed some light on your claims

Most of your students go out on Thursday night, if your uni student is able to afford the booze on a Saturday night I’d be investigating their Centrelink payments.

I beg to differ. When I was a uni student, youth allowance was about $180/fortnight for those living at home – which I did in my last year. Irrespective of this menial amount of mulah, I was always ALWAYS able to afford to drink; I just drank cheap, lived off microwave noodles and the local soupie.

Is it the uni students causing problems? Probably not I’d argue.

Duffbowl said :

… I think the only night of the week where you couldn’t get cheap drinks in Civic, Manuka or Kingston was Mondays….

Monday nights = Bobby McGee’s hospitality nights.

Friday nights were also cheap drinks at either Tuggies (at the ‘disco’) or Sails (at was then).

Young people bahving debaucherously on a weekend night in Civic.

More news at 7.

Nothing to see here.

I think some of the problem actually comes down to liquor pricing designed to try and curb issues like this.

As far as i know, there have always been plenty of people who want to go out on a Saturday night with the aim of downing as much as they can, it’s not an new craze, and there has always been a few brawls, and rowdy behavior.

However, a few things have changed in my eyes, one, is clubs, where people originally went out, got pissed, played a bit of pool, and danced etc, now it’s all packed in tight, sweaty, sticky, dirty and to be honest, awful, so may people want to go further, as it’s not a scene for the sober.

Second, the mindset seems to have shifted slightly, while there have always been those who go out to get drunk, it seems more that people don’t want to get just drunk, they want to get blind raging out of it.

And finally, when you mix those with the increased price in booze, it becomes less about aiming for drunk, and more about just aiming for ‘F*cked up’ I can’t count how many people I’ve overheard say “Why spend $200 on booze to get off your face, when you can spend a hell of allot less on a couple of pills”

I am in no way condoning drugs here, it just seems that the element of society only interested in loosing control are also thrifty about doing it!

Duffbowl said :

I’ll concur with that. I can’t recall the sidewalk blues that seem to have become a regular attraction. Nor was there large numbers of plod out and about; when they did make an appearance, it was usually to check if you had meant to fall asleep in one of the bus shelters at the interchange.

Yeah, you hear of guys getting king-hit from behind and people just starting fights, I don’t recall any of that. Sometimes while clumping back to car you’d pass alleys where it appeared that the War Wogs were fighting pitched battles with some rival mob, but they kept it within themselves.

EvanJames said :

I dunno, it does sound like things have got more violent and over the top than in the 80s and early 90s, when I used to attend Civic for the purposes of getting drunk. Then, there were plenty of drunken folk sitting around outside or staggering back to their cars, but all the fighting etc, I don’t recall that. Vomiting happened later in the morning, I think, as you’d see it the next morning. Maybe the vomiters were more discreet.

Certainly cops everywhere and people lying in pools of blood, never saw that. The odd cop yes, but it wasn’t the war zone described above.

I’ll concur with that. I can’t recall the sidewalk blues that seem to have become a regular attraction. Nor was there large numbers of plod out and about; when they did make an appearance, it was usually to check if you had meant to fall asleep in one of the bus shelters at the interchange.

I dunno, it does sound like things have got more violent and over the top than in the 80s and early 90s, when I used to attend Civic for the purposes of getting drunk. Then, there were plenty of drunken folk sitting around outside or staggering back to their cars, but all the fighting etc, I don’t recall that. Vomiting happened later in the morning, I think, as you’d see it the next morning. Maybe the vomiters were more discreet.

Certainly cops everywhere and people lying in pools of blood, never saw that. The odd cop yes, but it wasn’t the war zone described above.

bitzermaloney10:21 am 26 Mar 12

Start with renaming “Civic” because:
– it’s hardly the CBD (it isn’t Central and there is next to no business in it, especially in Garema Place); and
– at night it seems to be hardly civil.

bloodnut said :

You know you’re old when you’ve forgotten that you used to love doing that when you were their age.

I’m personally happy to hear that young people are still having fun and getting laid.

A small part of me still wishes I was there too…

+1

I hate to disagree with your conclusions – but, as a 20 year old uni student I feel somewhat compelled to shed some light on your claims.

I’ve only seen a handful of fights, I’ve never seen blood and I wouldn’t claim the girls are wearing next to nothing. Also, most of those people you see out causing the problems are not uni students.

Most of your students go out on Thursday night, if your uni student is able to afford the booze on a Saturday night I’d be investigating their Centrelink payments.

It’s your 18-30 year old working lad, who is a douchê, that causes the problems.

TL;DR Most uni students are great, most non-uni students cause the problems

I sort of get what you’re saying, Canberragal. Seeing violence and blood is not very nice and I would be scared too. Just seeing people drunk and having fun doesn’t bother me though.

I personally don’t know why some people have to get all violent and aggressive when they drink. In my youth I drank an awful lot of alcohol on some nights out in Civic but I never got into any fights with anyone. Neither did any of my friends.

Binge drinking is not new, and t doesn’t sound that different to when I came here in the early 90s. I think the only night of the week where you couldn’t get cheap drinks in Civic, Manuka or Kingston was Mondays.

Tuesday – 2 for 1 Margueritas at Montezumas. 2 litres of the stuff for $10.
Wednesday – 2 for 1 drinks at Maddies.
Thursday – Jolly Jugs at Pandoras.
Friday – Cheap drinks at the Private Bin.
Saturday – Cheap drinks at two nightclubs: one where Reece Plumbing is now in Braddon, and one underneath(?) the newsagency on the corner of the bus interchange.
Sunday – Another club who’s name escapes me, in Manuka.

murraythecat8:55 am 26 Mar 12

milkman said :

Tetranitrate said :

“- girls wearing next to nothing.”
Oh the horror…

I, for one, strongly encourage the ‘less is more’ approach to female clothing.

Does that extend to your own daughters/wife/mother/aunties? I’m sure you encourage “show us ya tits” at summernats as well, um, until that is, it is directed to someone in your own family.

‘going out’ night for students is Thursday night, not Saturday.

All of the above comment pretty much explain why there is a problem and why the situation will never improve.

Yeah stay home canberragal123.

If you don’t like what goes on in Canberra you definitely wouldn’t like the rest of the world.

Spykler said :

I realised the overall standard of the city had slipped a tad when upon exiting Moosheads one early Sunday morn I almost slipped in a pile of vomit that had a steaming pile of defecate in the centre of it..

That is actually Mooseheads’ logo – a pool of chunder topped off with a steaming turd. Sums up the nature of the place perfectly.

Canberragal1239:14 pm 25 Mar 12

Ok…maybe I “need to get our more” – and perhaps this was a case of “wrong place at the wrong time” – but I find it really unsettling to leave an establishment to see a fight breaking out on one corner, a person being arrested about 5 minutes later a few streets over, and then a poor guy lying on the ground covered in his own blood a few streets after that. I am not ashamed to say was a little scared by the sequence of events.

sexynotsmart8:44 pm 25 Mar 12

Where on earth did you go to see all that?

I regularly do Civic nights, admittedly usually leaving around midnight. And never seen anything resembling the debauchery that I would so like to be part of.

Tetranitrate said :

“- girls wearing next to nothing.”
Oh the horror…

I, for one, strongly encourage the ‘less is more’ approach to female clothing.

My grandmother would probably have about the same reaction to Civic after dark. Perhaps you guys should hang out sometime.

Spykler said :

I realised the overall standard of the city had slipped a tad when upon exiting Moosheads one early Sunday morn I almost slipped in a pile of vomit that had a steaming pile of defecate in the centre of it..

It’s funny, because to most people, Mooseheads IS the steaming pile of defecate in the centre of Canberra.

I imagine it’s tough to set up a small venue. Maybe liquor laws are the same to run Mooseheads as they are a smaller place that sells alcohol but also has a point (live music, sports, whatever). I’d love to have some diversity in town with places that were actually about anything other than carving teenagers’ money out of their kidneys.

Less incentives for people to set up Moose and Kingo’s. For f’s sake, King O’Malley was an American prohibitionist. Too many O’Parodies.

So in 35 years absolutely nothing has changed.
You stumbled into the mating grounds where these rituals have been going on forever.

Tetranitrate said :

“- people getting pushed into police cars”
yeah it happens. Personally I’d rather police get the d*ckheads off the street though.

“- people lying on the cold cement, lying motionless with blood everywhere”
I’ve been going out to civic on and off for 6 years and had a couple of stints working at bars/nightclubs while studying. Don’t get me wrong, violence and fights do happen, but I don’t think I’ve ever wandered around the corner and encountered multiple people lying motionless in pools of their own blood. Don’t get me wrong, bad stuff does happen, but this certainly isn’t typical.

“- Hundreds of drunk teens falling over themselves”
Yes because 18-21 year old’s never made a habit of getting pissed on the weekend ‘in your day’

“- girls wearing next to nothing.”
Oh the horror…

“- cops everywhere!”
You’d prefer it if there weren’t police around? Given you were apparently terrified enough to cut your night short and go home, I’d have assumed that you might consider a visible police presence to be a good thing, given the circumstances.

“Now I don’t have the answers… but I honestly think there needs to be a cultural shift to curb binge drinking amongst uni students…. but where do you begin?”
Great, you have no idea what you’re talking about. On a Saturday night the whole town is out, pubes, bogans and all. Not that uni students aren’t, but they’re going to be one part of a big crowd.
If you’d been talking about Thursday nights this might be a somewhat reasonable comment, but trying to pin Satuday night carnage solely on binge drinking uni students is absurd.

Agree with you except with the binge drinking. I don’t care if people were heavily binge drinking in Australia 30 years ago. That’s not a reason to justify it. I want people to have the freedom to drink, but it irks me that it’s glorifed rather than looked down upon as impulsive stupidity.

I realised the overall standard of the city had slipped a tad when upon exiting Moosheads one early Sunday morn I almost slipped in a pile of vomit that had a steaming pile of defecate in the centre of it..

Umm… exactly how far south do you live ? Canberra is about 40 minutes from one end to the next and yet you think going to the “northside” is a “whole new world” ?

No wonder you were shocked – you need to get out more.

Tetranitrate5:36 pm 25 Mar 12

“- people getting pushed into police cars”
yeah it happens. Personally I’d rather police get the d*ckheads off the street though.

“- people lying on the cold cement, lying motionless with blood everywhere”
I’ve been going out to civic on and off for 6 years and had a couple of stints working at bars/nightclubs while studying. Don’t get me wrong, violence and fights do happen, but I don’t think I’ve ever wandered around the corner and encountered multiple people lying motionless in pools of their own blood. Don’t get me wrong, bad stuff does happen, but this certainly isn’t typical.

“- Hundreds of drunk teens falling over themselves”
Yes because 18-21 year old’s never made a habit of getting pissed on the weekend ‘in your day’

“- girls wearing next to nothing.”
Oh the horror…

“- cops everywhere!”
You’d prefer it if there weren’t police around? Given you were apparently terrified enough to cut your night short and go home, I’d have assumed that you might consider a visible police presence to be a good thing, given the circumstances.

“Now I don’t have the answers… but I honestly think there needs to be a cultural shift to curb binge drinking amongst uni students…. but where do you begin?”
Great, you have no idea what you’re talking about. On a Saturday night the whole town is out, pubes, bogans and all. Not that uni students aren’t, but they’re going to be one part of a big crowd.
If you’d been talking about Thursday nights this might be a somewhat reasonable comment, but trying to pin Satuday night carnage solely on binge drinking uni students is absurd.

When the norm has become pre-drinks followed by drinks followed by after drinks, you know people are going too far.

There is a difference between having drinks with something and drinks being the something.

I think for too many, it’s become the latter.

Last night was awesome.

Yeah, I avoid Civic after dark .. it’s just such a hella dive. If Canberra had classier establishments that served a purpose other than getting of your face it might actually be tolerable, but I can only think of a handful .. so I don’t really bother anymore.

When I lived closer to town, I used to walk in on a Saturday and Sunday early in the morning to get breakfast or go to the supermarket and would find myself dodging chunks of vomit all over the pavement, overturned furnishings and broken glass everywhere.

I read a police report or a media release some time ago, that said it costs the ACT Government around $100K every weekend to manage & clean up the hotspots after the babies get out of control the night before .. imagine the cost in larger cities though .. it must be astronomical.

Road blocks on the Tuggeranong Parkway and Belconnen Way would help.

Canberra, Australia’s answer to South Central LA.

Possibly the most over exagerated discription of Civic on a Saturday night that I’ve ever heard.

Good to hear there were cops everywhere.
Yep disturbing scene, but I guess when u have alcohol, girls going out wearing tshirt and undies, and young people, it’s par for the course. Sorry to hear your night was cut short though.
Hopefully some people were having fun.

You know you’re old when you’ve forgotten that you used to love doing that when you were their age.

I’m personally happy to hear that young people are still having fun and getting laid.

A small part of me still wishes I was there too…

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