Adelaide's worst suburb - Davoren Park

[Aidan]

Simple; Bulldoze them.

That wouldn't work - the bogans would just go somewhere else, and economic conditions mean that they'd still be clustered together.

It's possible to talk about a place's issues without resorting to talk like "bogan" and "hole" and such - then the speaker could be part of the solution instead of being part of the problem.

The term bogan refers to a specific cultural group. I could refer to them as feral Australians instead, but I thought it would make sense to use the term more commonly used.

And why do you think I'm part of the problem? I've nothing against bogans. If it's a choice between bogans and chavs then I'd pick the former every time.

[Prince George]

I really get the feeling that there's some strange kind of pride people get from the idea that Adelaide has some super bad neighbourhood - maybe "pride" is the wrong word, more that it's an important part of our identity. Maybe we needed somewhere to be the Others, to be the people who are all kinds of bad stuff so that, because we're not there ourselves, we must then be the good stuff. You hear people, even from interstate, making comparisons to Harlem or the Bronx: try making an image search for "Bronx ghettos" and you see pretty quickly that Elizabeth isn't even close to the same league. Heck, it isn't even comparable to Redfern, but it seems that we don't think about Redfern as much as Sydneysiders do about Elizabeth.

[Shuz]

Simple; Bulldoze them.

That wouldn't work - the bogans would just go somewhere else, and economic conditions mean that they'd still be clustered together.

And by somewhere else, you mean Sydney. I'm okay with that.

[Aidan]

Simple; Bulldoze them.

That wouldn't work - the bogans would just go somewhere else, and economic conditions mean that they'd still be clustered together.

And by somewhere else, you mean Sydney. I'm okay with that.

Of course I don't. Sydney's too expensive for them.

I mean somewhere else in Adelaide's outer suburbs.

[AtD]

Shuz: Is your solution to everything to bulldoze it? It seems that way.

[Prince George]

The term bogan refers to a specific cultural group. I could refer to them as feral Australians instead, but I thought it would make sense to use the term more commonly used.

'Bogan' is not a neutral term. Even the Macquarie regards it as "mildly derogatory", as it does 'feral'. In fact, I can only think of one time that I have ever heard 'feral' applied to people in anything other than a negative sense.

This gets back to what I was saying before about needing "others" where the problems lie. Behind a statement like "how can we prevent bogan suburbs from becoming violent", as opposed to a choice like "how can we curb violence", is the suggestion that the problem is the bogans themselves, barely controlling their simmering violent tendencies, hence Shuz hoping they move to Sydney (I only hope in jest). There's an element of smugness to this thinking, and complacency, once the problem group gets named it almost absolves us of responsibility. "Oh, if only we could get rid of those bogans (or Nimby's, tree-huggers, red-necks, dole-bludgers, Abos, fat-cats, gays, evangelicals, wogs, the yellow peril, bureaucrats, single mothers, deadbeat dads, lazy unions, greedy bosses, bike-nazis, cars), we wouldn't have this problem". The sad fact is that there is practically no problem in our society that does not implicate me in some way, but "naming the problem" often means that I just delay or avoid accepting that.

Language is the house of the mind, it deserves more care and attention than many people commonly give it.

[Queen Anne]

Simple; Bulldoze them.

That wouldn't work - the bogans would just go somewhere else, and economic conditions mean that they'd still be clustered together.

It's possible to talk about a place's issues without resorting to talk like "bogan" and "hole" and such - then the speaker could be part of the solution instead of being part of the problem.

The term bogan refers to a specific cultural group. I could refer to them as feral Australians instead, but I thought it would make sense to use the term more commonly used.

And why do you think I'm part of the problem? I've nothing against bogans. If it's a choice between bogans and chavs then I'd pick the former every time.

I don't really see how I can take this as a serious question, given all you've said on this thread.

I wonder how you and Shuz can feel OK about what you've written here. I'll leave you to continue to larf it up between yourselves.

[Hooligan]

I lived in North Haven, I had my house broken into once and i once had my car broken into at West Lakes shopping centre.

Nothing has ever happened to me here in Davoren Park.

By the way. Adelaide is a dirty backwater. People from Interstate say that all time so it must be true.

My solution to solving Adelaide's Problems is to bulldoze the CBD

[AtD]

By the way. Adelaide is a dirty backwater. People from Interstate say that all time so it must be true.

My solution to solving Adelaide's Problems is to bulldoze the CBD

[rev]

Crawf I feel this has to be said..you need to stop biting every sensationalist(be it good or bad) carrot the media dangle in front of us.

Rev, I suggest you get your facts straight first before making that claim.

Just giving my opinion, sorry if it offended you.

Thing's are bad in Davoren Park. I doubt they are as bad as anywhere else though. A lot of the negative stereotype is created by the media and their reporting. I bet you they interviewed a whole bunch of people in the area, and only aired the ones who dissed the area as if it was south central LA.

I know people who live in the Elizabeth area and who used to live near Daveron Park, while I will admit I have not been in the suburb and its probably not as bad the media claim it to be. Though the statistics are not positive, in the last 9 months, 5 people have been murdered on seperate occasions in a suburb of around 3,000 people. And when you look at the suburb's history its no wonder the media is targeting the area.

But yes the media does create alot of negative stereotyping.
[/quote]

Do you know the reputation Brompton and Bowden used to have, particularly Chief Street? I lived literally right around the corner as a kid. I never saw any of the things that were rumored to go on in the area. The point I'm making is that a few incidents do not tell the full story.

Davoren park has just over 6,000 residents. What was that about getting facts straight?

September 19, 2008: Man, 81, bashed and robbed by two men looking for drugs.

November 7, 2008: Homeless man Shane Gohl, 41, bashed and set on fire as he slept in a car. Nobody yet charged.

December 29, 2008: Police charge man, 21, who allegedly stabbed another man.

December 2008: Multiple addresses feature on a list of 104 houses identified as potentially dangerous by ambulance crew, leading them to request police escorts if called there.

January 1, 2009: Brett Wade Bamford shot dead in driveway.

January 27, 2009: Man dies after falling from a car.

March 16, 2009: Man, 24, and his son, 2, found dead from stab wounds inside a Charlson St home while his partner, 21, and baby daughter, 15 days, sustain serious injuries.

May 2, 2009: Police officer allegedly assaulted and eight people arrested after partygoers became aggressive.

July 27, 2009: Woman, 40, charged with murdering a man at her Kilmington Rd home.

Come to the western suburbs and north western suburbs, I can point out a few thing's that with a bit of sensationalism will make these areas look like ghettos.

Kindly email the folk at AdelaideNow and ask them to provide you with a list of crimes across every suburb of Adelaide. You'd be surprised, not only if they actually did it, but at the crime stats. I'd go into detail about about the W/NW my self, but cant be arsed.

I currently live in the western suburbs (until next Monday) and spent alot of time over in the north-western suburbs last year. Though recently I've been working in the north-west, right near The Parks area.

North-western suburbs are okay, there are some nice suburbs (like Westwood) though its still largely a industrial area so it is always going to attract that stigma its a bad area. However the Westwood & Port Adelaide developments is having a positive impact on the area.

The Westwood development has nothing to do with industrial zones. They demolished/are demolishing trust homes, realigning some of the roads, adding some parks, and selling land and house & land packages.
FYI, Port is like 10km away.

[Hooligan]

Davoren Park is not an industrial zone either

[Brando]

I really get the feeling that there's some strange kind of pride people get from the idea that Adelaide has some super bad neighbourhood - maybe "pride" is the wrong word, more that it's an important part of our identity. Maybe we needed somewhere to be the Others, to be the people who are all kinds of bad stuff so that, because we're not there ourselves, we must then be the good stuff. You hear people, even from interstate, making comparisons to Harlem or the Bronx: try making an image search for "Bronx ghettos" and you see pretty quickly that Elizabeth isn't even close to the same league. Heck, it isn't even comparable to Redfern, but it seems that we don't think about Redfern as much as Sydneysiders do about Elizabeth.

I understand what your saying George, people like the stigma attached with a 'bad ass' suburb. FYI you would be suprised with Redfern these days, still some dangerous streets, but slowly the developers, investors are pouring in due to it's close proximity. It will be a much improved place in the coming years.

[Strangled Cat]

We all know that apart from a handful of suburbs down south, most of Adelaide's worst suburbs are located North. We also know that apart from a handful of Western Suburbs (by west I mean beach), most of Adelaide's best suburbs are located East. Well, after I say what I'm about to say, the secret is going to be well and truly out! Did you know that you can have the worst of Adelaides northern suburbs and the best of all of Adelaides leafy green Eastern susburbs right at your doorstep? No, well all you have to do is take a drive up the SE Freeway to Mount Barker. Here you have bombs, as well as bentleys which share the road. Whilst the footpaths, on one side of the road are graced with beautiful liquid amber leaves and the occasional professional in his versace suit strolling along with his briefcase, on the other side is a weed riddled dirt path with lots of puddles, and a few dejected bogans in hi vis shirts walking to the tuck shop from one of the many industries on their smoko break. It's amazing what a drive through mount Barker will do for you, and amazing that with a bit of rubber necking to each side of the road, the visions that you will take in will expose the extremely variable socio-economic status that is Mount Barker.

[Hooligan]

Sounds like you have the best of both worlds.