Maggie Hannon |
Dozens of North Portland residents, students and University officials packed the Chiles Center’s Hall of Fame room Monday evening for the University Park Neighborhood Association’s meeting to discuss rowdy student conduct off campus, and possible solutions.
Some neighbors said a more visible presence from UP’s Public Safety officers by increasing foot or bicycle patrols might solve the problem. Other solutions discussed were contacting the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) about over-serving and underage drinking at local bars, and stationing a Public Safety officer outside the Twilight Room to dampen the enthusiasm of students walking back to campus.
The neighborhood association’s chair, Tom Karwaki, said more student participation in the University Park Neighborhood Association would also help.
“I think it was important that [the meeting] was on campus so students could participate, and I want to continue having them here,” Karwaki said. “I thought the students added a lot, and I hope that they got something out of it.”
In small groups, attendees voiced concerns about students being too loud on streets late at night and disrespecting neighbors in the community.
Former University Park resident Doug Richardson is concerned with local bars over-serving to neighborhood residents and people driving under the influence.
“I think some of the taverns are over-serving, and I think the OLCC, I would like to see somebody checking for minors, and I’m sure they do, but also checking ‘are they over-serving?’” Richardson said. “Because I see too many people come out that really shouldn’t be driving.”
During the small group conversations, ASUP Vice President Josh Clearly addressed the problem of students littering in the neighborhood.
“I think part of the problem is on-campus students who don’t live in the neighborhood. It’s really easy to forget that you’re walking through someone else’s neighborhood,” Cleary said. “So as a resident myself, I see trash a lot of times, and things like where you can find where the house party was just by following the trail of trash.”
University Park resident Mike Cole said he cannot decorate for Halloween early in the week because of vandalism in the neighborhood, although he did not give evidence that UP students were responsible for the vandalism from previous years.
“I’m one of the houses that have been doing Halloween for 14 years, but I no longer can decorate on Halloween until Friday morning” Cole said. “I’ll start at 6 a.m. because if I put anything out before hand, like if I put stuff out tonight, it would be broken or gone, and that has been happening for years.”
Many of the neighbors discussed public safety not having enough of a presence in the neighborhood. At the meeting, Director of Public Safety Gerald Gregg answered questions about how many officers work on the weekends and where they patrol in the neighborhood. Gregg also informed neighbors that anytime Public Safety receives a noise complaint, they write a report and so far, this year, there have been students held accountable for their actions.
“I can tell you, there have been some student conduct hearings already this year over (the) very issue (of noise) and I don’t know what the resolution is because I’m not judge, jury and executioner,” Gregg said. “But there have been hearings and quite frankly I’d rather go to the courthouse and pay a hundred dollar fine then go put up with the sanctions the University imposes.”
Gregg also let neighbors know the scope of Public Safety’s authority when it comes to people in the neighborhood who are not affiliated with the University.
“There’s a lot of people that live in the neighborhood, there’s increasing number of people (who) live in the neighborhood who are of college age, that are not affiliated with this university” Gregg said. “We have absolutely no authority to interact with them, when their behavior is annoying, disrespectful, or disturbing.”
Before the meeting, Anthony Montoya, ASUP committee chair for neighborhood relations, said he was hesitant to believe some claims made by neighbors in a KOIN 6 news story about rowdy, drunken behavior in the neighborhood.
“I’ve spoken to a few distinct individuals who work in the media, and they said that the two stories that KOIN 6 has ran on the University are pretty much baseless, like there’s not a story there. I tend to agree,” Montoya said. “That being said… anytime neighbors have a dispute with the University we want to hear them. We want to hear them out. We want to be open and I think this time it is no different.”
University Park resident Darrell Grenz thinks UP students were not the main cause of neighborhood problems.
“This two hour meeting was all about the University students causing problems, when I think there’s bigger issues in the neighborhood,” Grenz said. “I live in the neighborhood, I’m a business owner in the neighborhood, and I see it too. And I think the students are a problem, but it’s a small percentage.”
Jim Kuffner, assistant vice president for community relations & special projects and UP liaison to University Park Neighborhood Association, defended UP’s handling of neighbor complaints. “We take every complaint seriously,” Kuffner said. “There’s no question that we want to respond. Living in this neighborhood, and working in this neighborhood like we have for over a hundred years, we’re really, very invested in the neighborhood.”
Maggie Hannon is a reporter for The Beacon. She can be reached at hannon15@up.edu.
