Brookline residents Nancy Heller (left) and Eunice White have proposed a bylaw to level civil penalties against noisy parties. (Aram Boghosian for The Boston Globe)April 2, 2010 Raising the volume in the fight for quiet
Read this article and let me know your thoughts:
Raising the volume in the fight for quiet
Brookline residents Nancy Heller (left) and Eunice White have proposed a bylaw to level civil penalties against noisy parties. (Aram Boghosian for The Boston Globe)By Andreae Downs Globe Correspondent / March 31, 2010
For years, they’ve lost sleep to the loud music and drunken rowdiness they blame on some of the college students who rent apartments in their midst. Now residents of North Brookline want to hit the perpetrators and their absentee landlords in the pocketbook.
Contending that criminal enforcement can only go so far, a group of residents is proposing a town bylaw that would impose civil penalties of up to $300 for party-related nuisances and underage drinking.
And here’s a weapon that might bring students into line: Their college, and even Mom and Dad, would be notified as well.
“We fight this problem every year,’’ said Eunice White, one of the proposal’s authors, who lives on Pleasant Street. “We need everyone’s attention.’’
Co-author Nancy Heller said the parties go beyond the inconvenience of one night and often leave nasty reminders — from beer bottles and the smell of urine on quiet residential streets to vomit on the front walk.
Another supporter, Evelyn Roll, told of a hearing-impaired friend who could hear the wild parties in her apartment without her hearing aids.
“Students are welcome in Brookline, but not these behaviors,’’ Heller said. “When young children are woken up almost every night it is a nightmare for the family.’’
The efforts are the latest example of how Massachusetts communities are cracking down on behavior that arrives each fall along with the thousands of students who attend the region’s universities. Similar laws exist in Boston and Amherst.
The Brookline proposal would allow police to levy a fine of $100 against party hosts and guests for the first incident and ramp it up to $300 for a subsequent violation, when landlords would be fined $300 and held liable, as well — unless they are actively working to evict the tenants.
“This would give us some teeth,’’ said Lieutenant Phil Harrington of the Brookline Police Department, noting that officers responded to more than 1,000 calls about loud parties or noise last year. Being able to notify and fine landlords is “huge. That part is welcome.’’
In Amherst, where the fine for a first offense is $300, police said they’ve found the year-old law so effective that they have yet to issue a second ticket at the same address. “We respond to hundreds of noise complaints each year,’’ said police Captain Jennifer Gundersen. “We use this for extreme situations.’’
A Boston ordinance passed in 2005 allows police to impose $300 penalties for after-hours parties where alcohol is sold. This school year, 51 tickets have been issued in Allston and Brighton, according to community service officer Neal Manning.
“The option still exists to make arrests, but that ties up a car for transport to the station,’’ he said. “This way can be effective because it costs people money.’’
Brookline police already patrol student neighborhoods from Thursday through Sunday, work closely with college administrators, and distribute educational materials to students every September. The new bylaw, which will be put to a vote at Town Meeting on May 25, would be one more tool for police.
“The behavior we are targeting is already criminal under state law,’’ Heller said. “But we’re not interested in having kids jailed or giving them a permanent criminal record. We just want peace and quiet.’’
Harold Brown, whose Hamilton Co. owns several large rental properties in Brookline and Boston, agreed.
“I don’t think any landlord wants large, loud parties,’’ he said. Hamilton bought Dexter Park, which has many student tenants and was a regular source of complaints. According to neighbors, it no longer is.
“We put in extra security guards on weekends and security cameras in the halls,’’ said Brown, a Brookline resident. “Tenants who violate our rules get evicted. I think anything that keeps the neighbors happy is good.’’
Many of the students who temporarily call Brookline home attend nearby Boston University. About 3,000 out of 15,000 BU students live off campus, according to spokesman Colin Riley.
Newbury College has two off-campus dorms in Brookline that are supervised, according to spokeswoman Linda Richards. Boston College spokesman Jack Dunn said he was unaware of any BC students living off campus in Brookline.
BU students had mixed reactions when told about the proposed ordinance.
“I agree there should be a strict noise code,’’ said Paul Tracy, a senior who was picnicking with three other students at Knyvet Square. But he didn’t think a bylaw would put an end to what many consider normal undergraduate behavior. “College kids want outlets, and will risk it.’’
His friend Matt DiVito, also a senior, agreed.
“I think kids will do what they want to do, even if it’s not allowed,’’ he said.
Both students live off campus in Brookline, to save on the approximately $12,000 BU charges for nine months of dorm living.
Stephen Elrod, a BU sophomore who lives in Allston, said that notifying parents of the violations is “silly.’’
“Students are adults, living in their own house, and dealing with issues as adults,’’ he said. “It’s not their parents’ concern.’’
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dgrubs
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My sources tell me that there will be a town meeting about this issue on Tuesday, April 13th at the Town Hall located at 333 Washington Street in Brookline. Sources have also given me unconfirmed reports that Ms. Heller’s driveway has been vandalized and a group of students gathered in the Dexter Park parking lot on Saturday night, marched down the street and chanted to protest the bill.
Here are my 2 cents, for whatever its worth:
I like quiet as much as the next person-and I have super sensitive hearing. When you live in the city you need to have a reasonable expectation that there is going to be noise. Sound bounces off buildings and is even louder than you think-sometimes people talking outside my window in normal voices sound like they are in the room with me. I think that part of the problem is that some of the people who move to Brookline are first time city dwellers and they have no idea that what they are doing can be bothersome to neighbors. I also think that it’s a shame that people can’t just be considerate and respectful to one another, that’s how things get out of hand. If these two parties sat down and had a conversation with one another, perhaps it wouldn’t come to this. Instead, the bill is proposed, the students are upset, there is going to be some level of ‘retaliation’ on their part…and it’s a vicious cycle. I think that by only featuring Heller and White, the article made this seem like it was a young vs. old issue.
Let’s break this down line by line:
“Now residents of N. Brookline want to hit the perpetrators and their absentee landlords in their pocketbook”-is that really what this is about?
“Their college and even mom and dad would be notified as well”-really? are you kidding me? That seems a little silly. These students are over 18, and are adults,whether they are acting like it or not.
How do you know that these people who are being noisy are college students? I personally know a lot of 30-something year olds who throw some pretty wild parties and do crazy stuff…who could definitely be mistaken for college kids.
Heller claims that “parties leave nasty reminders-from beer bottles and the smell of urine to vomit on the front walk”. Again, how do you know that the people that are doing this are a)the people who were making the noise and b)college students? Do you see people doing these things? For example, someone could just be walking on the street and throw a beer can on your lawn, or perhaps they are walking past your house coming home from a bar and they vomit on your front walk. How often exactly is this happening to you? Did the vomit and urine happen once or more often? And lets not throw out the possibility that the urine might not be from a human. I have seen a very large St. Bernard in the Coolidge Corner area and I’m pretty sure that it probably leaves large deposits…just admit that that could be a possibility.
“Students are welcome in Brookline, but not these behaviors.”-I’m sorry but when did we elect a dictator to the town that says who can and can’t live here? I’m pretty sure that with the exception of murderers, terrorists and child molesters, anyone who can pay should be ‘welcome’.
From what I understand you can’t discriminate when you rent an apartment. If you’re renting one, and they can pay, you can’t say no just because they are a student. In addition, if you are having problems with a tenant, the process that you have to go through to evict them is slow and extensive.
I find it interesting that the article stated that ‘Dexter Park was once a source of regular complaints but is no longer’. Could that be because Harold Brown is showing his support for this bill? I’m pretty sure that most of the noise that Ms. White is hearing, continues to originate from Dexter Park.
Here’s the thing: I have had some pretty noisy neighbors in all the apartments that I have lived in. One apartment I had a guy below me who kept the reverse hours as I did, and was practicing to be a dj or something because ever night my pictures would rattle on the walls. The guy who used to live above me, was a loud walker and loved to watch musicals at 3am. And a girl who lived above me, who I affectionately nicknamed Trixie, would stomp around in her stilettos at all hours of the night and early morning.
I have been bothered by the sounds of neighbors, I’ve approached them about it, sometimes ignored me, people are going to do what they are going to do. While in a perfect world neighbors would be hyper-considerate to one another, it doesn’t seem to be the case these days.
The article says that young children are being woken up by the noise. That stinks. Playing Devil’s advocate for a minute, do you think that perhaps the children wake up frequently anyway, may be the cause of annoyance to other neighbors without children? I think it depends on what noise you see as acceptable…If you are older, you might be offended by loud music, if you don’t have children you may be offended by crying babies, if you don’t have or don’t like dogs, you may be offended by loud barking. There is someone who plays classical piano in my building. It’s beautiful, but perhaps some people might not want to hear piano playing 8 hours a day, it is after all, still noise.
On a final note, I think that people who have time to fester about situations such as these can be their own worst enemy. You have something like a loud party happen, and then you wait every night for it to happen again to prove your point, creating your own personal tension. It’s a vicious cycle.
I don’t think that there is going to be a solution to this issue that makes everyone happy. I think that the bill will be passed or not because of personal support being rallied for one side or another. The last town meeting that was called supposedly had 20 people who spoke in favor of the bill and none against. I think that the students are not going to attend the meeting and the people who aren’t bothered by the noise aren’t going to make a case against it. And let’s say that this law does pass, do you really think that kids are going to stop partying? I guess we will just have to wait and see.