Today’s Staff Editorial
The time-tested battle between long-term College Park residents and student renters continues in bitter disharmony, the long-awaited solution far from sight. Neither side can survive without the other, and yet, like a soured married couple trapped in a loveless marriage, reconciling their differences appears to be an impossible task.
But as neither side is likely to disappear anytime soon, we’re hopeful the two warring entities might just be starting a new chapter in their relationship.
City Hall played host for yet another first step in the effort to diffuse tensions between College Park’s permanent residents and their student neighbors Tuesday night. The Neighborhood Stabilization and Quality of Life Workgroup hosted its first of two public forums hoping to bridge the gap that’s plagued the College Park community for years. City leaders, students and community members on this committee aim to tackle four key issues: neighborhood relations, rent stabilization, diversity of housing and, of course, noise violations.
Placing the onus entirely on one side in this conflict would be foolhardy. On one side, you have long-term homeowners who see students treading on their community with little regard for their neighbors’ public welfare and with little invested in the future of the city; the other composed of students who say this is a college town for college students — not a bunch of old people who prefer a quiet lifestyle. Some students say homeowners knew what they signed up for when they moved here, and if they don’t like it they should move, because the university isn’t going anywhere.
Transcending this old dichotomy between students and residents will require each side to recognize its own flaws and embrace the needs of their counterparts. With greater communication and compromise, hopefully this committee will help facilitate that growth.
Students shouldn’t need a reminder that living in a house off the campus doesn’t give you carte blanche for doing everything and anything in and around your house. You have neighbors who deserve to be treated with respect.
But driving up rent prices for students and limiting their housing options is not the solution. Students shouldn’t be forced to pay exorbitant prices to live in the View or The Varsity, nor should the only alternative to on-campus housing be squalid apartments on Knox Road. Community members shouldn’t allow the poor conduct of a select group of students to stifle the possibility of future cooperation.
Just as significantly, ostracizing homeowners would be disastrous for the city and the university’s interest. This university’s most recent mantra has been to improve the city of College Park. We can’t do that without these homeowners; the sooner we realize this, the sooner we can get back on track to revitalizing the university’s surrounding area. Owner-occupied housing in the city dropped by 11 percent from 2004-2010, and shows few signs of rebounding. As students, we depend on these residents to help bolster businesses and to sustain a viable community — we cannot afford to lose any more permanent residents.
In any successful college town — think Ann Arbor, Mich., or Austin, Texas — the identities and aspirations of residents and students are directly intertwined, each side taking pride in what the other has to offer. In order for College Park to ever reach that ultimate distinction of “top-20 college town,” students and residents must resolve their long-standing tenuous relationship. This starts with open dialogue and direct engagement between the two sides.
Each team needs to continue to take an active role in the city’s newly formed work group and follow up with further collaborative initiatives. The Student Government Association and the university should continue to encourage greater student engagement with the community at large, just as permanent residents should take this opportunity to put the past behind them. We all want the same end goal: a greater city. Let’s work together to get there.
