Student leaders are planning to bombard the College Park City Council with signed letters decrying one council member’s plan to fight excessive noise in the city.
The council is considering a measure proposed by District 3 Councilwoman Stephanie Stullich that would extend the period in which city residents and their landlords can be charged a double fine for a repeat noise violation.
But SGA leaders say the proposal could ensnare innocent students.
SGA Greek Legislator Jamie Bean said the letter campaign is designed to “let [the council] know we exist.” She estimates they’ve collected hundreds of letters so far.
“The majority of concerns have been from people on the opposite side,” Bean said. “There’s how many students within that area that haven’t been voicing their concern? And it’s going to affect them.”
The SGA plans to deliver the letters to the city council at its meeting tonight.
Under existing law, the first offense at a property is a fine of $500, and any further violations within a six-month period cost $1,000 each. Stullich wants to see that six-month period doubled to a full year.
She says her change would cut down on “problem houses” that are responsible for a disproportionate share of noise violations, while SGA officials contend that students move around so much in a 12-month period that some residents will be charged extra for their new housemates’ past offenses as landlords pass their added fine on to their tenants.
“It’s not fair to students who had nothing to do with” the original noise complaint, SGA member Daniel Schmerling, who is one of two officials coordinating the signature campaign.
“It’s not fair for people to live in neighborhoods and go to parties in neighborhoods where there are families and yell and scream like they’re the only people in the world,” Stullich countered in a separate interview, adding that she was kept awake one recent Saturday night by partiers on her street. “I hope that the student leaders will share the concern about repeat offenders who are really creating a lot of havoc with their neighbors.”
In a memo to the mayor and council, Stullich cited city data on noise violators from her district in the last 15 months to demonstrate the point. While two-thirds of the properties with reported “noise incidents” ran up only one report of a noise violation during that period, three properties were responsible for more than 15 percent of the 141 violations.
“Student leaders like to defend the lowest common denominator,” she said. “This will affect very few student households.”
Stullich also included e-mails of support from 11 residents in her memo to the council, and said she expects others to come out and speak next week when the council will vote on the issue. The SGA is also anticipating a strong student turnout.
The signature campaign is the second unorthodox approach to an issue at the city council this year, following the crowd of sign-wielding supporters of the College Perk coffeehouse that joined the council for a debate about liquor license renewals in February.
Longtime District 2 Councilman Bob Catlin said the city is not accustomed to the new methods, but he’s not opposed to them either.
“People try different tactics. That’s fun, that’s okay,” he said. However, “I suppose what’ll happen will be driven more by the discussion we have [today] and next Tuesday,” rather than by the volume of signed letters.
Fun or not, it is yet to be seen how effective the letter campaign will be.
“That’s not something I can even predict, as far as what the city council is going to do,” Bean said. “They’ve passed unfair policies before.”
The SGA will have copies of its letter available for students to sign in its office at the Stamp Student Union today until 2 p.m.
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