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Well here are a couple listings I never noticed in Radnor. They are from the Cabrini list. They got me to thinking about student housing and the community. What are the rights of the community? When college students and drinking and tailgating came up at the last Radnor Township meeting, I noticed a couple of things. First was why is Enrique Hervada give off the whiff of champion of underage drinking? Because tailgating is not just alumni making drunken fools of themselves, it's all about the underage beer fest, right? And why would Radnor plab a meeting with Villanova and not ask the ward commissioner most affected if he wanted to be present before the meeting was scheduled? So from Lower Merion, to Haverford and Radnor Township, folks are all saying the same thing: that the irritation factor in off campus student housing is up, and people also wonder if the economy is a factor in illegal student housing being on the upswing? And poor Tredyffrin residents where there apparently are no rules and the township there seems to move like a turtle? What is up with Tredyffrin, anyway? Well, I checked in with Christine from Mt. Pleasant via her blog, and well I am disgusted 9and her complaints sound siumilar to some of what was discussed at the Bryn Mawr Civic Association Meeting: My Parked Car Hit Yesterday By College Student - September 21, 2009
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Why is it illegal? If Joe Parent buys a property and lets his child live there? Am I missing something? If my daughter attends SJU and the rest of us hightail it to florida, leaving her in the house-- how is that any different?
You object to the noise and drinking. I agree. On the other hand, the property owners have a right to use their property in any way that is legal. Parents housing their kids seems like it should be legal to me. I am not sure what the student housing requirements are and how they limit property owners rights, perhaps you can educate me.
Oh Gee Curious, I can't imagine why you have been given 2 thumbs down so far...here is how it is: parents buy house for Johnny and Suzi, and then Johnny and Suzy get roomies. I suggest you brush up on your zoning board decisions before you roll up with your foot in mouth all self righteous over "property rights", ok? And if you don't mind a student or twenty next door to you, please post your address so we can better direct them for the future. Have a great day oh contrary one. And PS the people who have to co-exist with obnoxious student houses have property rights too. And you can contact all municipalities except Tredyffrin for their student housing ordinances and zoning, and ask them questions. Tredyffrin doesn't have any resident/neighborhood protections.
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L'homme est né libre, et partout il est dans les fers/Man is born free, yet he is everywhere in chains.–Jean Jacques Rosseau. The Social Contract, 1762
I am sorry for offending you Carla. You seem very, very bitter and I have no idea why. I, unlike you, do not spend my all day blogging nor am I anywhere near as well versed in you on what other people may or may not do with their property. I wonder why you are so obsessed with this, among other topics. But so be it. As you like to say, if I don't like what you say I will ignore it and you, of course, can ignore me.
curious, it is curious that in another post at SAC you were disturbed by a "lack of graciousness" and advocated "discourse that is somewhat more productive."
Yet, here you say to a SAC blogger--who clearly is effectively and deeply committed to crucially important issues in Lower Merion Township and beyond, and has been for some time:
"I, unlike you, do not spend my all day blogging nor am I anywhere near as well versed in you on what other people may or may not do with their property. I wonder why you are so obsessed with this, among other topics."
Plus, with due respect, curious, if your words of apology, "sorry for offending you Carla," were sincere you would not have wanted to follow it with your next statement, which is quoted above.
("snide"--a word that you used in a comment to someone else--: "slyly disparaging" according to one of Webster's dictionaries.)
In an attempt to be more productive as you advocate, I'll re-state, for emphasis, one of Carla's key points.
The point has validity and attending to it is in the best interest of all tax paying residential property owners in the Townships she mentions. Trust that you agree, whether or not you are directly affected---yet.
"So from Lower Merion, to Haverford and Radnor Township, folks are all saying the same thing: that the irritation factor in off campus student housing is up, and people also wonder if the economy is a factor in illegal student housing being on the upswing?"
With all due respect, I am not sure I would characterize what I read here as "effectively and deeply committed to crucially important issues in Lower Merion".
That some students live on our street is not crucially important. That occasionally they make noise isn't either. That they have pizza-- again not the end of the world. The state of education-- yes. LM taxes-- yes. Eminent domain-- yes. But student housing? Where Haverford school students park (at least one person on Barrett went to Haverford school, maybe the parker is a relative? How do you know? Is it really your business?). Not crucial at all. Almost silly.
Often this blog speaks of “tax payers”. I assume that refers to property taxes or school taxes which are only assessed on homeowners. Due to the anonymous nature of blogging for all I know, the blogger may himself be a renter (who doesn't pay property taxes) and trying to tell homeowners (who do) in a bad economy that they shouldn't rent out their properties? He or she (meaning Carla, not you Merion Neighbor) doesn't seem to understand the virtue of property ownership and freedom to do with that property what you will. If Carla proclaims I am wrong—she is a homeowner and would sacrifice her own property to others whims, I will accept that, but I doubt it based on reading all his/her blogs.
The reason I am so unpopular here (as Carla likes to point out) or don't matter (as Carla also points out, because only those who agree with him/her do) is perhaps because I find comments about what other people can do with their property astonishing. Can I paint my house pink? Build a Sukkoth (sp?) shelter without a permit? Put up a funky fence to keep in my boys baseballs? Oh wait, its ugly, no you may not and without a fence you may not have a dog either!
Is it good policy for neighbors to have the right to veto use of their neighbors' land? Yes there are zoning requirements, but I am glad the Township doesn't enforce them with a heavy hand and defers to property owners. Is perhaps the reason the township doesn't care because the township has bigger fish to fry? Why is it not ok for the township to use eminent domain for private gain, but ok for private people to regulate their neighbors for their own gain (your quiet vs. my son's right to play his drums)? You want to use zoning to control your neighbors. I would like to let my neighbors control their own destiny and if part of that destiny is renting out their homes when they move to Florida, I am ok with it. There we differ.
Personally, I think the bigger point is if you don't want student housing, you should be grateful SJU is just putting in baseball fields and not dorms. But that's just me. If you win, Merion Neighbor, and SJU has to go back to the drawing board, I am afraid they may in fact consider those dorms or God knows what else. The history of Latches Lane proves the law of unintended consequences, if nothing else.
Curious,
You excel at being ignorant - congratualtions. I notice you mentioned sukkōts. The fact that you would equate something important to those of the Jewish faith as far as a Harvest ritual with student housing demonstrates how clearly ignorant you are.
You are unpopular not for finding the rest of us "astonishing", but because you are (again) incredibly ignorant.
And to address your point about renting vs. owning, you suggest that renters have no rights? Renters have rights. So because I currently rent, I am not allowed to have an opinion? Up yours. And to further the demonstration of how completely ignorant you are, I feel the need to point out that while renters may not pay property taxes directly, rents charged reflect property taxes. So, in effect we are all paying property taxes either directly or via a pass through reflected as actual rent.
And are the issues of off campus student housing important? Yes. Why? Because those of us who are adversely affected at one point in time or another have a right to not only a reasonable expectation of quiet enjoyment but other measures surrounding quality of life.
And as for the parking by Haverford School on Barrett Avenue. It's not one car, more like a dozen or more some days and on a small, windy, parking challenged street that is a VERY big deal. And ummm, while there are alumnus of Haverford School who own property on Barrett (and another person who sent at least one kid there) who have been less than pleased with student parking, there are no relatives that we know of who would invite current students to take up valuable parking when many neighbors have no off street parking at all. Your argument is nonsensical. Like most of them.
Have a nice day!
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L'homme est né libre, et partout il est dans les fers/Man is born free, yet he is everywhere in chains.–Jean Jacques Rosseau. The Social Contract, 1762
I excel at being ignorant, thank you!
I think you misunderstood, I was defending the rights of property owners to have sukkots. But I imagine you know that, you are a sophisticated blogger.
As for popularity, thats ok. You don't know me, you might actually find me charming in person. Or not, that's ok too. See Carla, I am not in high school and what everyone else does or says is not the guiding principal of my life.
"Up yours" really? From someone who screams when people swear. Silly Carla, you demean yourself. You can do better. I may be ignorant, and am guilty of calling you obsessive, but I would not swear at you, nor demean your intelligence.
Your status of a renter does not undermine your right to have an opinion, nor vote, nor be a community activitist, or whatever floats your boat. But it explains your complete lack of respect for the rights of property owners. You actually think you can tell your neighbors who to invite over (no Haverford school students!). Really? That's amazing, and I wonder what they think of it if you do.
Actually, now that I think of it Carla, in the eyes of their Students' critics you share a characteristic those students, particularly the SJU students. At the various zoning board hearings the Merion neighbors made loud cracks about "why are the students here, THEY ARE RENTERS!" This was quite impolite. So maybe you should remind them that renters have rights too, the right to comment at Commissioner meetings perhaps as you do? The right to participate in our community, as you do? Or is there some reason that students are a bad thing. As a parent of three students (albeit school aged), I hope you aren't just diminishing the importance of having fine educational institutions in our midst, nor the rights of the students to participate in politics.
But what renters should not do, in my humble and yes ignorant opinion, is rant and rave about property and school taxes (neither of which you pay, sorry you just don't), or what happens when a house goes historic against the homeowners will, or how X, Y, or Z affects property values. You don't have any stake in that game or real crediblity on the issue. Your involvement in these matters is aesthetic at best. But as I have said before, I don't think aesthetics trumps over everything, certainly not the financial rights of the owner of the property or the community at large to be safe.
As the owner of two houses (one in another state), I have watched the perils of the market with horror. I am sad for people losing their homes. I am sad for the people on Barrett Avenue who think they cannot afford to rennovate their homes because of the restrictions of going historic. I sympathize with my neighbors who rent their houses and move to delaware county where they can rent for less money. I sympathize with students whose financial aid is cut and struggle to find affordable housing. I sympathize with the merion community coalition, many of whom are nice people, who are at war with a large institution that is not going to leave and wish they (or their neighbors) hadn't fought with the insitution that is (the Barnes). I sympathize with Saint Joe's, which spent a lot of money on property, cut a deal with some of the neighbors only to find itself in the current fight. These are real problems and they eclipse the silliness of whether Haverford school students are parking illegally or student renters leave a pizza box out with the trash.
I realize I don't matter Carla. Not a bit. But the question really is, why can't you wise blogger who matters, why cannot you just ignore me?
Curious,
Hello? Reading retention? I comment when I feel like commenting...you are a jerk now bugger off.
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L'homme est né libre, et partout il est dans les fers/Man is born free, yet he is everywhere in chains.–Jean Jacques Rosseau. The Social Contract, 1762
tsk tsk tsk. Very polite. No one may disagree with Carla! You cannot win the argument so you tell me to "bugger off"? Guess I won the debate. Thanks.
You won nothing, you just need to go nip at someone else's ankles a while.
I am hearing on the phone right now that the store owner in the space next to Kelly's might pull up stakes and leave Lower Merion because of the drunken college students who live in the neighborhood and drink at Kelly's. He is tired of problems like broken windows and vomit, and isn't that a nice reward for having a small business in this economy? It doesn't sound like the township is supporting this merchant enough.
I have put up with you, curious, as has everyone else since you started commenting up here like Contrary Mary. You sound like a woman, but you could be a man. It doesn't matter, but the truth of it is you are ignorant because half of what you comment on is nonsensical.
For example, several home renovation and repair projects have occured since the Haverford Historic District was enacted. No one has been "punished". I hate misinformation and myths surrounding historic districts.
So curious, once again, bugger off.
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L'homme est né libre, et partout il est dans les fers/Man is born free, yet he is everywhere in chains.–Jean Jacques Rosseau. The Social Contract, 1762
curious said:
"At the various zoning board hearings the Merion neighbors made loud cracks about "why are the students here, THEY ARE RENTERS!" This was quite impolite. So maybe you [Carla] should remind them that renters have rights too. . .."
curious, can you provide some documentation to support your claim?
Did St. Joe's students appear at any zoning hearing meeting other than the one on December 8, 2008? You refer to their presence "at. . .various zoning board hearings."
If so, at what hearings, exactly, did you hear the comments you describe?
Also, just to be sure, did you hear the comments or is your report hearsay?
Many student members of St. Joe's athletic teams attended the Dec 8th hearing. They took up a lot of seats in the Township conference room. The crowd was overflowing.
Some Merion neighbors arrived at the hearing, already not feeling sanguine about St. Joe's sensitivity to its new Merion neighbors as indicated by St. Joe's development plans for the athletic fields (e.g., intent to install 3 pa systems; clear plans for marked intensification of use over Episcopal's), only to find St. Joe's students, who do not pay taxes, in seats with no seating room left.
Many neighbors had to stand during the entire proceeding. At one point, a neighbor suggested that perhaps some of St. Joe's sturdy student athletes might stand and allow Township residents to sit. Some students--not all--then did give up their seats.
I heard no "crack" much less many "loud cracks" from any Merion neighbor anything near what you quoted: "why are the students here, THEY ARE RENTERS!"
The fact that St. Joe's encouraged their students--who are not local home owners or tax payers--to enter into the Township zoning processes did not positively impress all neighbors. Likewise, it did not "sit" well with all neighbors when it was evident that there were too few seats for residential property owners and none of St. Joe's reputedly "community-minded" Administrative staff took the initiatve to encourage the students to give up seats for LMT citizens.
Incidentally, one St. Joe's student was heard asking a coach if she could be excused from the hearing because she had an exam the next day. This is not hearsay. The observation suggests that the student athletes did not beg the St. Joe's Athletic Director and their coaches to be allowed to attend the Township's Zoning Hearing on St. Joe's appeal.
Curious,
You would have to matter to offend. I was merely correcting what was wrong.
I do not spend my whole day blogging - I blog when I think something needs to be out there, but to you some anonymous person, I don't feel I have to justify myself or my time.
I put it out there in the community because I believe in paying it forward. When all of us were new to civic activism and fighting eminent domain in Ardmore, there were people that helped me and a lot of us. So what you do after you get all that help is you pay it forward and help others. It's pretty simplr.
I chose after 9/11 to seek a more meaningful way to approach volunteerism, and I realized in my own community and neighboring communities was the way to do it.
Every time you post, it is a negative poke at me or someone else up here. I think it is in truth YOU who are obsessed -obsessed with mocking and or belittling those who take a more active role in their communities. That makes you someone to be pitied.
And as a point of fact, most of us generally DO ignore you.
Have a wonderful day.
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L'homme est né libre, et partout il est dans les fers/Man is born free, yet he is everywhere in chains.–Jean Jacques Rosseau. The Social Contract, 1762
Below is a Merion tax paying residential property owner's experience vis-a-vis impacts of St. Joe's students' living situations on the Merion neighborhood over several years, e.g., since ~ 2003 when St. Joe's bought Merion Gardens (formerly an apartment building) and converted it to a student dormitory.
The perspective is offered as relevant to curious's question: "Am I missing something?"
The neighbor's comment was posted to an online petition initiated by the Merion Community Coalition in 2008.
Petition was part of neighborhood response to the 38 pages of plans to develop its new James J. Maguire '58 campus in Merion that St. Joe's submitted to the Township in Spring-Summer, 2008. (Petition can be accessed at http://www.merion-community.org/, click "Testimonials" link at home page and scroll down.)
"I have lived in the area between Overbrook and Narberth for 34 yrs. I am now a resident at Latch's Lane condos and hear the students living on Merion housing next door on Latch's and Lapsley every night during school year even when they are just 2 or 3 just talking on their porch at all hours of night and early morning hours. I have called the police on occasion but find the act of waking myself enough to dial and talk and express complaint more disturbing and cannot go back to sleep so just close windows. This is all nights when weather is decent for outside hang outs. Since 1980 SJU has been a neighbor of every single place I lived until they bought the building I lived in or just drove me out because of noise. I never imagined when I moved here that the same would continue to happen in Merion. Constantly vehicles backing up at all hours at night with beeping noises trash pick up before 8am and lawn care before 8am are other noises only coming from SJU campus housing area. I just updated at great expense my condo and refuse to move."
Curious,
Maybe we capitalize on some agreement and move toward constructive, community-institution action?
You replied to Carla's original post:
- "You object to the noise and drinking. I agree."
Other posts of yours suggest you are keenly supportive of St. Joe's presence in Merion and that you live in the area, i.e.: "on the Merion side of BC [Bala Cynwyd]" according to a comment of yours in May, 2009 on the LM redistricting issue.
Wondering if, then, maybe you live north of Old Lancaster, within a block or so of the liquor store on City Avenue? Regardless, you don't live too far from the liquor store, given that you run with your dog down Latch's Lane.
You might run by the store and check out the weekend customers if you haven't already noted the scene. Also spend a little time checking out what's clearly audible (e.g., crass language) and who is stumbling down City Avenue between St. Joe's dorms on both sides of City Avenue near Merion Road and St. Joe's Campuses (Philadelphia and Merion) near Old Lancaster into the wee hours of the morning?
Here's one of many examples of what's going on:
- Within the past few of weeks since St. Joe's students returned, about 4:30 a.m. one member of what certainly looked like a group of St. Joe's students, apparently returning to a dorm near Merion Road, almost fell into City Avenue his gait was so impaired.
Oddly, St. Joe's bicycle patrol seems virtually to have stopped patrolling City Ave. sometime ago.
Maybe if you call your contacts at St. Joe's and suggest that they restart the bike patrol along City at least during high-risk-for-drinking hours, or do something more than they now are doing to address the student drinking problem that is manifested on the City Avenue sidewalk between St. Joe's campuses and the dorms south of the campuses, action will be taken?
St. Joe's security already was notified at least once about the incident involving the young man who almost fell into City Avenue.
Sorry, but I don't have ties to Saint Joe's, just a neighbor like you so really not sure what influence I would have. But I am sure you can call them. It would be better coming from you, then me, since I wasn't there and did not see these things. I make it a rule to only bother the police when I have seen something myself.
For what it is worth, my Saint Joe student neighbors accross the street are very well behaved, in fact they have a booming babysitting business (my next door neighbor says these girls are the best thing that every happened to him and his wife). I admit, I go to bed very early and get up very early so maybe I am missing all the action. Also, I don't hang out at the liquor store, nor do my kids, but if you do I am sure you can talk to the police or Saint Joe's about your observations.
As an aside, the LM police told me last year the student actually make our neighborhood safer because they are around in the day. I work outside the home, so that makes me feel good. But if you have something to report, God bless and God speed.
Have a nice evening.
Also, I don't hang out at the liquor store, nor do my kids, but if you do I am sure you can talk to the police or Saint Joe's about your observations.
Sooooo classy, Curious. Yikes.
Ahh, interesting. If you have nice off campus college students across the street from you, count yourself lucky. So are your students living where they are living legally as off campus students?
And we are sure glad that you and your kids don't hang out at the liquor store as that was at the top of the list of where to search for you. LOL what a thing to say?
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L'homme est né libre, et partout il est dans les fers/Man is born free, yet he is everywhere in chains.–Jean Jacques Rosseau. The Social Contract, 1762
I have also been told in Lower Merion the strongest concentration of off campus student housing is in Ardmore? St. Joe's and Villanova students? So while the commissioners are busy handing the keys to the town to developers to carve up, right off Main Street are problems. And no amount of "redevelopment" is going to solve those problems if the township doesn't get busy, right? And what of Ardmore commissioners and Ardmore candidates? What are they doing? Or are they leaving it all up to a couple bloggers again to get the word out?
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L'homme est né libre, et partout il est dans les fers/Man is born free, yet he is everywhere in chains.–Jean Jacques Rosseau. The Social Contract, 1762
We're Related!!! We've got the same Slum Lord!!!
Went to the Board Meeting last night. Spoke to the Supervisors. Unfortunately, I think I sounded like a whining child. Thankfully, two of my neighbors were there as well and they voiced their concerns.
What is interesting is that I met the landlord of 995 and 985 Mount Pleasant Avenue. I wonder who told him that some folks would be speaking on the student housing topic this particular night? It wasn't on the agenda.
He said he was there to represent the other side. If I were a landlord I wouldn't want him speaking for me.
He has been contacted by the Code and Zoning Enforcement Officer at Tredyffrin regarding the 4 unrelated occupants at 995 Mount Pleasant. I asked him what he intends to do about it. He said what do you want me to do about it? I said get rid of one person. He said but did you see that I got rid of that large tree branch that had fallen? I said that great but it took you 7 days to realize that the electricity was out as well. Anyway, he's one of those types with a LYING UPPER LIP. He gave me his phone number and said to call him with any problems. But you know what..... It's not my responsibility to keep an eye on his properties!!!
*He has had citations issued in both Delaware and Montgomery Counties regarding student rentals*
Radnor Township 2001 Violation of Zoning Code
Upper Merion Township 2003 More than 2 unrelated persons reside at location.
Haverford Township 2007 Failure to obtain rental license
Haverford Township 2007 Failure to inspect rental property
Haverford Township 2007 Another failure to inspect rental property
Haverford Township 2007 Another failure to obtain a rental license
DUI
Colin R. Sprows, 19, of Southport, Conn. was arrested after a traffic stop along Summit Terrace in Bryn Mawr Sept. 4 at 1:52 p.m.
According to police, Sprows was stopped for having a nonworking headlight and for taking a wide turn from Garrett Avenue onto Conestoga Road.
Police said Sprows admitted to drinking alcohol at a friend’s house earlier that day.
-- Radnor police arrested Daniel Patrick Regan, 20, of Philadelphia with DUI after he was stopped by Cabrini College public-safety personnel Sept. 4 at 2:10 a.m.
According to police, officers were called to Cabrini on the report of an intoxicated man being held by campus security. The public-safety officers told police that Regan was seen traveling the wrong way along a one-way street on campus. He then pulled into the grass area outside the public-safety office.
Police said officers were called because when the public-safety officer spoke to Regan he strongly smelled alcohol on him.
Noise violation
Radnor police cited Alexander J. Detrano, 21, of Naples, Fla. with an excessive-noise violation for the sound coming from his apartment on Conestoga Road in Rosemont Sept. 6 at 2:45 a.m.
Underage drinking
Radnor police cited Verita Machacon, 20, of Maple Shade, N.J. with underage drinking Sept. 5 at 1:19 p.m.
According to police, Machacon was riding in a car that was stopped for speeding along the 800 block of East Lancaster Avenue in Villanova. The officer reported that when he spoke to the driver he strongly smelled alcohol in the car. He determined the odor was coming from the passenger, Machacon, not the driver. The driver got a speeding ticket while Machacon got a citation for underage drinking.
Disorderly conduct
Lower Merion police cited Keith Heinold, 21, of Cinnaminson, N.J., Sept. 8 at 12:54 a.m. with public intoxication and disorderly conduct for urinating in an alley along the 1000 block of Lancaster Avenue.
Public intoxication
-- Lower Merion police arrested Erika Nord, 21, of Avon, Conn., for public intoxication Sept. 12 at 12:47 a.m.
According to police, Nord was observed swaying as she walked near Merion and Morton avenues in Bryn Mawr.
DUI
Lower Merion police arrested and charged a Villanova University student with DUI Sept. 12 at 3:10 a.m. after seeing two other students stumbling as they tried to get inside her car, police reported this week.
Police said Sophia Bartolini, 20, with only a Villanova campus address, was behind the wheel of a car when police arrived at the scene.
The others Villanova students at the scene were Elizabeth Bland, 21, of Shoreham, N.Y.; Kevin Flannery, 20, of Olney, Md. and Sahara Karin, 20, from West Simsbury, Conn.
Police said Bland was asleep in the back of the car while Karin and Flannery were getting inside the car.
Bartolini refused to submit to a breath test to determine her blood-alcohol level. She was charged with DUI and underage drinking. The other three were cited with public intoxication. Flannery and Karin were also cited for underage drinking, police said.
The only thing I will comment about on in this thread is renters.
As someone who has been involved in renting out properties, it is the rent that my tenants pay me that pays the taxes on the properties I own and rent out.
Thus, as far as I'm concerned, renters have the same property rights as owners when it comes to neighborhood/municipal issues.
I know several people who could afford to buy but have rented for decades - one in the same home. That is their personal choice. They have sent their children to local public schools and have vested interests in their local communities. Short term renters like college students generally do not have a strong interest in the community, but they also have a right to voice their opinions.
I have just as much of a problem with “you don’t own so you don’t understand” as “you don’t have children in public schools so you don’t understand”. Just because I don’t have children in Lower Merion public schools does not mean I don’t understand issues with our public schools, and the fact that I keep cutting checks for these ever increasing school taxes (whether directly as a homeowner or indirectly for those who rent) gives me every right to voice my opinion.
Heck, even if I were blind and living in my sister's basement rent free I am entitled to an opinion, and that opinion might be more logical and much better thought out in regards to issues that affect homeowners as my thoughts would not be clouded by emotions regarding property values or how I desire my neighborhood to look.
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~ As we must account for every idle word, so must we account for every idle silence.
Housing concerns continue
Published: Wednesday, September 23, 2009
By Blair Meadowcroft
major concern that was brought to the table at Monday night’s Tredyffrin Township Board of Supervisors meeting surrounded the continuing complaints that areas in the township are slowly transforming into “college dormitories.”
Residents with data and pages of documented information got up in front of the board to voice their concerns about college dwellings that are, in their opinion, taking over their neighborhoods. According to residents, 17 college dwellings have been documented.
“These homes that are being rented to students are causing issues with drinking, noise, parking, speeding and garbage,” said one resident. “They are hurting our property values.”
Another complaint, about the police, is they have been issuing warnings, not fines. When one resident complained to the police about constant noise, she said got the response that the students are allowed to have their friends over, and that she should shut her windows and turn on a fan to muffle the noise.
“What am I supposed to do if I can’t count on the police?” asked resident
Also see comments:
mtplezmom wrote on Sep 23, 2009 8:22 AM:
" I just wanted to point out that there are 17 student rentals in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood alone. Also, if I were a landlord I would not want Roger Kent up there representing me. He is currently in violation of code as he has 4 unrelated occupants living in a house across the street from me. I did some research yesterday and he has been issued citations in the past regarding his rental properties in Upper Merion, Radnor and Haverford Townships. "
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L'homme est né libre, et partout il est dans les fers/Man is born free, yet he is everywhere in chains.–Jean Jacques Rosseau. The Social Contract, 1762
I have been told of illegal parent purchases in Merion and in the Short Ridge (Wynnewood) section of Lower Merion by parents of St. Joe's students and is this true? Why don't they ask their beloved St. Joes to build some dorms? Who has addresses of these properties and photos?
And in Tredyffrin, how long until they get it there?
Related:
Save Cracking the College Enforcement Initiative
by JACK KEEFE, EXECUTIVE EDITOR; DOUGAL SUTHERLAND, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF | September 22, 2009
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L'homme est né libre, et partout il est dans les fers/Man is born free, yet he is everywhere in chains.–Jean Jacques Rosseau. The Social Contract, 1762
"Well behaved women rarely make history" - Laurel Thatcher Ulrich