The City of Somerville is considering a new ordinance that would fine landlords for continual reports of public disturbances by tenants in response to the longstanding problem of rowdy parties near college campuses.
The ordinance, proposed at the end of August by Alderman Robert Trane, could saddle absentee landlords with fines between $300 and $500, as well as between 50 and 75 hours of community service.
The City of Medford passed a similar ordinance in August, fining landlords up to $500 for each public complaint against their tenants, and the town of Brookline has also instituted similar policy, according to Tufts Director of Community Relations Barbara Rubel.
"One thing a lot of young people don't realize when they move off campus is how to be a good neighbor," Jack Connolly, Somerville's alderman at large, told the Daily.
Connolly emphasized that the biggest problem was with only a handful of repeat offenders, not the university communities at large.
"The vast majority of off-campus residents around Harvard, MIT, Lesley, Tufts and the other campuses that border Somerville get along peacefully with their neighbors and cause no problems, but there are always a few that do," Connolly said.
Public disturbance complaints from neighbors in areas surrounding the Tufts campus have been a continual problem for many years, according to Rubel.
"It's definitely been a long-standing problem," Rubel said. "We've taken steps to try to create deterrents and teach students that there are better ways to live in the neighborhood, but so far we haven't been successful on our own."
According to Connolly, lack of involvement from landlords with loud tenants has been a continual problem.
"Many landlords will say, ‘It's not my problem, call the police,'" Connolly said.
Landlords who actively pursue eviction proceedings against tenants with repeat offenses will not be held responsible for fines or community service.
The proposed ordinance also explicitly mandates that responding police notify the educational institution to which tenants belong of the disturbance, Rubel said.
Though Trane only recently proposed the ordinance, Connolly expects it will move quickly. "I think it's very likely it's going to pass," Connolly said. "It makes sense to make sure that landlords are accountable for rowdy students."
According to Connolly, a city committee is reviewing the ordinance.
The university presently imposes its own fines and punishments on students who are repeat offenders of noise violations, but the number of offenses hasn't changed significantly in recent years, according to Rubel.
"This ordinance could be a deterrent for students in the community because landlords could get involved and tell their tenants [that their behavior is unacceptable]. They could face eviction. That should be a pretty strong warning to students," Rubel noted.
Though the school year has just begun, there have already been a number of instances of public disturbance by Tufts students in the neighborhoods surrounding campus, according to Rubel.
Clinton Oxford, a senior, had numerous conflicts with neighbors regarding noise produced in his house last year, and felt that his housemates were treated unfairly by the local community.
"We never had a single party, they would call the police when our windows were open and we were talking too loudly," Oxford said of the experience. "A lot of residents around here who live next to students treat them like children, not as real neighbors paying rent."
"This is just furthering the animosity between the student population and the neighbors," Oxford said.
