Bobbie J

-----Original Message-----
From: Serina Hearn
Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2006 3:15 PM
To: bjwalthall@ci.lawrence.ks.us
Subject: Concern about the Disorderly House Ordinance and Amendments

Dear Bobbie Walthall,

I am a landlord of over 20 houses in the Oread

neighborhood and I am very concerned that the

Disorderly House Ordinance and Amendments are designed

to fail. Over the course of the six years that I’ve

been in this business, my husband and I have spent

millions (in loans) restoring old houses in this

neighborhood. We restore the houses as authentically

as possible and then rent them to KU students.

I have also lived in the Oread neighborhood, first on

Tennessee Street, and then on Vermont Street, and have

had to call the police myself for noise violations.

So I am seeing two sides of the issue at hand.

Since we are very attached to our houses, as landlords

we too are concerned about noise violations and large

parties as they cause damage to the houses. We’ve

been very lucky and have had only one or two houses

that have created repeated problems. However, when

the tenants did create problems they were not problems

that I could solve as a landlord though I tried my

best: sending lawyers’ letters to parents, calling the

police myself, having meetings with tenants, sending

letters to tenants, and fining tenants. Even though

police had been called and there was a record of the

call, as no tickets were issued, often the parents

would not believe there was a legitimate problem.

I have evidence of how hard I’ve tried to protect my

properties and the neighborhoods. Though there was

some success, it wasn’t enough success to prevent one

of my houses from being visited by the police many

times on complaints of noise violations. With the

Disorderly House Ordinance and Amendments, landlords

can be punished for their tenant’s behavior. This

seems not only unfair to landlords but also inadequate

to solve the problems. What can a landlord, such as

myself, do who has already done their best to stop

behavior that the police did not stop?

The real problems as I see them are:

1. The police have not issued tickets for noise

violations when they should have. I had a group last

year that had 14 police calls for noise disturbances,

but no tickets were ever issued and no one was ever

charged.

2. Students are seldom prosecuted for under-age

drinking. The police come to a party because of a

noise disturbance, but do not determine who is under

age and drinking, even if the kegs are visible.

3. Landlords are not contacted immediately when there

is a disturbance. In the past, I’ve had to find out

about the disturbances from neighbors on the eleven

hundred block of Ohio St. How am I going to work on

the problem if I’m not contacted immediately?

4. KU apparently has not been willing, or not been

asked to get involved, as many other universities have

become involved. As a result of University

involvement, off-campus student behavior has improved

considerably in these communities.

The University of Vermont in Burlington has worked

closely with the city and the police department and

when a citation involves a student the university is

informed. This seems like a good possible solution

for the situation, as then the students involved will

be held accountable for their own behavior, both by

their school and by the city in which they live. Here

are some of the resolutions that the University and

City have worked together to come up with:

(From The University of Vermont in Burlington Center

for Student Ethics and Standards, Statement on Student

Off-Campus Behavior)

“ - The City will improve its police protocols to

provide UVM with the information it needs to hold

students accountable for their behavior.

- UVM will initiate disciplinary action when

appropriate within its code of student conduct. The

outcomes of a disciplinary proceeding may range from a

warning letter to dismissal from the University. This

represents an unprecedented level of university

commitment to taking institutional action directed

toward off-campus student behavior.

- The City will strengthen its Noise Ordinance,

increasing fines, particularly for violations

involving noisy house parties.

- The university will also use other means at its

disposal to deal with problem behavior, including

early notification of parents for student alcohol and

drug-related violations, under the protocols of

federal student privacy laws.

- All UVM students will receive a direct

communication from the University president notifying

them of their responsibilities both on and off campus

and outlining the serious consequences of problem

behavior.

- For the first time, police officers from the

university and the city will work in concert – via

joint patrols- to address off-campus student behavior

issues, with Burlington police issuing citations if

necessary. The teams will patrol target neighborhoods

on high activity nights, especially in early Fall and

late Spring.

The quality of life in Burlington is important not

only to city residents, but to the University of

Vermont, as well. UVM students are a positive asset

to the community, and the vast majority are good,

productive citizens. As in most university towns,

though, conflicts inevitably arise. The steps

outlined today represent effective strategies for

addressing chronic problems and both Mayor Clavelle

and President Fogel look forward to working closely

with city officials, local residents and students to

improve and strengthen this vibrant community. “

As a resident of the Oread neighborhood, I understand

the frustration of the Neighborhood Associations. But

as I attempted to express four years ago when the City

reduced the number of unrelated people living together

in a single family house from 4 to 3, that this too

will not solve the problem of noise violations. All

it takes is for ONE person to throw a party. It was

my opinion then, as it is now, violators of the City

noise ordinances should be held directly accountable

for their actions. It is the only way to stop such

behavior.

We are a community and instead of punishing or

scapegoating the landlords, we as a community should

be working towards a common alliance of University,

neighborhood, police, and City to help solve the

problems of inappropriate off-campus student

behavior. This behavior is invariably tied to

under-age drinking of alcohol and drug related abuse;

behavior that KU needs to help students become

accountable for.

Another concern of mine is that if you make the

landlord accountable for the tenant’s noise

violations, the tenants can use this as a way to break

their lease. All they would have to do is throw two

or three noisy parties and the landlord would be fined

and put under pressure to evict the tenants. Certain

times of year are especially difficult to re-rent a

house. This in turn puts financial hardship on a

landlord such as myself who is by no means

independently wealthy.

I am a very proactive landlord and put a lot of work

into my houses. The Lawrence Journal World even ran

two articles on one of the restorations I did on Ohio

Street:

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2002/oct/20/ohio_street_house_on/

and

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2003/jul/22/miracle_on_ohio/

I want my properties to look good and be pleasant

places to live; likewise, I want the neighborhoods

around my houses to be pleasant as well.

If the City is truly interested in solving off-campus

student related misbehavior then I ask that the City

take into consideration the limitations of landlords

and give the landlord support by making tenants

immediately accountable for their actions.

Furthermore, landlords need to be informed as soon as

possible of any violations if they are going to be

able to help. I do not believe that this process can

be successful without the involvement and support of

KU.

Disorderly house problems affect the houses and their

condition in ways the neighbors cannot imagine,

particularly when it comes to people like my husband

and myself, who work very hard to restore the

historic life stock of the Oread neighborhood.

I would very much appreciate an audience with you as I

have letters and other documents of proof as to how

hard I’ve worked to deal with unruly KU tenants. I

would like to share with you so that perhaps you can

be more fully aware of the limitations of landlords

and therefore look to KU and the police department for

more help.

Yours sincerely,

Serina Hearn

(785)842-6618

__________________________________________________

Do You Yahoo!?

Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around

http://mail.yahoo.com