HomeMy WebLinkAbout2/8/2025 Item 4a, Rounsaville
Carol Rounsaville <carolrounsaville@yahoo.com>
Sent:Thursday, January
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Neighborhood wellness
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Hi SLO city council,
My husband and I have lived in SLO for 45 years. We were students at Cal Poly and were lucky enough to
find jobs here locally that allowed us to stay.
As students, we did not have the kind of binge drinking drunkenness we see now. If someone was sick from
drinking too much, that was an embarrassment. One of the students in the article said they should be able to
have the “college” experience. We have heard of students talking about drugging girls at parties to take
advantage of them…that’s the kind of behavior we are dealing with. It’s not all students but the ones that are
causing the issues are the most vocal about their “rights” to have a college experience….their right to stumble
down our street screaming and yelling on regular basis. They know not to answer the door when someone
knocks. They take up a collection for the fine. They know how to work it.
We are considering moving out of SLO because of the student issue. We are just tired of fighting it.
We read the Tribune article about the Walkers and feel for them. Our neighborhood has not been immune
from the issues with students. But what was so upsetting about the article was that the city seemed to allow
the Walkers to be harassed by students without any repercussions for the students. How does that help solve
the issue when students can stand outside your house and yell obscenities and nothing seems to be done
about it? What happened to expelling students that were that obnoxious? We had the same thing happen
when we complained…it is scary. The students are sophisticated- they know how to get around the issues.
The fact that the city and Cal Poly are not working together to make sure students understand that part of their
education is learning how to live in a community not how to drug girls or how to binge drink is very sad. And
adding ADUs and making the population more dense is only going to make the issue worse. Right now the
house next to us is being renovated for more bedrooms so they can fit in more students in that one house. Our
street has no parking but that doesn’t stop the process…
The really sad thing about SLO is that Cal Poly is an renowned architecture school and all the unique, nice
homes around town are being trashed by students while all the families are having to move to the cookie cutter
homes now being built with HOAs to handle neighbor issues…so they can sleep at night and not be harassed.
The fact that the Walkers have been in their house for 16 years shows that the situation is getting worse…they
were able to live in their neighborhood relatively well until recently. How is zoning upheld in SLO?
I realize I am bringing up a lot of complicated issues but I felt like I had to write in to support the Walkers. It
feels like this city is morphing into an offshoot of Cal Poly housing rather than a community.
Sincerely,
Carol Rounsaville
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