HomeMy WebLinkAbout7/15/2025 Item 8a, Vujovich-LaBarre
Mila Vujovich-LaBarre <
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:July 15 - 2025; Item 8a
July 15, 2025
Agenda Item: 8a
Dear Mayor Stewart and Council Members:
As a local teacher who has taught in the San Luis Coastal Unified School District for 41 years, a resident of San
Luis Obispo, and the Geographic Neighborhood Association Representative for the Student Community Liaison
Committee (SCLC), I love the vibrancy students bring to our community - from 5 years old, to teens, to college
students, and adult learners.
I found the Grand Jury investigation report interesting and very accurate. As you know, the Grand Jury
investigation was instigated by residents who felt the elected and appointed officials of the City of San Luis
Obispo were continuing to fail in their duty to protect their neighborhoods, some with families and the elderly,
from the dangerous “St. Fratty's Day” event and other raucous weekends.
The complaint was filed in June of 2024 after Police Chief Rick Scott had announced to the City and the public
that his department's enforcement plan was used for the “St. Fratty's Day” event in March of 2024, the same
plan used in prior years, was “successful.”
Many people found that announcement alarming, as there had continued growth of unruly crowds, going
from 2,000 in 2022 to more than 7,000 in 2024. The management of the chaos was indeed not a “success.”
At the City Council gatherings and at meetings of the SCLC, San Luis Obispo City Manager Whitney McDonald
stated that the Council's goal was to have “St. Fratty’s Day end.”
Chief Scott’s announcement of success and denial of residents' pleas for better enforcement was the impetus
that caused desperate, fearful residents to file a Grand Jury Complaint.
Fortunately, residents' efforts to bring an end to “St. Fratty’s Day” was finally taken seriously, and coordinated
efforts resulted in a positive result in 2025.
Due to my participation on the SCLC, I found great relief knowing that a second Grand Jury complaint was
submitted by frustrated residents in the Alta Vista Neighborhood who have been pleading with the City to
enforce its zoning codes to eliminate illegal fraternity operations in R-1 and R-2 neighborhoods.
It has been noted that after an extensive investigation by 19 impartial Grand Jurors, they concluded that the
City of San Luis Obispo has failed to protect its residents by not enforcing its residential neighborhood zoning
laws.
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Not only did the jurors complete extensive research, review records, and conduct interviews, but they also
witnessed firsthand what occurs in several residential neighborhoods adjacent to Cal Poly each weekend.
Each Council member has been sent videos demonstrating the extreme disruptions from the unabated
fraternity parties.
Each Council member has been invited to visit residents' homes on the weekends during the academic year to
see firsthand what they have to endure. Unfortunately, to my knowledge, no one has taken individuals up on
their invitations.
Resident groups and residents have met with Council members and code enforcement officials only to hear
the same excuses, which center around insufficient staff, including code enforcement personnel.
Many long-term residents have given up calling the police when little to nothing is done to stop the parties,
resulting in many moving away from these neighborhoods, turning even more homes in those neighborhoods
into student rentals.
At nearly every SCLC meeting, I share positive communication about the neighborhoods, students, and
community members, and opportunities for students to be positively involved in our town. I also share the
emails that I have personally received from residents. When I read the emails aloud, it is not uncommon for
there to be no response from fellow SCLC members and /or members of the Cal Poly Greek life who
vehemently express their desire for the illegal fraternities in the R-1 and R-2 zones to be known as “satellite"
fraternities.
The SCLC committee has been unable to find solutions for the problems in neighborhoods impacted by
student rentals.
Additionally, Cal Poly is purposely erasing previously provided addresses where their fraternities are operating
while claiming they're acting within the law.
If you desire to form an AD HOC committee to respond to the Grand Jury Report, please state how the City is
going to resolve the problem of fraternities illegally operating in R-1 and R-2 zones.
That is the proverbial elephant in the room.
Perhaps your response could include that the City is going to form a task force comprised of City staff, Cal Poly
staff, and residents negatively affected by these illegal operations, in an attempt to begin the process of
actually doing something concrete to address the violation of our zoning codes by fraternities that are truly
destroying residents' quality of life in neighborhoods.
Another response could be that the City will fund an additional code enforcement official to exclusively
address zoning code violations and relieve the neighborhoods of these illegal operations.
The City could also encourage Cal Poly to construct and maintain a Greek Row of sorts on the Cal Poly land!
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
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Mila Vujovich-La Barre
milavu@hotmail.com
805-441-5818
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