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Home My WebLink About03-17-2015 Public Comment Phares (2)Lomeli, Monique Subject: FW: The Hathway roof collapse... moving forward Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone -- - - - - -- Original message -- - - - - -- MAR 16 2015 COUNCIL MEETING: C511-7/15 From: Gordon Phares ITEM NO.: Fakee 0ffl1V - Date:03 /14/2015 12:14 PM (GMT- 08:00) To: "'Keith B. Humphrey "' Cc: "Marx, Jan" , "Ashbaugh, John" , "Carpenter, Dan" , "Christianson, Carlyn" , "Rivoire, Dan" , slpdinfo(&cityofsanluis.org, 'Karen Adler', 'Claudia Andersen', 'Fred Andersen', 'Chet and Dorothy Brunson', 'Barbe Roberts', 'Stephanie & Terry Conner', 'Jeff Eidelman' , 'Debbie Enterante' , 'John & Katie Evans', 'Cindy & Jeff Gater' , 'Kim Gibson', 'Mike Gleason', 'Michele & Rusty Hall', 'Dee & Frank Jakes' , 'Edith' , 'Sherry Lewis', 'Scott Loosley' , 'John Milton & Laurel Smith', 'Donna Nash', 'Christine & Dominic Perello' , 'Marco Rizzo', 'Vanessa Rizzo', 'Kris Raburn' , 'Tim Townley', 'Darrell Voss', 'Steve & Kathie Walker', 'SharonWhitney' , 'Lindsay Alicia Wilcox', 'Eva Young' Subject: The Hathway roof collapse... moving forward In the last ten years the policies which have intervened most successfully in holding back loud parties and drunken gatherings (often featuring underage students) have been the proactive distribution of door -hung brochures describing fines and consequences student renters can face living in the city of SLO along with some raising of awareness by Cal Poly directed at their students. Along with that more police patrols in the identified problem neighborhoods, quick response to calls about loud parties, noise ordinances and the threat of fines has helped noticeably. However, several things with existing policies should be revisited in my opinion. It makes little sense to elevate fines in anticipation of holidays or other potential student party events. The students just dodged this with the Fratty party debacle. I recommend raising fines from the current level and making no differentiation as to dates. When police have clear ordinances and policies upon which they can issue citations, the only thing I can recommend is that the SLO PD actually write citations more liberally than appears to be the practice today. This is essential. If an infraction occurs the citations must be written in order for the policies to be of much value. Having to come up with the money to pay fines is difficult to explain to parents and others who are paying the freight for a student to attend Cal Poly. It is important for the City of San Luis Obispo to get a handle on all the single family homes being used as rentals to Cal Poly and Cuesta students. An inspection program is vital as has been proposed and adherence to occupancy laws must be respected. That means not issuing variances so someone bent on enlarging the ghetto can cram more kids onto their property. I was heartened to read a quote from a female student at the forum asking for any help in getting arrogant, greedy landlords to bring up the standards in some of the more student - ghetto like housing here in San Luis Obispo. Packing houses with students for profit is the reason we have the emergence of the student ghetto about which this girl was complaining. Today this is a reality in some neighborhoods near Cal Poly. This is not good for Cal Poly, not good for the City of SLO and not good for the permanent residents, who today essentially loathe the return of students in the fall and are relieved when the hoard leaves in the spring. Unless you live in one of these neighborhoods you really can't appreciate what this i is like. It is a constant siege which is the antithesis of what the typical single family homeowner wants in their neighborhood, what you want in your neighborhood. The Fratty party was not unusual, just bigger so the effects got some news coverage. In these neighborhoods loud, drunken parties featuring a hundred whacked out students is not uncommon. Usually every single weekend there's a disturbance going on somewhere, usually more than one. The litter in the street and yards, broken glass in the streets, burned furniture in the streets, noise, boom boxes, hooting and hollering at all hours of the night are not unusual, squealing girls and raucous boys. (These kids have no idea how to get along with neighbors, especially as they're always fueled with alcohol.) Many times I've seen drunk kids roaming the streets in my neighborhood looking for a party. This is not an exaggeration. Sometimes they number in the hundreds. In my opinion it is incumbent upon leaders at Cal Poly, the university police as well as the SLO PD, and the SLO City Council to work together and implement readily enforceable polices and ordinances so that law enforcement can effectively issue citations to the many student offenders who reside in the city of SLO. Reasons for expulsion from Cal Poly must be broadened and applied to this problem. This is our best hope for keeping a lid on what is always an otherwise potentially explosive situation. Crowds of drunk students aren't good for anyone. Mob behavior is always dangerous, especially for police and those living in the vicinity of a mob gathering. I wish it weren't so but I believe this is the truth of the matter here in San Luis Obispo. Wake up please and do something effective about this. Gordon Phares Alta Vista - - - -- Original Message---- - From: Keith B. Humphrey [mailto:humphrey(cbcalpoly.edu] Sent: Friday, March 13, 2015 8:56 PM To: gphares(d)pacbell.net Subject: Re: Coordinated response to the Hathway roof collapse Dear Mr. Phares, President Armstrong shared your message with me and asked me to thank you for taking the time to share your concerns. We share the frustration with what happened the morning of March 7. I am terribly disappointed in the actions of so many of our students. The behavior that was displayed at the party is unacceptable and not indicative of the behaviors we expect of our students. This behavior has no place at Cal Poly. Our intent at the university is to use this unfortunate event as a catalyst for change. We are conducting a thorough investigation of the incident, and once the facts are known, we will respond appropriately to reinforce our standards for student conduct and responsible student behavior. I am heartened, however, by the turnout at a forum we held on campus yesterday to talk about this incident. More than 500 people -- mostly Cal Poly students, which were our primary audience for this forum, but also neighbors and members of the community -- came together to share their thoughts on how we can make sure something like this doesn't happen again. If you interested in watching the forum, a link to the video will be available early next week. It was an important dialogue, and there will be more. In particular we will be scheduling a session with the focus on Cal Poly neighbors and community members. Your feedback is important. We will have to agree to disagree on the location of our new student housing. I believe this is the best site as it keeps our first -year students in close proximity to each other, their classes, and appropriate food and other facilities. Our longer term goal is to house every freshman and sophomore on campus, and to even provide campus housing opportunities for juniors and seniors. The core issue is not the location of the students -- there is ample evidence that they will walk, drive, etc. to a party. The real issue is to encourage and provide alternatives. I believe your idea that Cal Poly facilitate a party away from the neighborhoods is worthy of discussion. We have been, and will continue to work collaboratively with our partners on campus, student leaders, our local neighbors, and the broader community — including city and county officials—to explore ways we can improve student /community relations. We will also continue our ongoing work with the Neighborhood Wellness /Community Civility Task Force and Student Community Liaison Committee to discover and implement recommendations for improving neighborhood wellness. We are firmly committed to change, and we are working in partnership with the community to address these issues. We will also keep talking with our students about responsibility, their decisions, their personal safety, and their concern for each other and their neighbors. And we will continue to seek ways to hold those students and organizations accountable for their actions. Thank you again for taking the time to write. Keith B. Humphrey, Ph.D. Vice President for Student Affairs Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 805- 756 -1521 HLImphrey@calpoly.edu Studentaffairs. c alpoly. edu