[Winona Online Democracy] Conflicts between certain college students and people who live near colleges have been going on for centuries. In the thirteenth century, when the first universities (as we know them) emerged, writers complained about the licentiousness of students off campus-open sex, drunkenness, gambling, burglary, even murder (students often carried knives or swords, a dangerous mixture with alcohol). Open battles between students and townspeople were frequent, often with considerable damage to participants and property. Histories of higher education illustrate clearly that tensions between citizens and some students have continued through the centuries in all countries. Today conflicts-at least outside the ideological and political arenas, certainly not an issue in Winona-have become less dangerous to participants.
Some four plus institutions-religious fundamentalist colleges, schools with very restrictive behavior codes, commuter colleges, traditional teacher colleges (a declining breed)-are less likely (for different reasons) to have those students who create this town-gown problem, but at various times a vast majority of colleges do. People who choose to live near a college (or between a college and places of entertainment) should expect some problems. Presumably, those people who live near Winona State chose their residences because of the advantages of their neighborhoods; they certainly knew the proximity of an institution of higher learning. They should do their best-through the use of neighborhood groups, through discussion with the WSU administration, and through coordination with the police-to lessen some of the most egregious activities. Instead, however, of talking about housing restrictions, which would impact all students and not just the small minority that cause problems, neighbors might simply take a more philosophical approach to the issue, realizing that an issue that has existed for centuries is not going to disappear entirely. Some students always have and always will annoy neighbors. Roy Nasstrom Winona ----- Original Message ----- From: "Craig Brooks" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Winona on line (WOD)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, June 14, 2003 8:12 AM Subject: Re: [Winona] Student rental housing [Winona Online Democracy] I read the article and thought it covered most angles of this debate about student housing. One quote I found particularly thought provoking was - *** "(Student discrimination) may be legal, but it's not good policy," said Michael Samuelson, a code enforcement officer in Brooklyn Park and a Hamline neighbor. "It's like telling everyone that works at Burger King where to live. "You use zoning to restrict uses, not users. You don't use zoning laws to regulate behavior," he said. *** I am trying to see both sides of this. I don't think he has it all right but then I see his point about focusing on behavior. However, I am reminded that in the Twin Cities and elsewhere the biggest problems and most disputed zoning issues were from neighbors concerns about behaviors resulting from proposed uses. Mr. Samuelson's argument can be applied to persons with mental illness, mental retardation or even parolees. There are state laws which restrict how close together group homes for mentally handicapped persons can be - something like 1320 feet. I suggest this is restricting use because of concerns about behavior. I am not so sure you can separate use from the users. I can tell you that in Winona, to the surprise of our friends in the Twin Cities, we had an interesting reaction to zoning use restrictions for housing in the early '80s when community based rental housing for mentally handicapped started to mushroom. Any time someone wanted to change a home's use from student housing to a half way house / group home, to went through with no objections. The neighbors would rather have the supervised group homes to the alternative they lived with in student housing. I always told my friends in the Cities that the way to avoid zoning problems was to first make the house into student housing and then make it into a group home. Craig Brooks ----- Original Message ----- From: "John N. Finn" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Winona on line (WOD)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, June 12, 2003 6:35 AM Subject: [Winona] Student rental housing > [Winona Online Democracy] > > An article about Saint Paul trying to cope with student housing taking over > residential neighborhoods. > > http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/6067751.htm > _______________________________________________ This message was posted to Winona Online Democracy All messages must be signed by the senders actual name. No commercial solicitations are allowed on this list. To manage your subscription or view the message archives, please visit http://mapnp.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/winona Any problems or suggestions can be directed to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] If you want help on how to contact elected officials, go to the Contact page at http://www.winonaonlinedemocracy.org _______________________________________________ This message was posted to Winona Online Democracy All messages must be signed by the senders actual name. No commercial solicitations are allowed on this list. To manage your subscription or view the message archives, please visit http://mapnp.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/winona Any problems or suggestions can be directed to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] If you want help on how to contact elected officials, go to the Contact page at http://www.winonaonlinedemocracy.org
