The police showed up at Western junior Keegan Kenfield's house when the neighbors called after one wheel of his roommate’s car crossed a few feet onto their lawn as he backed around a vehicle blocking him in the driveway.
One of the officers who surveyed the damage said the phone call made it sound like they were intentionally spinning their tires in the yard when really there was only a small patch of bent grass, Kenfield said.
Every year, more students such as Kenfield compete for houses near campus, forcing many to seek accommodation in family-friendly neighborhoods.
Western’s Campus Community Coalition will hold “Let’s Talk” discussion sessions May 15 which will focus on issues arising from students living off campus.
The sessions will be from 4-5:30 p.m. and 7-8:30 p.m. in Viking Union Room 565.
This gives all parties the opportunity to discuss issues in a safe, informal way, avoiding an actual conflict, coalition coordinator Lara Welker said.
“Some [long-term community members] come really frustrated about living in a neighborhood with all the students,” Welker said. “Often they leave really refreshed after hearing students’ perspectives and knowing that students do care about living in the community.”
Long-time Bellingham residents, such as Garey Vodopich used to know their neighbors, but with groups of students pouring into their neighborhoods each year, this has changed.
“I don’t care who lives in a house,” Vodopich said. “The question is, how do these people relate to a neighborhood. If they have no concern and no respect for the neighborhood or the neighbors, I don’t want them.”
Vodopich said he has helped students who live near him tow cars illegally parked on their lawns but has not been treated respectfully in return.
Cars still race up and down his street at dangerous speeds and his house has been egged, he said.
Students make noise late at night, litter and park illegally, causing some residents to try to get the city to enforce a local ordinance prohibiting more than three unrelated people from living in a house in single family zoned areas, such as the York and Samish neighborhoods.
Even though the number of people in a house might not be the problems, enforcing the unrelated persons law might be a solution to the behavioral issues, he said.
Attorney Aaron Lukoff said Bellingham’s unrelated persons ordinance is illegal because of a law introduced to the Revised Code of Washington (RCW) in summer 2007.
RCW 49.60.030 states that in real estate transactions people may not be discriminated against by race, creed or sexual orientation, among other things.
If enforced, the unrelated persons law could potentially stop two gay couples from living together, making the ordinance illegal, Lukoff said.
“If you can’t discriminate against everyone then you can’t discriminate against anyone. That’s how the law works,” he said.
Bellingham City Councilmember Jack Weiss said the ordinance might have served a purpose in the past when everybody was expected to live in a nuclear family, but the community has changed and laws must be adjusted accordingly.
Lukoff said if Bellingham officials decide to enforce the ordinance they are leaving themselves open for a lawsuit that could cost taxpayers money.
“I’m a taxpayer, I pay taxes here in the city of Bellingham, and I don’t want my tax money going to pay off liabilities that are superfluous and just bad policy,” Lukoff said.
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