City Ordinances Affect Students Living Off Campus

BY: BETSY SINN
September 11, 2007

Miami University students returning to Oxford this school year have had to adhere to a few new ordinances, as well as the new punishments, regarding outdoor furniture, litter and noise violations.

The outdoor furniture restriction, City Ordinance 2951, was passed this past April after lengthy talks between the Oxford City Council, the Student/Community Relations Committee and concerned students. The ordinance states that students who are first-time violators of the outdoor furniture restriction or the litter ordinance will receive a $250 fine and will be charged with a fourth-degree misdemeanor. Subsequent offenses of the litter and outdoor furniture restrictions will result in the guilty party receiving a third degree misdemeanor. Furthermore, the Oxford Police Department (OPD) will hand out citations to residents who create unnecessary amounts of noise.

“I picked up all of the trash that was in our yard after the party on our way uptown and put it on our porch, thinking that it was off of our property but we still got a violation,” said Julie Frank, a senior at Miami.

Oxford City Council Member Doug Ross, a major proponent for the outdoor furniture ordinance, said that students have been “half-assed” in their attempts to abide to the new ordinances. However, Ross said that he thinks the OPD has been doing “fairly well” in regards to enforcing the new rules so far this school year.

“I had an awful morning the day of my birthday when I woke up to police banging on my front door and giving my house a citation for litter. When we went to court the judge laughed and said that these new ordinances are ridiculous” said Jenny Kline a senior at Miami, “and I agree.”

According to the OPD’s records, police have issued 11 litter violations and three outdoor furniture violations since Aug. 20. An officer for the OPD said that the discrepancy in the records of the violations is that some officers are giving litter violations to residents who have beer pong tables in the front yard instead of the outdoor furniture violation, even though the punishment is the same for both. Because some officers are handing out the wrong violations to residents it makes it hard to say exactly how many beer pong table and furniture violations there have been.

Katie Rause, a student delegate on the Student/Community Relations Committee, works with other committee members and City Council to help improve student-resident relations.

“We had many discussions which included perspectives from Oxford residents, the Oxford City Council, university staff, and students about the ordinance. I felt the committee was very diplomatic and heard all sides that came to voice their concerns,” said Rause.

Even though some students disagree with the new rules Rause said “…the committee was very receptive to student wants and needs.”

“We actually compromised and agreed on a position we could all support and sent our recommendations to City Council. These efforts played an important role in getting the ordinance changed from a total ban on drinking games to an outdoor furniture ordinance,” said Rause.

However, Frank disagrees.

“It’s unfair that because I left a few cans and cups on my front porch, now we have a misdemeanor on our record. The police should just issue us fines. It’s so ridiculous,” said Frank.

Ross still stands by his position.

“Parties are not the problem, out of control parties, and parties that end up with a drunken ass, vomiting loudly in the early morning in the yard of a family so that the children wake up are a problem. Parties that end up with people having sexual intercourse in front of a home with children are a problem,” said Ross.