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Colorado Daily - April 20, 2002 Taggers' work targeted on Hill By MICHAEL A. de YOANNA/Colorado Daily Staff Writer Trash bins in University Hill are not exactly sparkling clean, but they now shine a bit brighter following the labors of inmates from the county jail. Watched by county sheriff's deputies, about 15 inmates snaked up and down alleys armed with spray paint and a mandate to cover up graffiti markings left by taggers on Saturday. More than 60 trash bins were spruced up using brown spray paint donated by Western Disposal, the company that owns the bins. It is just a start in a campaign to cover over thousands of tags in the neighborhood, according to Gregg De Boever, a member of the University Hill Neighborhood Association. "This was a pilot for something we hope will be much bigger," De Boever said. The county inmates are part of the sheriff's "workenders" program. They are non-violent offenders who serve their jail time on the weekends. The cleanup laid the groundwork for a planned June 1 effort, he said. Sgt. Doug Caven of the Boulder County Sheriff's Department said that as many as 40 inmates could participate on June 1. "We'll see if we can expand the numbers a little bit," Caven said. At that time, guarded inmates could join forces with others city inmates, Hill Neighbors and CU students, De Boever said. De Boever wants to see participants given a variety of different paint colors that can cover tags on garages and other private property. The city plans to send letters to homeowners seeking their permission to paint first, De Boever said. For Caven, the primary concern is that inmates do not have the opportunity to escape. "We're focusing on what makes it work," Caven said, adding that the balance between deputies and inmates is crucial. Right now, that ratio is about one deputy to every 12-15 inmates, he added. De Boever, when asked if he considers tagging a form of art, said the signature scribbles deface property and don't contribute to any aesthetic sense of community. "We do not view it as art, but as hastily done vandalism that is defacing the value of University Hill," De Boever said. Hill Neighbors like De Boever have been active in seeking to improve what he and others term the "livability" of the community. The Hill Neighbors organization was prominent among groups that successfully lobbied the City Council to pass an ordinance that bans couches from porches on University Hill. That ordinance passed two weeks ago in a 6-3 vote.
COLORADO DAILY - Letter to the
Editor This letter is in response to your February 15th Daily editorial, "Memo to Council: Creativity, not bureaucracy, will help on Hill." You suggested that there should be regular cleanups on the Hill, with the participation of all stakeholders. For the record, the University Hill Neighborhood Association has been conducting cleanups on the 3rd Saturday of every month for the past 14 months. We have rid University Hill of over 16,000 gallons of trash. It's also important to note that we have partnered with the City's Municipal Court, many businesses, CU's Student Affairs, and hundreds of students while making this contribution to our community. However, the landlords have remained conspicuously absent in this equation, and seem to have little concern for improving the livability of our community for their student tenants. Yes, Boulder's code enforcement was higher in 2000 than in 2001, but let's not be misled by huge percent increases off an incredibly low base, or focusing solely on one ordinance. The total number of code enforcement summonses issued citywide in 2001 was up 11 percent vs. 2000. This includes everything from possession of alcohol by a minor, to failing to keep sidewalks clear of snow, to brawling. To put things in perspective we need to also look at the absolute numbers. In 2001 more quality of life related summonses were issued citywide than 2000. In 2001 there were 90 summonses issued for disrupting quiet enjoyment, and 77 written for unreasonable noise; up 260 percent and 175 percent respectively. There were 56 summonses issued for garbage accumulation, which is a 409 percent increase, and 22 summonses issued to landlords for over-occupancy, a 450 percent increase. Summonses issued for failing to keep sidewalks clear of snow was up 50 percent last year, but that's to say that only 2 tickets were issued in 2000 and 3 were issued in 2001. There are over 20,000 licensed rental properties in Boulder and these code enforcement numbers are extremely low when compared to other cities with large universities. By no coincidence however, during this same time period, the rate at which violent summonses were issued was down. For example, brawling was down 12 percent, obstructing an officer was down 23 percent, and resisting arrest was down 6 percent. There is an obvious connection between trash, noise, and alcohol, and violence in our community. When our neighborhoods look like nobody cares people will act like anything goes, and violence becomes acceptable. Proactive code enforcement is the right thing to do and is necessary to hold all stakeholders in our neighborhoods accountable. University Hill residents want only what all citizens of Boulder are entitled: a safe, clean, and peaceful neighborhood. Gregg DeBoever
COLORADO DAILY - News (OPINION) While both the Boulder City Council and the University Hill Neighbors Association are pondering the recommendations of a city audit to improve living conditions on the Hill, we'd like to suggest that any proposed solutions unify rather than place blame. First, a little background. Last week, the Hill Neighbors went on a PR blitz to create awareness about the degradation on the Hill. Using a Power Point slide show and a public meeting on Feb. 20, the neighbors made the point that the Hill is a Boulder Beirut: too crowded, full of double-parked cars, graffiti, overflowing dumpsters, broken glass, and of course, rioting. The slides are convincing in showing that the Hill suffers from a host of problems. But the audit's proposed solution: more proactive municipal code enforcement by the city on noise, trash pickup, and parking - complete with city investments toward that priority - strike us as more commonsensical than revolutionary. The idea of a Hill General Improvement District (GID) funded by taxes and with corresponding increased services makes more sense. As for more enforcement, since 2000, ticket writing by city police and code enforcement officers has increased by more than 250 percent. That hasn't exactly beautified the Hill, or caused anyone to straighten up and fly right with regard to trash and parking. More inspection hasn't been a solution. The more specific solution on code enforcement sought by the Hill Neighbors and endorsed by Boulder City Councilman Gordon Riggle - increasing the number of code enforcement officers on the Hill by at least three - doesn't seem like a good idea, either. Some of the audit's other recommendations bear close scrutiny, particularly the landlord disclosure agreements recommendation, which would ask landlords to disclose the names that appear on leases so that the city could verify the numbers of occupants of a given dwelling. The disclosures would also require the landlords to inform tenants that violating noise and trash codes would constitute a violation of their lease, and that is a good idea, with one proviso: the city needs to find ways to greatly increase trash and recycling pickups during key times on the Hill - namely, during spring move-out and fall move-in. Lease agreements with clauses that require tenants be responsible renters in the amount of trash they generate and how they dispose of it, and in their observance of noise and parking violations, might work since they threaten the one thing tenants fear most: eviction into the wilds of a tight housing market. The final factor here is occupancy regulations, a subject that has caused an apparent "odd bedfellows" alliance to form between student-renters and landlords. Both would like to see greater occupancy allowed on the Hill, students for the obvious reason that it might provide cheaper rent for them, and landlords so that they can rent out a greater total of their available rooms. Homeowners in general and Hill Neighbors in particular have issues with this notion for equally obvious reasons: it would deposit more student-renters on the Hill. But with strong landlord disclosure agreements, rental leases tied to code observances by both landlords and tenants, and greater Hill basic services achieved through either a general improvement district or by other means, these might be ameliorated. But even beyond specific measures of the type we've mentioned, what needs to take root, we think, is an attitude shift among all the parties involved before all simply turn to the city council for a mandated solution. Hill Neighbors must recognize their neighborhood will never be covenant-clean and covenant-quiet. Landlords and the city must recognize they need to provide tenants with more frequent basic services. Student renters must realize their rights to party and pollute have limits - ones tied directly to their leases. And while we're changing minds, how about approaches, too? The city should sponsor a Hill cleanup every spring and fall with the full participation of renters, landlords, Hill Neighbors, student organizations and the city. Better yet, make it a regular thing - a monthly weekend work party that would cultivate the collective responsibility of keeping the Hill clean, and establish healthy patterns. Maybe Hill merchants could pitch in with reduced food and drink prices - okay, just food prices. The point is, until the players here dissuade themselves that the Hill is someone else's responsibility - landlords', the city's, tenants' - the slide shows will simply remain side shows to the big show: the slippage into ruin of one of Boulder's grandest neighborhoods. COLORADO DAILY -
Landlord disclosure moves ahead - Proposed improvement district possible
cash source for Hill By MICHAEL A. de YOANNA/Colorado Daily Staff Writer Members of the City Council have begun considering the recommendations of a $38,000, 111-page audit stating the city should be more proactive in enforcing trash, noise, graffiti and weed ordinances on University Hill. At a council study session on Tuesday, the council said it is ready to begin public hearings to require landlord disclosure agreements. Other items considered at the meeting, such as rules that would hold landlords more accountable for the noise and trash violations of their tenants. Other changes that would increase fines for fighting, graffiti and other violations will undergo more study. Conversation about occupancy, a highly contentious issue about which many CU students and Hill homeowners differ, will come up again in a study session in late March at the earliest. Students and landlords on the Hill want to see occupancy in the neighborhood increased because there are properties with empty rooms in a city where rents have skyrocketed. The landlord disclosure agreements are likely to go to a public hearing next month. The agreements could require landlords to provide the city with the names of the tenants who sign leases to live in a specified property, giving the city more power to enforce occupancy ordinances. The disclosures would also require landlords to inform tenants of noise and trash laws, stating that repeated violations could be considered a violation of the lease. Last week at a meeting of the University Hill Neighborhood Association, members provided photographic evidence that showed the neighborhood is in apparent decline because of high occupancy at rental properties. Pictures showed trash flowing out of dumpsters, cars parked illegally on lawns and riots on the Hill. CU student leaders and Hill Neighbors found common ground at the meeting, stating that landlords should be held accountable for the Hill's problems. The Hill Neighbors are lobbying members of the City Council to address the problems by embracing a key recommendation in the audit that the city change its current complaint-driven approach to enforcement to one that is proactive. Ticket writing by Boulder police and its code enforcement officers has increased by more than 250 percent since 2000, after the city began to pass laws following riots that involved CU students, according to the audit. Just how the city might pay for more enforcement remains to be seen. According to City Councilman Mark Ruzzin, though the city's budget is tight due to declining sales tax revenues and cuts to city staff, there are ways the city can increase enforcement on the Hill. "I don't think anyone should jump to the conclusion that just because we are tight on money that it won't happen," Ruzzin said. "From the meeting, I'd say the council does support the recommendations that came out of the audit. Everyone was impressed with the work that was done and the suggestions." Though not the only way to pay for more enforcement, Ruzzin said one such way might be ironed our in the details of a suggestion made by City Manager Ron Secrist last month. Secrist said a ballot question might be posed that asks whether a residential general improvement district should be created. Homeowners and landlords on the Hill would be required to pay more property taxes, however. The City Council would need to be "pretty aggressive," according to Secrist, if it wants to put the matter to voters in the 2002 November election. Such a district could bring several hundred thousand dollars to the Hill, Secrist said. Based on reactions from Hill Neighbors like Terry Rodrigue and some council members such as Gordon Riggle, the city would also have to convince property owners that the tax would provide more than baseline services like policing. "We believe that enforcement is a problem that is a city responsibility," Rodrigue said. "It would be unprecedented for the city to go to a high-crime neighborhood and charge for more security." Riggle agrees. The councilman added that he is "confident" that the city could find room in its budget for more code enforcement officers. He said he'd like to see the number of such officers the city currently employs doubled to six. "We have a general fund in excess of $70 million," Riggle said. "A municipal budget is a tangible expression of values and priorities." He added that it would cost "less than one-half of 1 percent" to hire three more code enforcement officers. Other improvements on the Hill could be created by an improvement district. Property owners and the city would determine how such a tax might be funneled back into the Hill. "Gunbarrel has a general improvement district that raises money for road maintenance and parks," Ruzzin said. "The residents there figured out what the general improvement district could do. The residents on the Hill could work with the city and decide what they need." Rodrigue said Hill Neighbors don't know whether they support the idea yet. "It hasn't been discussed widely," Rodrigue said. "We've had only small conversation about it between individual members." COLORADO DAILY - UCSU
lobbies on occupancy The University of Colorado Student Union has filed a resolution with City Council urging a change in current rental occupancy rules in Boulder. The resolution, filed last week, comes during a time when members of the University Hill Neighbors Association and student representatives have agreed on almost all areas impacting quality of life on University Hill, except for occupancy. The resolution calls the existing occupancy ordinance, which limits three or four unrelated persons to occupation of one residence, a hazard for student renters. According to the resolution, such students are "prevented from finding affordable, safe and legal housing during their schooling at the University." Additionally, the resolution says the current complaint-based system for enforcement fosters more tension in neighborhoods where renters and non-renters have traditionally been at odds. "We did a lot of research before drafting the resolution," Ken Sherbenou, UCUS chief of staff, said. "We met with administrators, landlords and permanent residents so that we could evaluate the positives and negatives of the occupancy rule and discuss what a change would mean for Boulder." "This is a very important issue to the students," he added. "It affects so many of us." Sherbenou said that he, too, has struggled with current occupancy laws. "I'm a senior and I've hunted for houses for three straight years," he said. "This is the first year that I haven't lived in an over-occupied situation." Sherbenou also cited housing costs as a major concern for students. "I don't think rents would go up if there was a change in occupancy (as some proponents of the occupancy ordinance have said.)," he said. "When (we) look at the cost of housing, we look on a per bedroom basis. I don't think rents will go up, students just can't pay any more." While UCSU representatives say they hope to work with the community to identify alternatives to current occupancy laws, Sherbenou expressed some disappointment with the Hill Neighbors' unwavering position on occupancy. Hill Neighbors have argued that changing long-standing occupancy laws would not necessarily result in safe and affordable housing. "We're hoping to find common ground like we did with the couch issue," Sherbenou said. "But we're very frustrated." An editorial in the Hill Neighbors' Feb. 2002 newsletter outlined their argument. "This is a fantasy," the editorial said. "Allowing increased density would have the opposite effect because it would give landlords the power to put students in even more undesirable and cramped conditions." While both sides of the debate have said they would lobby Boulder City Council on the issue, City Council member Mark Ruzzin said the issue needs a comprehensive discussion and evaluation before any changes would be made. "(UCSU) has been pretty straightforward with their concerns," Ruzzin said. "And, I think we all know that occupancy, as it is now, doesn't work. Changes will need to be made." Ruzzin said he couldn't speculate on what type of changes would be made or even considered by Council, but noted that he expected a preliminary discussion to begin later next month. "We need to get people together and start talking," Ruzzin said. "But, we can't have that discussion in a week." "If we're going to have a full-blown discussion, that will result in a significant commitment of resources, and I don't know when we'll be able to have a discussion like that. We need to prioritize occupancy and I don't know if there's support for that," he added. Ruzzin said he is not "unequivocally opposed" to an increased occupancy level, but noted that he's not supportive of a blanket increase in occupancy in all neighborhoods. "I'm interested in looking at things like whether or not domestic partners should qualify for occupancy and also developing new neighborhoods where we won't need the limits on occupancy," Ruzzin said. COLORADO DAILY - Couch issue flares The so-called 'couch ban,' which has at times sparked heated debate between homeowners and CU students in University Hill, is back on the City Council's agenda. The council is expected to resolve the matter by May, according to City Manager Ron Secrist. "There will be a vote on it before the end of the spring semester," Secrist said. As discussed previously by the council, an upholstered furniture ban would apply in neighborhoods with high student-to-homeowner ratios, such as University Hill. Members of the council have previously said the ban should also include areas with similar demographics, such as the Goss-Grove neighborhood. Many CU students opposed the ban, arguing that placing indoor furniture on the porch is a long-time Boulder tradition, while supporters of the ban point out that couches and other upholstered furniture have fueled numerous fires. According to the Boulder Fire Department, there were 127 furniture fires in the city between Jan. 1, 1996 and Dec. 2, the night of the recent riot on the Hill that followed CU's Big 12 Championship victory. Of those fires, 98 occurred on the Hill. There were 11 in the Goss-Grove neighborhood and the remaining 18 occurred in other neighborhoods. On Tuesday, the City Council studied a number of possible ordinances that supporters, like the University Hill Neighborhood Association, say would improve Boulder's livability. At that meeting, the council voted 6-3 in a straw vote to place the couch ban back on the agenda. "It's time to vote on this issue," City Councilman Mark Ruzzin said. "I'm comfortable with the work that has been done by the group studying the ordinance." Ruzzin said the council should pass the ban. "I'm currently in favor of a ban," Ruzzin said. "We may see something a bit different than what was proposed in the fall." Deputy Mayor Tom Eldridge also supports the ban. "Indoor furniture is a fuel source, as you know, for many of the fires," Eldridge said. For Eldridge, the ban would ideally include some "common-sense exemptions" to allow for yard sales and trash hauling, for example. He said he was unconcerned about how long such a sunset provision might last. The council has said it would like to sunset the ban in either two or four years to review the ordinance, should it pass. "That's not a critical point to me," Eldridge said. "If the law is broken, we'd correct it right away. . . . There might be some fine-tuning that we have to take care of." Jon Buerge, president of CU Student Union, said students would support the ban if the City Council would limit it to a small test area in the Hill where fires are the worst. The student government had previously worked toward a compromise, but failed, he said. "We would have supported the ban if it was for a test (period) where we could see if it made the neighborhood more safe," Buerge said. "But instead (the City Council) wanted to expand it to include Goss-Grove." Buerge expressed some pessimism that such a test would work. "We didn't think it would work anyway," Buerge said.
COLORADO DAILY - Riots, sans massacre, in Boston While most of the nation's news outlets concentrated on what happened on the playing field at Sunday night's Super Bowl, which resulted in an upset victory for the New England Patriots, some communities and universities in the Boston area experienced a phenomena that has become all too familiar to CU and Boulder: Riots. The Boston Globe reported Monday that a crowd of several thousand people gathered at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, lighting several small fires. Police there reported no serious injuries or property damage. At Boston's Northeastern University, the Globe reported, a crowd at least 3,000-strong flipped over a parked sedan and lit a fire in it. Meanwhile, Colorado's House of Representatives a week ago approved a bill aimed to curb such occurrences. That measure, introduced by Rep. Don Lee, R-Jefferson County, would deny the state's resident tuition subsidy to students convicted of riot-related offenses. The bill would also prevent convicted students of receiving state-based financial aid. That bill must still pass through the Senate before going to the governor to be signed into law. "I think it's really hard to argue that (riots) are not a problem," said University of Colorado Student Union Tri-Executive Jon Buerge. But, he added, "I don't think Rep. Lee's bill provides any solutions." Buerge said that a better solution is to try to understand why riots happen, and create proactive solutions to those causes. One example of such a solution that UCSU has considered, he said, is a sanctioned and controlled bonfire on University Hill on nights when the chance of a riot breaking out is high. Following the riots on University Hill in December, city officials told the Colorado Daily they perceived a heightened chance for riots on nights following big football games, and at the beginning or end of a semester. Boulder police Commander Joe Pelle said he has been attending seminars on riots since 1997, and has appeared as a panelist on the subject at panels and symposia around the United States. "This is a cultural problem that's going on all over the country," he said. "Some people think Boulder's unique in that regard, and we're not." Pelle said that those riots tend to occur largely in middle- to upper-class areas, and involve largely white males. He noted that the University of Massachusetts has had problems with riots before, and that the demographics of that campus were largely consistent with the trends in riotous behavior. "I would guess, from what I've seen talking to people around the country," Pelle said of the causes of riots, "that it's a lot deeper than some of our specific issues in Boulder." He was careful to add that he didn't think people should stop trying to identify and solve the issues behind rioting. Until those cultural issues are solved, he said, there is a limit to the role police can play in such situations. So far, he said of Boulder police, "our whole focus has been on how to disperse crowds and how to keep things from escalating." Pelle said the trend of celebratory riots first appeared in the United States around the mid- '90s. "They were having trouble in Europe prior to that with hooliganism," he added. "Some of the things people have to look at are generational," Pelle said. Buerge disagreed with that characterization, noting that it was a much older crowd that rioted in Denver following recent Colorado Avalanche Stanley Cup victories in 1996 and 2001. "I agree that it does seem to be a problem of the last 10 years," Buerge said, "but I don't think that you can say it's a generational thing." He noted that the cultural climate has changed. For instance, Buerge said, sporting events have grown in popularity. "I think a lot of people like to say it's just the students or just the young people," he said. "But I don't think that's entirely accurate." Cleanups build respect on the Hill By Ryan Morgan Special to The Denver Post Wednesday, January 02, 2002 - BOULDER - Matt Ippolito, a University of Colorado student, wasn't crazy about his first taste of the city's restorative justice program - an 8 a.m., four-hour cleanup of the Hill neighborhood. "At first, I was bitter," Ippolito said of his punishment for serving alcohol to minors at a raucous party at his home on the Hill. "Having to wake up early on a Saturday is not especially great for a college student, especially one who's been out late the night before." But a few hours tidying the Hill with Greg DeBoever, a volunteer who helped organize the cleanup, changed the way Ippolito thought about restorative justice - and about his nonstudent neighbors on the Hill. "I got to understand what their goal was," Ippolito said. "I got to hear the side of a permanent resident, and I could see what their goal was. They're not against the students. They just want to find a way to make the Hill a better place to live." DeBoever said Ippolito's change of heart isn't uncommon among young offenders who participate in the cleanups, which take place the third Saturday of every month. "That's the beauty of restorative justice," he said. "It's about repairing the harm. And you can't help but get closer and understand people better when you're working side by side for four hours." Loree Greco, who heads the restorative-justice program for the Boulder Municipal Court, said the program targets offenders who have come to the court's attention because of "loud parties, brawling, littering, garbage accumulations, anything that disrupts the feeling of a sense of community." Greco said the program has worked amazingly well, especially considering that the all-volunteer force costs the city nothing. In fact, city personnel don't even supervise the process. Greco simply e-mails DeBoever a list of offenders who should show up, and he checks their names off the list. Garbage company Western Disposal donates trash bags, and EcoCycle chipped in with recycle bins. Hill businesses such as the Espresso Roma coffee shop and the Sink restaurant also chip in with free coffee before and free pizza after the cleanups. The Hill merchants "are basically getting their neighborhood cleaned up once a month, so it's a good deal for them," Greco said. It's also a good deal for offenders, said CU student Neal Williams, who spent one Saturday morning toiling because he and his roommates were given alcohol-related tickets after a party at his house. Williams said the program helped him understand the Hill's nonstudents. "They could have given us a fine or something, but that wouldn't have done me a lot of good," Williams said. "It would have just made me more angry. I never really realized, coming in as a sophomore, that there were a lot of adults and people who deserved a little more respect." As part of his sentence, Williams, a film major, made a video for freshman describing how to be good neighbors on the Hill.
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