On Kingsbury, better communication

| Editor in Chief

Students living in Rosedale Heights and residents of Ames Place gather on Kingsbury Boulevard to eat and mingle during Sunday’s block party. The gathering was planned by Student Union to enhance communication between students and residents.Matt Mitgang | Student Life

Students living in Rosedale Heights and residents of Ames Place gather on Kingsbury Boulevard to eat and mingle during Sunday’s block party. The gathering was planned by Student Union to enhance communication between students and residents.

On Sunday evening, the scene at the intersection of Melville Avenue and Kingsbury Boulevard was nothing short of wholesome. At a block party sponsored by Student Union, some students flipped burgers as others supervised children with Play-Doh and still others made conversation with elderly neighbors.

The concept of a “block party” is a novel one on Kingsbury and neighboring streets, where the relationship between Washington University students and their residential neighbors has often been characterized by tensions over noise complaints.

“It’s really two neighborhoods in one,” said Cheryl Adelstein, the University’s director of community relations. Rosedale Heights, a neighborhood that consists largely of apartment buildings, closely borders Ames Place, a private subdivision made up of primarily single-family homes.

Over the past 12 years, the University has bought many properties in Rosedale Heights, including Greenway Apartments, which are operated by the Office of Residential Life, and several buildings on Kingsbury, which are operated through Quadrangle Housing, a University affiliate. Over the past 15 years, there has been a demographic shift, according to Adelstein, with more and more buildings that were once occupied by a combination of undergraduates, graduate students and University faculty now occupied exclusively by undergraduates. This shift has changed the nature of the neighborhood.

“Students keep different hours from people who work nine to five—they get up late, stay up late, socialize in large groups,” Adelstein said. “We think it’s important for students to understand that there are a lot of people here who keep different hours, and whatever we can do to restore the norms of the community [is] greatly appreciated.”

Last spring, it became apparent to Adelstein, her colleagues in the administration and leaders in the student body that something in neighborhood dynamics needed to change. In March, the enforcement of a “zero-tolerance” policy led the University City Police Department to begin issuing citations and making arrests for noise complaints.

“A lot of students said it made them feel really uncomfortable and excessively targeted,” said senior Kevin Cleland, a second-year off-campus residential advisor. “It was difficult for a lot of my residents to understand because a lot of them had never been in a situation where they were on the wrong end of the law…. They could definitely relate to why the [permanent] residents were upset, but to them, it seemed excessive.”

Over the summer, Adelstein and her colleagues took strides toward improving neighborhood relations, issuing letters to students living off campus about expected behavior and working through Residential Life and SU to create a sense of norms about the appropriate pathways to take when walking to parties off campus.

This fall, a group called the Neighborhood Voice will invite permanent residents to meet with students on a monthly basis to talk about neighborhood issues. Additionally, the Office of Government and Community Relations hired a new administrator, Jenni Harpring, to act as a “neighborhood liaison.” Harpring will live in the Rosedale Heights neighborhood and will be available as a resource to students as they communicate with their neighbors.

“Last year, there was no communication [between students and residents] other than through the police. This year, it’s gotten a lot better,” said junior Michael Kipnis, who lives on Kingsbury.

As Sunday’s gathering demonstrated, students have taken action toward improving relationships simply by talking with their neighbors. According to Cody Katz, SU vice president of public relations, hosting the barbecue was an attempt to make contact between students and other residents, who may otherwise not know much about one another’s lifestyles.

“When you put a face and a name and a whole story to these people who you’re presumably angry at, it changes things,” said Katz. “Part of this is just about getting to know each other.”

Tim Rice, who has lived in Ames Place for 50 years, came to the barbecue to meet his younger neighbors.

“There have been some problems with noise and litter and that sort of thing,” Rice said. “But it’s always nice to have young people around who have a lot of energy and bring a certain amount of excitement to the neighborhood.”

Arian Hassanalizadeh, a senior who lives on nearby Washington Avenue, was frustrated last spring when two of his friends were arrested after a neighbor mistook a Tuesday night band practice for a party and called the police. But on Sunday, Hassanalizadeh was impressed with the barbecue and with the neighbors’ willingness to socialize.

“The fact that this is Wash. U. reaching out to the U. City community is something that I’ve never really witnessed since I’ve been here,” Hassanalizadeh said. “People here have been very friendly; they’ve been very happy to talk about how the area has changed over time. To be able to converse and find common ground with people, that’s what I’ve gotten out of this.”

Children play at a Play-Doh table.Matt Mitgang | Student Life

Children play at a Play-Doh table.

BBQMatt Mitgang | Student Life

Officer Marc Alexander of the Washington University Police Department talks to students about police patrols on the block.

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