Mayor signs tough new noise bill into law
Many students living off-campus have had problems with their neighbors in Charles Village.
Junior Rahul Wagh recently had to leave his apartment in the Marylander, an apartment complex popular among Hopkins undergraduates.
"My neighbor was an old man who would start banging on my walls if I had the TV or stereo on during the afternoon. Sometimes he'd even knock on my door saying that the volume was unbearable even though it was at a normal listening volume," Wagh said.
When Wagh started entertaining friends past 10 pm, the neighbor began involving the police.
After the second police visit, although both times the police admitted Wagh had in no way broken the law, he was forced to relocate.
"Morgan Leasing Company - the company that owns the building - gave me a two-strike warning for the police complaints," Wagh said. "The Marylander has a three-strike policy, so I had no choice but to move out since the third strike was inevitable."
However, the University did not support the eviction provisions that the ordinance contained, citing that these provisions were unreasonably harsh to students.
"We also felt that a city which already has a problem with vacant housing ought not to be creating more by evicting people unnecessarily," said Amy Lunday, the senior media relations representative at Hopkins.
The University is also discussing the idea of creating a fraternity row as a way to curb the amount of noise complaints.
"If we were able to build a Greek row or Greek village, we could pull groups of students that will be having events out of the neighborhood. It's something that's been on the wish list of the neighborhood for a very long time," Turning said.
As of now, there have been no definite talks about these plans for a frat row.
"We just built Charles Commons, they've purchased the Charles and the Blackstone. The next things passed that are, hopefully, to finish out the freshman quad, relocate the baseball field - then a Greek village-type project will be at the back of that line. It's definitely something that's on the radar but it's pretty far off," Turning said.
Members of the Charles Village Community Association and the Greater Homewood Community Cooperation were contacted for comment. Neither of the groups representing the area knew much about the ordinance.
Junior Rahul Wagh recently had to leave his apartment in the Marylander, an apartment complex popular among Hopkins undergraduates.
"My neighbor was an old man who would start banging on my walls if I had the TV or stereo on during the afternoon. Sometimes he'd even knock on my door saying that the volume was unbearable even though it was at a normal listening volume," Wagh said.
When Wagh started entertaining friends past 10 pm, the neighbor began involving the police.
After the second police visit, although both times the police admitted Wagh had in no way broken the law, he was forced to relocate.
"Morgan Leasing Company - the company that owns the building - gave me a two-strike warning for the police complaints," Wagh said. "The Marylander has a three-strike policy, so I had no choice but to move out since the third strike was inevitable."
However, the University did not support the eviction provisions that the ordinance contained, citing that these provisions were unreasonably harsh to students.
"We also felt that a city which already has a problem with vacant housing ought not to be creating more by evicting people unnecessarily," said Amy Lunday, the senior media relations representative at Hopkins.
The University is also discussing the idea of creating a fraternity row as a way to curb the amount of noise complaints.
"If we were able to build a Greek row or Greek village, we could pull groups of students that will be having events out of the neighborhood. It's something that's been on the wish list of the neighborhood for a very long time," Turning said.
As of now, there have been no definite talks about these plans for a frat row.
"We just built Charles Commons, they've purchased the Charles and the Blackstone. The next things passed that are, hopefully, to finish out the freshman quad, relocate the baseball field - then a Greek village-type project will be at the back of that line. It's definitely something that's on the radar but it's pretty far off," Turning said.
Members of the Charles Village Community Association and the Greater Homewood Community Cooperation were contacted for comment. Neither of the groups representing the area knew much about the ordinance.
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scott adler
posted 11/15/07 @ 7:43 PM EST
I hope this includes loud motor bykes and motorcycles with either no or an ineffective muffler. Same comment about souped up cars.
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