- Target:
- Boulder City Council
- Region:
- United States of America
An Open Letter to the Boulder City Council in Response to the March 6th Riots
Dear City Council Members & City Staff,
We, as a community, write to implore you to take immediate actions in response to the riot in the University Hill on March 6th, 2021. We are all are angered and saddened by the destructive events and behaviors of the CU students, but, sadly, we are not shocked or even mildly surprised. The behaviors we all witnessed in mass, happen regularly across hundreds of houses, 3 to 4 days a week, year-round in our community. While these smaller year-round “parties” may not include flipping cars or attacking police officers, they do include destruction of property (our property and their own or their landlord’s), excessive and under-age drinking, breaking glass throughout the streets and sidewalks, blasting music far past the noise ordinances, screaming, fights, shooting fireworks at neighbors (and sometimes the police that pass through the area), intimidating neighbors, and other illegal activities.
For decades these behaviors have gone unchecked by the City of Boulder, the Boulder Police Department, and the University of Colorado. The chronic lack of enforcement of simple laws, ordinances, and codes have taught this subset of students and landlords year after year that this behavior is normal and acceptable. The constant permission that has been given to them to act this way without repercussions led directly to the riot on March 6th.
As a community we are exhausted and cannot do more on our own. We patrol our neighborhood and clean up after parties to keep our streets clean. We routinely call the police, but they don’t come. We ask the police to issue tickets, but they usually don’t even issue warnings. We ask code enforcement to ticket and revoke rental permits for over-occupied and illegally rented or divided homes, but we are told that the issue is complicated and that there is nothing that the city can do. We write to Council begging for help and we hear nothing. We bear the brunt of these problems. This community has suffered incredible stress from these chronic problems that continue to go unaddressed by Council, the BPD, and the University of Colorado. We suffer sleepless nights due to music, screaming, and fireworks. Our properties, our property values, and our quality of life are constantly degraded. We are not afforded the same care and attention that other neighborhoods in Boulder are, where code is enforced and the police come when called. We spend countless hours trying to do anything we can to solve these problems and we feel alone and unsupported in our efforts.
The issues highlighted above are not new, but the problems are getting worse and more widespread. More and more houses across the Hill, but also across other neighborhoods within close proximity to CU are turning into absent landlord-owned, student party houses. We see more and more disheartened and defeated long-term homeowners leave the Lower Chautauqua and Hill neighborhoods after years of trying to help fix the issues in this neighborhood. We do everything we can because we love our neighborhood and we love our neighbors. We love caring for our historic homes, most of which were built by the founders of Boulder and CU. We love the diversity of our neighborhood that the college brings in, which is represented by students, staff, professors and more. We are trying to save our neighborhood, but we cannot do it without your help.
We implore you to look at the systemic and cultural failures that led to the riot on March 6th and take quick action to make real changes now.
We ask that you please review this list of proposed actions at your next Council meeting on March 16th and draft a formal response that addresses these requests and updates the community as to actions taken by the City of Boulder to in response to the March 6th riot by April 1st. We also voice our support of the efforts of UHNA and the Hill Revitalization Working Group and their letter to Council asking for a Nod of Five so that these important and pressing issues can be addressed.
Requests for Action by City Council & the City of Boulder
Code/City Changes
There are codes in the City of Boulder and specifically the University Hill area that support a party and riot culture. We ask that you immediately make adjustments to these codes.
1. Include game tables and tables of any kind in the Outdoor Furniture Restriction for the University Hill area. There is currently an outdoor furniture ban on University Hill that was put in place after students lit furniture on fire during the riots in the 90s, but it does not include tables. Students use front yard drinking games and game tables to advertise that their house is a place to party. Tables create disruptive congregation sites where parties tend to spread from one front yard to another. This was a contributing factor in the March 6th riot.
2. Update noise ordinances (code 5-9-6 Unreasonable Noise Ordinance) to reduce disruptive behavior on the Hill. The Hill’s late noise ordinance is extremely conducive to partying and current noise ordinances are not enforced. We ask that you create a 24/7 quiet zone in the area between College and Baseline by updating code 5-9-6 to apply to all hours of the day. We also ask that you change the noise ordinance to 8 pm (currently 11pm) between College and Arapahoe and then enforce the ordinances. This would support the students that want to live near campus, but need to study and want to feel safe in the neighborhood. Noise ordinance changes would protects organizations like Chautauqua, The Academy, and the long-term residents that live on the Hill. The noise ordinance of the commercial district of University Hill on 13th could remain at 11pm to give students an area to celebrate and party responsibly during events, games, homecoming etc.
3. Enforce over occupancy violations and revoke rental licenses for homes that have been illegally divided to create additional units without approval. We ask that City Council meet with code enforcement to make sure real internal inspections of homes occur when neighbors report overoccupancy. For years landlords have been over-renting their homes with no consequences. There are hundreds of houses across the Hill that are either over-occupied or have been split into many units illegally. We ask that the city takes a more aggressive stance in enforcing these issues to counter the trend towards lawlessness on the Hill.
4. Halt or suspend any non-CU student housing developments until these problems are brought under control. This includes the conversion of the large property at 891 12th street also known as Marpa House into student housing. It is clear that the City, the BPD, and CU do not have a functional system for enforcing the code and laws related to detrimental student behavior and student housing issues in Boulder. Until a lasting solution is found, these large-scale developments will only further the issues suffered by neighbors on the Hill and other neighborhoods near the University.
5. Restrict exterior chalking of homes in the municipal code. Exterior chalking of homes advertises to students that the chalked house is a party house. Names like, “The Henny House”, “The Nut Hut”, or “The Pussy Palace” make very clear drinking, partying, and sexual references and become congregation points for students looking to party. If you cannot enforce general chalking due to free speech, then add a restriction on chalking of vertical surfaces (chalking on sidewalks might still happen but this is far less permanent and has a very different impact). Many college towns have this ordinance in place.
Advocacy Requests
We need council’s support to create lasting change on the Hill. We request your advocacy to implement change through CU and the BPD.
1. Advocate for changes from the University of Colorado Boulder. We ask that CU actively works to increase their own supply of desirable student housing in, which doesn’t have as much of a destructive impact on Boulder homes and neighborhoods. It would be helpful if CU employs more off-campus ambassadors that proactively walk University Hill Thursday through Sunday to report issues related to excessive partying – noise, post-partying trash, destruction, unsafe behavior for other students etc. Otherwise, this burden falls on the neighborhood. We also ask that CU expands their classes to Monday through Friday. Many students report that because classes are largely held Monday through Wednesday that this encourages a party culture Thursday through Sunday.
2. Advocate for changes in the BPD and CUPD. We need the BPD and CUPD to transition to a proactive community policing model, where police consistently circulate through the most heavily student occupied areas of Boulder. By making their presence more known, they would increase safety for all residents (both long-term and student residents) and reduce the burden of community members having to police their neighborhoods. Community policing can help reduce the number or large gatherings that occur and create a culture shift on the Hill. We also ask that the police come when called and issue tickets when they are requested, instead of issuing countless and untracked warnings. We cannot make progress with behavioral change from students or landlords until tickets are issued.
These requests are a starting point to begin to solve some of the issues in this town and the University Hill neighborhood. There are many more solutions to find and issues to remediate. Please hear our request and respond with action rather than understanding.
Sincerely,
Residents of the University Hill Neighborhood and the Greater Boulder Area
You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it
The A Call to Action for the CU Boulder Riots petition to Boulder City Council was written by Rachael M and is in the category Neighborhood Living at GoPetition.