SCHENECTADY Views split on grouper law and students Councilwoman wants rule enforced BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter
The city’s top lawyer says there are so many holes in the so-called “grouper law” that a football team can run through it. Corporation Counsel L. John Van Norden said he sees almost no way, and little reason, to enforce the law against large unrelated groups living together. That displeases City Councilwoman Barbara Blanchard, who would like the Union Triangle to feel more like a neighborhood than a college dorm. She wants the law enforced against the groups of college students living together in the historic neighborhood’s large, mansion-style houses. The Union College football team provides a working example of why that’s not possible. Even the team can meet the city’s definition of a family, making it nearly impossible to prove they’re in violation of the law, Van Norden said. Ten members of the team — who live in a single-family house at 20 Union Ave. — pay the rent jointly, have leased the house for years and, when they make meals at the house, eat together. Although the tenants change as seniors graduate, juniors move in to take any available slot. The team renews the lease each year and leaves its furniture at the house year-round, even though no one is there all summer. Van Norden said that shows that they have permanence, shared expenses and the social functions of a family — requirements specifi ed in the city law. “It sounds like they are meeting at least a portion of the definition of a family,” Van Norden said. Despite recent criticism from one resident who wants the grouper law enforced, Van Norden said he also sees little reason to stop the students from living together. Only a couple of the football players, for example, have cars, and only a moderate amount of trash is produced since they all eat on campus. That means there’s little to justify a prosecution that hinges on the negative impact of a largerthan-normal residential group. “At some level we exercise discretion,” Van Norden said. “How serious an affront is it? How serious would the density affect the neighborhood?… Large families present the same density impact.” He said he isn’t inclined to enforce the law unless there’s “some serious adverse impact to the community.” That decision did not sit well with neighborhood resident James Livingston, who for years has tried to get the city to ban large groups of students from living together. After hearing Van Norden’s decision, Livingston declined to be interviewed for this story. But Blanchard, who also lives in the neighborhood, said she adamantly opposes Van Norden’s decision on the law. “The city passed this law for a reason,” she said. “It digs into the viability of a neighborhood … loud parties, a lot of noise. They all have cars and there’s no space for 10 cars at any of these houses.” Even if all the students behave, she said, she simply prefers owner-occupants, rather than tenants, in her neighborhood’s single-family houses. “We need all the families we can get,” she said. “Owner-occupants are important to a neighborhood because they have a financial investment in the neighborhood. They are more likely to be concerned by the state of the neighborhood and their neighbors, and they’re more likely to get involved in neighborhood and city organizations.” Despite those arguments, Van Norden said, the law doesn’t seem rational because it doesn’t explain why five unrelated adults can’t live together when related adults can. Union College students said they also don’t understand why the city would want to ban large groups. They figure the mansions near the college are unlikely to be filled by the single families, as zoning would dictate. “Not unless you find the Brady Bunch or the Partridge Family,” said Charles Kaliades, 20, a junior from Ridgewood, N.J. He is a wide receiver on the football team. Quarterback Vito Pellerito added that the students save money by living off campus if they can split the cost with a sizable group. “I didn’t think the law made any sense,” the 22-year-old senior from Fort Lauderdale said. “It kind of hinders you finding a place to live.” Residents who live near the team say they haven’t had any problems with drunken parties. The team, which has had years to perfect its relations with its neighbors, follows two cardinal rules: don’t party every weekend and don’t let anyone wander outside to vandalize property. But there’s more to living offcampus than partying, Pellerito said. He considers it part of the maturing process.
This is not the most important problem facing Schenectady, how about fixing the sidewalks and streets, cleaning up crime, cutting spending and lowering taxes.
SCHENECTADY ‘Grouper law’ not affecting students Neighbors say actions disgraceful BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter
Alcohol consumption and “beer pong” were what was happening Thursday at a house occupied by Union College students. The college football team, which was viewed as a functional family by the city’s top attorney early this week, celebrated the beginning of spring by setting up a table for a drinking game called beer pong in the front yard of the house in the Union Triangle neighborhood. Lounging on the sidewalk, 10 young men drank beer, some becoming drunk enough to be verbally aggressive to passers-by. While their music could barely be heard two houses away, neighbors said the display of public drunkenness was disgraceful enough to prove that the city must stop large groups of college students from living together. “What I observed today is just a small sample of what we see here,” said James Livingston, who lives nearby on Park Avenue. “It is absolutely ludicrous to suggest, like the corporation counsel did, that this is normal family behavior. These large groups of individuals are partying and engaging in all kinds of inappropriate behaviors.” The city has a “grouper” law on the books that prohibits more than four non-familial adults from living together. But Corporation Counsel L. John Van Norden said this week that the law is so vague, even the college football team qualifies as a family. Ten members of the team live together at 20 Union Ave. with a rolling lease that has been extended for years. They happily gathered in the afternoon sunlight Thursday and said anyone who saw them was probably jealous that they had to work. “They probably all used to do this. They wish they were out here,” said Andrew Reigle, 22, a senior and captain of the football team. Team quarterback and senior Vito Pellerito, 22, added that he hasn’t heard any complaints from the neighbors. “They don’t seem to mind.” Some neighbors do object, but say they are too intimidated to speak publicly. And beyond that, college spokesman Phil Wajda said the students must follow the code of conduct, which specifically forbids beer pong and other games designed to encourage intoxication. “Even though they live off campus, they’re subject to our code of conduct,” he said, adding, “They should be thinking about their actions with regard to their neighbors.” COLLEGE WATCHING He stressed that the students will be held accountable, even though the party was “pretty tame.” The code of conduct says that students put their lives at risk when they lose the ability to reason and control their actions because of drunkenness. It prohibits “any occasion when the atmosphere or circumstances are such that the intended or likely outcome is either abuse of alcohol or to become intoxicated.” Students who organize drinking games, beer pong and other activities are irresponsibly distributing alcohol, according to the code, and can be punished. But most of the students at 20 Union Ave. have just a few months left before graduation. They’ve finished their lengthy senior theses and have just one semester of classes left before the big day. They’re already starting to celebrate, neighbors said. And that’s when big crowds gather at the mansion-sized houses near the college, where up to a dozen college students can share what is zoned as a single-family house. Those buildings are big enough for parties with upward of a hundred students, and neighbors say they’ve seen crowds of that size at night this time of year. “We’re having the functional equivalent of a fraternal and sorority row developing along Union Avenue, not a family,” Livingston said. “These problems are real. They’ve been happening. They’ve been very well documented.” Wajda said that’s going too far. Informal fraternities, which are sometimes criticized for dangerous hazing and for encouraging underage members to drink heavily, are not forming along the outskirts of the college, the college spokesman said. “We don’t see that. They’re students. Just students,” he said. “I do want to stress they are held accountable … and most of our students are well-behaved and respectful.” PETER R. BARBER/GAZETTE PHOTOGRAPHER Union College students gather outside 20 Union Ave. on Thursday as a beer drinking game takes place.
Clearly the city is trying to 'make nice' with Mr. Livingston after the major blunder the code inspector made. Cause this is ridiculous to say the least. Leave the kids alone!!!
The city appears to be trying to create a utopia which is impossible since they encourage and advertise for people to move to the city that are in need of public assistance. Most are not worthy to live anywhere in Schenectady county. No utopia for the city. Only higher taxes, higher crime rate and a growing population of unemployment and more government paid programs. I guess that is how the people in power stay there. Keep these people in the dark under the cloud of welfare so they can't make educated decisions to see what is REALLY going on.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
The union kids are not in need of public assistance----however, their silver spooned mouths (of some of them) dont deserve special exemptions either---teach them right......the city can bank on their incomes but must tow the line in terms of expectations of behavior allowed in the city.....the homeless schizophrenics get hammered on and so can the silver spoon folks......equal justice......
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Union College has made some progress in recent years cracking down on drunken behavior by off-campus students, primarily by forcing more students to live on campus. Unfortunately, the college still seems to be in denial about its responsibility to enforce various codes of student conduct regarding alcohol abuse by students who lay their heads in the immediate neighborhood. The results were plain to see for anyone walking down Union Avenue Thursday afternoon. As Friday’s Gazette story made abundantly clear, there was a beer-drinking game being held on the front lawn and sidewalk of a large off-campus house that members of the college football team have rented for years. According to Gazette Reporter Kathleen Moore, participants were drunk enough to be “verbally aggressive to passers-by.” The game was being “played” despite the fact it is expressly forbidden in the college’s code of conduct; it is apparent that the players — seniors and juniors — aren’t terribly concerned about being busted, at least not by college officials. City officials appear to be giving them a pass as well. Wednesday’s paper contained a story with Corporation Counsel L. John Van Norden questioning the enforceability of the city’s grouper law — passed with this very problem in mind — which prohibits more than four unrelated people from living under the same roof. But he won’t even try to enforce it until someone swears out a complaint. In the meantime, it was almost as if he was defending the living arrangement, saying that it was family-like even though every year several of the students graduate, move on, and are replaced by younger ones. Van Norden does concede that for several months his department has been looking at ways to tighten the grouper law. That’s good, but with warmer weather and the end of the school year just around the corner, it’s time to act. It’s also time for college officials to make their voices heard. (If it means throwing a football player off the team, or denying someone the right to attend graduation, so be it.) Otherwise, why bother having the conduct code? And neighbors need to call police at the first sign (or sound) of trouble, and police need to respond. (If there are under-age drinkers in attendance, bust the over-21s for supplying the alcohol.) They’re entitled to peace and quiet, even if college or city officials don’t seem to think so.
Neighbors shouldn’t begrudge college students their beer
This is in response to the April 4 article by Kathleen Moore discussing the “grouper law” and the “disgraceful” action of Union College students. I will not silently stand by as city residents use Union College students as a scapegoat for their problems. The neighbors of the college students living at 20 Union Ave. should have far greater concerns than the drinking of a few college students on a sunny April afternoon. Do these individuals really feel strongly enough about the actions of this small number of students to make it their crusade for the betterment of Schenectady? First of all, let us not forget the positive impact that Union College and its student body have on the city. We can examine, for example, U-Care Day, which is put together by the campus, including the fraternities and sororities and football team, which were so highly condemned in the latest piece. The day is organized as a campus outreach focused on bringing the youth of Schenectady together for a day of fun with the college students — free of charge. I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw the Union students highlighted in the college drinking article attending this function. Kathleen Moore says neighbors used the term “disgraceful” when talking about these specific students, who have probably done more good for this city than 99 percent of the Schenectady residents who are unaffiliated with the college. I know for a fact that the students quoted in the article have contributed a number of volunteer hours in Schenectady public schools. They have tutored young children and acted as mentors for them during after-school schools. How many of their neighbors can make that claim? These students, along with many others, have put countless hours into the improvement of the infrastructure surrounding Union College. They have ensured that money and maintenance is put into many of the houses on Union Avenue, Gillespie Street and Park Avenue, just to name a few. It’s my contention that these students aren’t the worst of neighbors. Let us look at, for example, Jason L. Brown, the man arrested March 27 for distributing cocaine from his apartment on 1054 Park Ave., as reported in the March 29 Gazette. It seems a little surprising to me that in the pursuit of corrupting forces in the neighborhood, the neighbors in this article have chosen to cite Union College students as the real trouble. It could be argued that these students are actually a bright spot in the city, despite their inclination to enjoy themselves with the occasional beer. I challenge Kathleen Moore, and the neighbors quoted in her piece, to recognize the positive influence of Union and its students, who may not be the only people drinking on their own property in Schenectady. MICHAEL WESS Schenectady The writer is a Union student, Class of 2008.
I am writing in support of Michael Wess, Class of 2008 Union Student [April 10 Gazette]. I was pleased to see a student present rebuttal points to the yearly hysteria we see when students take advantage of warm weather and “graduation fever” to enjoy the porches and lawns of the beautiful Union area houses. I don’t live in the Union neighborhood. I can say with certainty, however, that I would much rather look out my window to see kids enjoying some beers on a lawn, rather than the idealized “chem lawn” manicured suburbs with no activity that everyone seems to expect from their neighborhoods these days. To me, the essence of living in a city is the vitality that you see when people get outside and enjoy their porches and lawns. I would also like to re-emphasize the point that Mr. Wess’s neighbors enjoy the best real estate values in the city of Schenectady. This is directly related to their proximity to Union College. With no students, there is no college; with no Union College, their houses are in just another neighborhood in Schenectady. This argument should not give students license to do anything illegal, or to harass neighbors, but I believe the neighbors should cut the students a break. A better approach would be to grab a six-pack and join them on the lawn during that first spring day. Nothing is more therapeutic than enjoying the fi rst warm spring day at a porch party after a long winter. I would even venture to suggest playing a game of beer pong. RICH MALCOLM Schenectady
Now that the warm weather is here, so is the loud music from houses, cars, parties and whatever else comes along. It seems that the Schenectady police are either deaf or just don’t care. They drive around with the windows up and the air conditioner on full blast — how can they hear anything? When will the police start enforcing the laws and city ordinances that the city council has put in effect? Commissioner Bennett should go out in the field and watch his officers and see what they do. If our present officers can’t do their jobs, then it’s time to hire ones who will. HUGH HOSIER Schenectady
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