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The Minnesota Daily

Serving the UMN community since 1900

The Minnesota Daily

Serving the UMN community since 1900

The Minnesota Daily

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A win-win for students and other neighborhood residents

I must introduce myself as the student liaison for the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood.

With the start of the semester, I find it a fitting time to try to develop thoughts and opinions on how we, together, can make our homes and community an agreeable place for all. My name is Matt Hill and I am a student who calls the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood my home. As the new Marcy-Holmes student liaison, I hope I can help bridge the gap and mediate the differences between the student residents and permanent residents in the neighborhood. I know there is more that draws us together than what pushes us apart.

I think we are all sick of hearing robbery reports. Right? I also think we know some friends who got minor consumption tickets. Right? Well, you should take note. Times are changing in the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood along with the greater University community, which all residents need to recognize.

For students, we need to realize the direction society and our neighborhood are going in. The days of blowout parties and multikeggers are gone. It’s not that it can’t happen under the right circumstances, but it just doesn’t happen like it used to. As the University grows, its advancement into the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood will continue to increase. Along with the growth will come contact with the permanent residents. While this should never be a real problem, relations are not at a level they could be between student-residents and the established residents of Marcy-Holmes.

Many of the conflicts stem from parties and gatherings where either the actual event or events that follow the parties tend to bring the students into “contact” with their neighbors on unfavorable terms. All this leads to students forming misconceptions of the permanent residents who are viewed as out to get college students. Thus it creates a view of permanent residents as people who are only calling the police on parties or simply ignoring students as equal neighbors.

Let me tell you that in fact the opposite is true. I can say for certain that working with the neighborhood association has shown me that the permanent residents deserve the same respect that we as students should receive. Our long-established neighbors are looking for simple responsibility in our choices and actions. We as students need to show that we, too, are adults and not just “college kids.”

I ask students to think if they have ever conversed with the people who live next to them or on their street. And the same goes for the permanent residents who tend to see us not as individuals but as faceless students. It would be great if we could connect permanent residents to the student-residents.

I know that many of the social disturbances in the neighborhood could be averted or avoided entirely by simply communicating with one another. Not only would this alleviate police calls for noisy gatherings but it also would allow the police to be more active in pursuing the upsurge of violent and malicious crimes that are making our neighborhood unsafe for all of the residents of Marcy-Holmes.

I am not telling students to stop having parties, but I challenge you to take note of your fellow neighbors, have respect for everyone and to take some responsibility for where you live. For permanent residents, I ask you to remember that for many of us this is our first time living on our own in a unique, diverse, college neighborhood. It would be much easier if we knew we are disturbing you instead of learning from the police.

While I can only say these things, I think both sides need to communicate more with one another to achieve beneficial results for everyone. It’s important for us to be good neighbors, to watch out for one another and to start to work hand in hand to make the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood a safe, clean and enjoyable place to live for all of us.

Please contact me with any questions, suggestions or ideas at [email protected]. I look forward to meeting many of you soon.

Matt Hill is the student liaison for the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood. Please send comments to [email protected].

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