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There is an ongoing turf war in Towson.
The battlefield is described by one non-student by pointing down Ridge Avenue from the front lawn of his row home, stating that on one side of the road are those who wish to "preserve the community," and students populate the other side.
While Ridge Avenue has been the site of numerous verbal altercations between Towson students and home-owning neighbors, issues between the renters and the community members extends beyond the narrow one-way street.
President of the Greater Towson Council of Community Associations Ed Kilcullen said that last week three drunken young men stumbled past his home on Burke Avenue. As one of the young men urinated in the street, another relieved himself on a neighbor's front yard and the third leapt on top of Kilcullen's car.
Kilcullen could not confirm these three men were Towson students living in the residential community, but he said the behavior is in line with that of many off-campus students.
As the growth institution of the University System of Maryland, Towson has increased overall enrollment each year, leading to a housing crunch on campus. With more students and the same number of beds, a greater number of students have been forced to find housing off campus, filling local apartment complexes.
"There are more students every year. And when Kenilworth and the Colony and those places all fill up, where are we supposed to live?" junior business and sports management major Alex Pitt said.
Pitt lives with fraternity brother Ben Fishbein, a sophomore art education major, and another roommate on Ridge Avenue in a home purchased by Fishbein in June 2007.
If three or more unrelated people live on a single property, it's deemed a boarding house and is illegal according to Baltimore County zoning codes.
But because since Fishbein owns the home, with financial assistance from his family, he is allowed to have his two roommates.
The three Sigma Alpha Epsilon members have met with Towson's judicial affairs office, Pitt and Fishbein said. Their residence has become a heated point of contention for several neighbors.
According to Pitt and Fishbein, the harassment they receive from upset community members is greater than any disturbance their presence has caused to the neighborhood.
"I pay my rent. I have every right to be here, as much as anybody else on this street," Pitt said. "Some people need to just mind their own business and leave us alone."
A Towson resident living on Ridge Avenue since 1994, Tim Anderson said he has spoken with Fishbein on several occasions and has seen little to no change in what he calls unacceptable behavior. Anderson said Fishbein is using the home as a fraternity house for Sigma Alpha Epsilon, and has people coming in and out at all times of the day or night. Fishbein denied these accusations. Anderson alleges that Fishbein has thrown parties with up to 100 people in and around the house and that as many as 34 cars have been parked on Ridge Avenue by people attending a function at the home.
"We can make it very uncomfortable for students," Anderson said. "We don't want to… but those Thursday night parties have to stop."
Since the beginning of the Fall 2007 semester, Towson judicial affairs has received 59 complaints and addressed 58 of them as outlined in the University's nuisance housing policy, according to director of judicial affairs Pat Frawley. Of those complaints, 29 were first-time warnings and Baltimore County Police charged 32 with various violations.
Frawley said there tends to be a swell of complaints at the beginning of each fall semester. There were 12 calls in September and 11 in October. The trend trails off as the weather becomes colder and into the beginning of the spring semester, but the number of complaints pick up again toward the end of the term, Frawley said.
"As the weather gets warmer, students move outside and into the communities and the have parties," Frawley said.
The first time a house is visited, residents receive a warning from the division of student affairs. When a house is visited a second time, residents receive a $250 fine and a third time results in a $500 fine.
While Anderson said he is glad the University has taken the steps toward trying to monitor students living in residential neighborhoods, he feels the students have yet to respond. In the case of Fishbein's residence, Anderson said he was amazed that despite making attempts to discuss the situation in addition to the fines the students have incurred, behavior has not changed. He said students are trying to paint themselves the victims without understanding the neighbors' perspectives.
"If you play by the rules, you don't get smacked," Anderson said. "There are consequences for your actions when you live in a residential community. Mommy and daddy aren't there to cover your asses."
The contentious relationship is based on a lack of respect according to both sides of the argument.
"Everybody around here is way too wrapped up in everybody else's shit and I wish some of these people would just let us be," Fishbein said.
At the other end of Ridge Avenue, where the street intersects with Aigburth Road, live Cory and Effie Doss and their two-year-old daughter. The couple has lived in their home for seven years, but due to the increased number of rental properties and students living in the area, they are actively searching for some place to move.
"Generally there are cops going up and down the street on party nights, usually Fridays and Saturdays. And these parties bring lots of cars, lots of noise and causes a big ruckus for everybody," Cory Doss said. "The finings that have been used are attempts, but nothing has really gotten any better."
Noise issues, along with general vandalism, public urination and other disturbances, have led many community members to move out of Towson, according to Kilcullen. He said it has also deterred homebuyers from purchasing near the University. Kilcullen said a couple searching for a home recently contacted him about a house for sale on Ridge Avenue, but chose to look elsewhere because of the students living on the street.
"When prospective buyers aren't buying in neighborhoods because students are there, it's obviously having a negative influence on the neighborhood," he said. "If you look at [the University of Maryland] College Park, most of the neighborhoods have been overtaken by students. They are referred to as 'student ghettos.' If there are not some controls placed on students living in our communities, we'll see our communities become 'student ghettos.'"
Vice president of student affairs Deb Moriarty, who sits on the University relations committee of the Greater Towson Council of Community Associations and works with students living off campus, has dealt with many neighbors who have had problems with students living near their home.
"You just can't have loud parties until 3 a.m. when a family with young children live next door," she said. "But we also work with neighbors to try to get them to understand that college students aren't going to be quiet all the time. There is going to be Tigerfest, and while there shouldn't be parties every night, students will occasionally have one. We just need to increase the amount of communication between students and the neighbors."
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