Another fall, another round of meeting the neighbours

University students should be more respectful of their neighbours: letter writer (Photo by Bryn Karcha)

It’s another fall, and that means a new group of students living off campus in our neighbourhood, the streets bounding Dalhousie University, where many single family homes still exist, containing … families. There has been already the usual partying, loud music, public urination (What’s with that anyway? Why do students come out of their houses to pee? Presumably the houses contain bathrooms and toilets…). Last night a particularly loud party on South Street was shut down by police; one estimate was 100 people plus a live DJ in an old house that was originally built for…families. By the sounds of the crashing and breaking, it’s possible the deck was coming off the back of the house. When I attempted to speak to one of the partiers on the sidewalk around the corner from my home, he said, and I quote “Move on, sweatpants, was I even speaking to you? I’m worth more than you and your f-ing house put together and you’re the idiot for living off University Avenue.” He wasn’t quite as obnoxious to the cop standing right behind me, in a scene worthy of a Woody Allen movie. So, welcome to the neighbourhood! I’m hoping that the university will remind its customers (i.e. students) that we are all entitled to live here, and perhaps a course in manners, basic civility and neighbourliness might be in order?

Peggy Walt, Resident of Edward Street