City Councilman Darrell L. Clarke recently proposed a bill that would make the area around Temple University’s main campus an educational housing district.
Under the proposed bill students living in the area between 9th and 18th streets and Girard and Susquehanna avenues would be required to notify their landlords that they are students.
Landlords would then be obliged to notify Temple University of the students living in their complex in order to create an organized registry of students who live off campus.
In addition to the contact that is expected to be maintained between landlords and Temple University, the bill is also aimed at keeping students under rule as though they were still living in dorms.
While the specific regulations are still only conjecture, issues such as parking, underage drinking, noise violations and the amount of students living in a single unit are expected to be controlled. Also under the bill, parents of students under age 23 who violate any of these rules would be held legally responsible for the actions of their son or daughter.
While Clarke was not available for comment, his legislative aide William Cart said last Thursday that holding parents responsible for their children’s activities is one way to provide more students with accountability.
“We want to make sure problems won’t continue. If we hold parents reliable, problems won’t occur,” Cart said.
Because the bill is still in its earliest stages, it is unclear who would enforce the proposed measure. Temple University police have the right to arrest and ticket persons within a 500-yard vicinity of Main campus, and say they will do whatever it takes to fulfill their responsibilities entailed by the bill if it becomes law.
“If in our patrol boundary, it would be incumbent on us; if it gets passed,” said Mike McFall, Operations Manager of Temple University’s police.
Temple student John Eric Rodriguez is upset about Clarke’s proposal.
“I think it’s crazy,” said Rodriguez, a junior moving to Oxford Village next semester. “If you’re paying your own bills, you should be able to do what you want.”
Ashley Schmidt, a freshman moving off campus next year, said she wouldn’t mind it. “If it will keep people from getting out of hand then maybe it’s a good thing, but I don’t really see why it’s necessary,” she said.
But local residents around Temple’s Main campus are excited about the bill. Curtis Holmes, a resident of Sydenham Street, supports Clarke’s bill on making the area an educational housing district because he believes students need some form of rule.
“I think it’s a good thing because they still have a student mentality,” said Holmes, who is under the impression that a lot of college students only want to party.
Other local residents don’t think the bill would help keep students from getting into trouble by any means.
“Unless there is a dean of the dorm, you can’t control those kids,” said A.O. Davis, a local resident of Willington Street.
The bill would be an amendment to a law passed under Councilman Michael Nutter in 2002 that made the area around Saint Joseph’s University and Philadelphia University an educational housing district. Although minor changes will be made for the fifth district, they are yet to be determined.
When contacted for comment, President David Adamany was unavailable.
His chief of staff, Greg Rost, said in an official statement, “Obviously we have some serious concerns about Councilman Clarke’s bill, including concerns about the legality of several of the laws’ provisions.”
Since the bill’s introduction by Clarke in early February, it has been referred to the Committee on Licenses and Inspections in hopes of becoming a law. If the bill is passed, it could go into effect as early as next fall.
Lindsay Walters can be reached at lindsayw@temple.edu.
Lindsay Walters can be reached at lindsayw@temple.edu.
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