Boulder residents are demanding that city council take action and attempt to control the student parties that occur every weekend on the Hill.
During last Tuesday’s meeting, two non-student Hill homeowners addressed council members with concerns about an increase in parties and the related noise levels and inappropriate student conduct.
The Hill area, nearest the college, consists mostly of student residences — apartment complexes, rental houses, fraternities and sororities — however, the Hill is also home to many families and longtime Boulderites. According to Councilman George Karakehian, they are getting more frustrated than ever.
“There have been ongoing issues with parties, fireworks — late night stuff,” Karakehian said. “It’s been going on for a long, long time, but it seems to be especially bad this year.”
The first couple of months at the beginning of every school year are notoriously party-heavy, but tensions between students and permanent residents are escalating. In the agenda for Tuesday’s Council meeting, a report from Boulder Chief of Police Mark Beckner stated that “calls for service had been trending upward” from the residents regarding on-Hill activities.
“It would be very hard for me to live up there,” Karakehian said. “People are getting fed up with it, as they should. The fireworks are outrageous, going off at two, three in the morning. It’s disruptive.”
The commotion of the weekend is annoying to residents, however they say their major concern is the city’s overall safety. In the aftermath of the St. Patrick’s Day murder of New Hampshire student athlete and Vail native Todd Walker on the Hill seven months ago, the city council’s open forum for resident opinions exploded with worries about rowdy student behavior and underage drinking.
“It causes uneasiness to see groups of people roaming around late at night,” Karakehian said. “We’ve had to send in additional police patrols … when you have half the police force there, the other parts of the city aren’t getting enough coverage. Something has to change.”
Zach Nelson, a senior 21-year-old English major who lives on the Hill said he agrees with residents concerns.
“People have a right to get upset, and definitely have a right to voice it,” Nelson said. “I think students act entitled to having huge parties that are irresponsible.”
Karakehian says that the Boulder City Council has yet to make any decisions on how to handle the situation, but they have options that are being pressed by the residents.
“What the neighbors [on the Hill] are wanting is much tougher sentencing for students,” Karakehian said, referring to tickets for noise complaints, MIPs, and other party-related punishments. “People have also talked about enforcing a curfew.”
Piper McMillin, a 19-year-old sophomore anthropology major, said that while she isn’t surprised that the residents are complaining, they should realize that they are in the heart of a college town.
“They live in a party zone,” McMillin said. “I would think that they were aware of that when they moved in.”
Sophomore George Brunet is a 19-year-old marketing major who had a registered party over the weekend, and said that not all students act unaware of their surroundings.
“It went off without any problems, no MIPs, no noise complaints, no cops,” Brunet said. “We turned down the music at midnight and kept everyone inside, and we checked with our neighbors before.”
Many students don’t realize that the future of a lot of Boulder’s nightlife is currently in the hands of the council, but they are not completely powerless.
“At this point, I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Karakehian said. “I just know that the students need to take some responsibility here. Maybe that’s the key. Perhaps the students are the ones who need to figure something out.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Annie Melton at Anne.melton@colorado.edu.
