The off-campus party scene has hit another snag after a Somerville official has asked police to focus their attention on three houses on Whitman Street due to repeated noise violations.
According to The Somerville Journal, City Alderman Bob Trane asked "police to crack down on noise complaints he's received regarding loud parties at 6, 8 and 15 Whitman St." at the Board of Alderman's last meeting on Nov. 26.
Trane refused to comment on the matter last night.
A resident of 8 Whitman St. said no Tufts students reside either in his apartment or in 6 Whitman St., both located in the same house. The resident declined to comment or give his name and no one was available at the 6 Whitman address.
At 15 Whitman St., Tufts senior Karina Lorenzana said she and her housemates have received three citations for violating local noise ordinances.
Two of the three citations issued to 15 Whitman residents were from the same "Kegs for Kerry" party they threw before the November election. The Tufts Democrats paid for all of the party's costs, Lorenzana said.
Lorenzana said she and her housemates informed their neighbors they were planning a large party beforehand. "We asked them to call us first [before calling the police] and we'd turn it down but the police still came," she said.
A city ordinance passed in 2000 allows police and city officials to issue $50 and $100 fines for second and third noise violations, respectively. The law states that no noise above 60 decibels, the level of conversational speech, is allowed for more than 10 minutes in residential Somerville neighborhoods from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.
Under Somerville law, the residents of 15 Whitman - all Tufts students - could face eviction if they receive a fourth citation for violating city noise regulations.
"For the next nine months we're going to be afraid of walking in and walking out of house [in fear that] our neighbors will file another noise complaint," said senior Michelle Friedman, another 15 Whitman resident.
Neighbors of the offending houses seem split about the severity of the three houses' noise problems and the necessity of Trane's call for a "crackdown." One neighbor, who wished to remain anonymous, said she had personally filed at least one noise complaint and is "thinking of moving."
Her next-door neighbor Charlie Fox, a 30-year resident of the street, said Whitman Street has "never been as noisy. [Trane's call for a crack down] is fair; I don't mind house parties but when there are 60 or 70 people in the house and in the street from midnight to 4 a.m. it's not only noisy, it's also a fire hazard," he said.
But Shani Gentry, a resident of 18 Whitman, said filing noise complaints is not good for the neighborhood. "I would prefer if they were not so noisy after midnight but I would take it up with them myself if it became a problem," she said.
Lorenzana said specifically targeting 6, 8 and 15 Whitman St. was unfair. "Now we're on the Aldermen's hit list," she said. Friedman agreed, saying the Somerville Police Department might look out for noise violations at her house that they otherwise would let pass by.
Friedman attributed much of the off-campus noise problems to the lack of activities offered on campus, making it hard for party organizers to limit the number of guests. "A handful of our friends will come over and then they'll tell some of their friends and then people we don't even know show up because there is nowhere else to go."
Friedman said she and her housemates have "absolutely no intention" of hosting another large party while they are residents of 15 Whitman St. "We really do want to work on reconciling things with our neighbors. We hope that we can coexist peacefully here on Whitman Street," she said.
Some Whitman Street neighbors were sympathetic to students' desire to host the occasional party. A resident of 5 Whitman St. said the noise did not personally bother him and that he understood that Somerville "is a college town."
Noise complaints have contributed to sour town-gown relations on more than one occasion. Throughout the 2003-04 academic year, there was widespread student discontent about the Somerville Police Department's increased nighttime monitoring of the Medford-Somerville campus and the surrounding area.
Trane told The Tufts Daily in September that Sigma Phi Epsilon (SigEp), Delta Upsilon (DU) and Alpha Tao Omega (ATO)'s housing licenses would be revoked as a last resort if noise complaints filed by nearby Somerville residents did not slow.
The Tufts Community Union Senate is currently working on a Tufts Community Relations Council to deal with issues that arise between the University and its respective host communities.
- Anthony McGovern contributed to this article
