The Alpha Tao Omega coed fraternity is only a few steps away from securing its lodging license from the city of Somerville, despite recent complaints about the rowdiness of Tufts students from the surrounding community.
As its property is not managed by the school, the fraternity is required to obtain a housing permit every year through the licenses and permits committee of the Somerville Board of Aldermen.
Junior and ATO President Ben Moskowitz said that the fraternity currently has a temporary permit for this year. Pending a house reinspection and the closure of their roof except for the fire escape, its members will receive a standard license.
The date for the housing reinspection has yet to be set and may end up not being necessary.
"We're waiting to hear back from the city," Moskowitz said. "It might actually work differently, because we had [a] housing inspection a few weeks ago."
ATO hopes to have the lodging license by November, he said.
Some of the difficulties ATO had in originally securing the permit may be attributed to the rise in complaints about the off-campus behavior of Tufts students.
"Since the community was not extremely happy with the actions of some Tufts students, some of the blame might fall on us," Moskowitz said.
There have been "concerns about conduct of the students negatively impacting quality of life in the neighborhood," Alderman at Large Dennis Sullivan said.
Although the Board of Aldermen is independent from Mayor Joseph Curtatone's office, his administration is still well aware of this problem, according to Somerville Communications Director Tom Champion.
"While this has been a genuine problem and city residents in the area of Tufts are right to be concerned, overall we continue to recognize that Tufts is a very good neighbor," he said.
According to Champion, Somerville plans on maintaining its close ties to the hill and working with Tufts "to ensure not only that incidents of public drunkenness and rowdiness are dealt with effectively but also that Tufts continues to be a welcomed and valued neighbor."
