Home Park residents call for crackdown on student parties

For many students, Home Park is an alternative to living on campus while still enjoying college life. For the more permanent residents of Home Park, however, the area is a residential neighborhood in which they own a home, go to work and maintain the regular rituals of a working life. They also live on a schedule that is mostly incompatible with that of a college student.

There is typically little interaction between these two groups of Home Park residents; often next door neighbors do not even know each other ' s names.

While residents and students generally live in peace, or at least tolerance, of each other, a number of complaints has surfaced recently from residents about student parties, especially those stretching late into the night. As seen by the numerous complaint messages recently posted on www.homepark.org, some residents are ready to take strong measures against what they view as excessive partying. These measures include calling the police, calling the landlords and even going to the city ' s licensing and permits office to file a complaint.

Much of the anger seems to be directed at one house in particular, located on the corner of Hemphill Ave. and Curran St. According to the president of the Home Park Community Improvement Association (HPCIA), Shaun Green, that particular house is a Georgia State fraternity.

But due to the close proximity of Tech to Home Park, much of residents ' anger and the complaints are directed at Tech. " Because the neighborhood is immediately adjacent to Georgia Tech, the first assumption is that all students are Georgia Tech students, " Green said. He also pointed out that a majority of students in Home Park are, in fact, Tech students.

Atlanta Police, Tech Police and GTSMART (Students Managing Alcohol Risk at Tech) were all present this Tuesday at HPCIA ' s monthly meeting for a discussion of the residents ' concerns.

The APD, GTPD and GTSMART each outlined their services and defined their respective roles in the community. Most of the discussions, though, have taken place on the group ' s online forum, where posting is open to anyone in the community. One of the most vocal residents in the crusade to curb excessive partying is Dale Torbett.

In one of Torbett ' s postings, he wrote, " It ' s about time to stop this nonsense and make it clear as a community that this sort of behavior is not acceptable and will not be tolerated any longer. This is a situation that has been going on in Home Park forever. This is something that is tolerated because it is Home Park; that kind of activity would not be tolerated in other neighborhoods nor should it be here. "

Not all students are taking these comments well, and one student has chosen to reply to the forum postings.

" A lot of this talk only results in alienating more students, " said Chris Dorn, a third year International Affairs major. " I agree that a lot of the partying in Home Park is over the line, and a lot of things here need improvement, but I ' m increasingly feeling like the enemy. " Torbett also said, " There is little to no attention given by the APD and GTPD to this ongoing problem. Calls about noise are I ' m sure are a low priority to the APD...Tech Police will not even directly respond. I believe that Georgia Tech should be more responsible in addressing this issue rather than pawning it off on the APD. "

" I don ' t think the number or intensity of the parties has increased or decreased, " Green said, explaining the recent spike in complaints, " I think that the people who have lived here for a while are getting a little older . there are a lot of recent move-ins that are not necessarily aware, or in denial that they live next to a college, " Green said.

Other residents also feel that GTPD should be more involved in the Home Park situation, but the jurisdiction of the GTPD does not extend into most of Home Park.

According to Tech Police Captain Hembree, GTPD only has jurisdiction over " everything south of Tenth Street and any property owned by the Board of Regents. " As for the APD, according to Sergeant Dixon of Zone Five, the department is " busy and shorthanded. We are doing what we can. " While Dixon said that noise complaints are lower in priority than more serious incidents such as car accidents or stabbings, he said that an officer will be sent eventually. " Some nights there ' s nothing going on . sometimes we are very busy. "

Dixon urged residents present at the meeting to not be afraid to " call too much " about a complaint. " We ' re going to deal with the problem, " he said. Dixon also said the APD is not unwilling to make arrests.

" If I hear the same address keep on coming up a few times a night, we will bring out the paddy wagon. "

GTSMART was on hand to talk about their Responsible Alcohol Sales and Server Training and Anonymous Tip Hotline. According to Marsha Brinkley, project director of GTSMART, there are " no initiatives that specifically address students having parties off campus. "

Home Park residents present at the meeting were informed on how to contact the Dean of Students office to report instances of alcohol misconduct by Tech students. According to the GTSMART brochure handed out at the meeting, students who are turned into the Dean of Students office can face a number of sanctions from Tech, including: notification of parents, fines ranging from $75 to $265, mandatory participation in an alcohol education course, and possible probation, suspension or expulsion. However, while disgruntled residents are consistently encouraged to seek out the Dean of Students office, only one or two students are turned in each year. The reason is that residents do not have the needed information to turn a student in, such as the name of the offending student.

The lack of communication among residents is one aspect of Home Park that Green hopes to improve on. " Our responsibility is getting to know our neighbors, " said Green, a 1997 Civil Engineering graduate from Tech. " Really, what it boils down to, " said Green, " is communication in two ways, and courtesy in two directions. " As a recent Tech graduate, and one who lived in Home Park during his time in school, Green would like to remind students that " there are certain things that you need to be responsible for to fit into the community. " HPCIA meets the second Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. in the basement of the 10th Street United Methodist Church. " I encourage students to join us, " Green said.