By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
East Side resident Rose Hess is always armed with a roll of Scotch tape.
“That’s just in case she needs to post something on an East Side home as she goes by,” explained John Zanfardino.
Hess has taken it on as her duty to notify student renters in her neighborhood of such information as garbage rules, nuisance party issues, or just tips on how to be a good neighbor.
“Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t,” she said.
University student behavior is often a topic at the East Side neighborhood meetings. But on Thursday evening, much of the discussion was on the landlords who rent to students.
Neocles Leontis, a BGSU faculty member and East Side resident, noted the large number of students living off campus and the growing number of rentals in the community – an estimated 60 percent of the housing units in Bowling Green, he said.
“We’re also concerned when landlords violate safety and health standards,” Leontis said.
East Side neighbors meet
He asked for help from the group’s guest speaker, Dr. Tom Gibson, vice president of student affairs and vice provost at BGSU. Leontis sought Gibson’s support working with the city, “so all housing units meet minimal standards. We are woefully behind.”
Gibson offered to help. “You have my support,” he said.
The issues range from rental homes in disrepair, absentee landlords and poor energy efficiency.
Gibson said while he was working at Ball State, he chaired a campus and community coalition for landlords and homeowners. Students got involved by developing a list of landlords to avoid. It functioned similar to “Yelp,” in offering online reviews.
“That helped,” Gibson said of the student created listing. “That peer group is very strong. Students listen to other students.”
BGSU helped put together a renters guide last year, based on surveys of student renters. The students ranked their landlords based on how quickly they responded to maintenance problems, how much they had to pay for utilities, and other issues rating satisfaction with the rental properties.
The landlords who got good ratings loved the surveys. Others, not so much.
The survey can be found on the off-campus student services website.
The East Side residents asked that the renters guide go a step further and list addresses of rental properties, and not just the landlords. That would be even more helpful to students coming to the city – and maybe put pressure on the landlords, they said.
Leontis also suggested that the city consider a rental licensure program similar to those operated in other communities. During a recent visit to Boulder, Colorado, Leontis said he learned about that city’s program which charges a fee from the landlords to cover inspections of homes to make sure they are maintained properly. The city contracts out the work, so no additional city employees need to be hired.
“I would think the university doesn’t want its students to live in substandard housing,” Hess said to Gibson.
Zanfardino and Leontis also talked about all the energy inefficient rental homes in the city. Columbia Gas is offering very low cost energy audits of homes, with help then provided to make repairs. But very few landlords have showed interest.
Sandy Rowland expressed concern that substandard housing gives many BGSU students a poor image of their college community.
“I want them to feel their years here were a good experience,” she said. But as a city council member, she has heard from several of them about poor living conditions. “What is Bowling Green giving them to be proud of?”
The East Side neighbors also revisited the topic of student misbehaviors.
“There are about 12,000 students who live in our midst. Most of them are good, but there are some bad apples,” Hess said.
Gibson said the university works with students on their responsibilities living off campus in the community.
“The vast majority of our students live up to our expectations, but we do have some who fall short,” he said.
And that makes the students and the university look bad. “They are representing us. They are representing the institution,” Gibson said. “We take student conduct on and off the campus very seriously.”
Last year, at the beginning of the fall semester, Gibson joined BGSU President Mary Ellen Mazey and Bowling Green Mayor Dick Edwards as they visited the rental homes of students on the edge of campus. “We walked the neighborhoods and knocked on doors,” he said.
Gibson said he plans to do the same this year. “We want to remind them of the expectations regarding their behaviors.”
As the East Side meeting wrapped up, Mark Hollenbaugh asked for assurances that the ideas brought up will not be dropped.
“You have my ear. You have my support,” Gibson said.
