On any given weekend, crowds of students cross to the north side of Grand River Avenue looking for a good time - and causing headaches for some neighborhood residents.
“I hate it,” East Lansing resident Kaylee Ferris said. “The house across the street is always out until 4 a.m.”
Ferris, an expecting mother, says she rarely finds quiet nights in her Linden Street neighborhood. She struggles to fall asleep when loud partygoers walk past her home, and she has woken some mornings to find her fence broken and flower pots stolen off her front porch.
Problems with noise and rowdy crowds have plagued some East Lansing neighborhoods for years. But some residents, such as agricultural economics Professor Collette Moser points out that MSU students may not be causing all the mischief, visitors or high schoolers ,might be as well.
As a 28-year Elizabeth Street resident, Moser said it is important for residents to communicate with the students living in the neighborhood to curb problems before police have to be called.
“After the Notre Dame game I was woken up by a large party on my street,” Moser said. “I got my next-door neighbor and we asked the girls to quiet down. They thanked us for coming down and talking with them.”
Students agree with Moser that communication is key to keeping lifestyle differences between the two groups at bay.
When environmental biology senior Andrea Cogal lived in a house surrounded by families, she and her six housemates introduced themselves to their neighbors.
“We hoped that if they ever had any problems with us that instead of calling the cops, they would come talk to us first,” Cogal said.
Groups such as the Bailey Neighborhood Association and the Community Relations Coalition have tried to bring permanent residents and students together with social events so each group can get to know and understand the other.
“There has always been a misunderstanding between the two groups,” coalition member and communication Professor Bill Donohue said. “The students come and go and the permanent residents live here. If the groups continue to interact with one another, there is a much greater chance that they will be considerate of one another.”
And while students are receptive to working with residents, they also say that MSU is a big part of East Lansing. “Living in neighborhoods this close to campus you have to be kind of tolerant to loud noise,” Cogal said. “We are a college town.”
