By Timmy Joe Elzinga
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My wife and I purchased a house in June of 2013 on Nancy Drive.
As it was summer and the students were all home the neighborhood seemed quiet and although we were aware that student rentals made their way out as far as around our streets, we were not prepared for just how bad it could be.
Every September Nipissing and Canadore students flood the area and every year the parties seem to get worse. As the parties get worse, more families move out of the area thus creating more real estate for CHL or Bradwick to scoop up to create more rentals for students. It's a vicious circle that is leaving this area of town unlivable for families and older house owners. Over the course of a school year, we may call the police 20 times for noise complaints. It seems every other weekend there are late night parties with piles of college students walking from house to house, drinking in public and disturbing the neighborhood late at night.
Something has to be done.
So here we come to September 1st 2017, and like clockwork the parties begin. College renters are at an all time high and it is fair to estimate half of the housing in my area from McNamara to Champlain is now student housing.
There was a party every night this weekend and since it's Labour Day it seems the worst of it was on Sunday night. At 10 p.m. the noise was so bad in our bedroom we had trouble sleeping and our two-year-old son was being frequently disturbed by the noise.
I took a drive to take inventory of the parties This is crucial when calling the police for noise complaints as they will not come unless you have specific locations. The worst party wasn't even on my street, it was a block north on Cartier.
On my drive I counted at least four houses with drunk college students around the doorways and came upon two groups of walking students, with drinks in hand ranging from 20 to 30 people in size. When I found the party on Cartier it turned out to be five houses down from my back yard. The house was so packed with students I could barely count how many were seen through the front windows.
The noise wasn't even coming from outside either, they had all the windows open and the yelling and screaming could be heard for nearly a block.
When I returned I called the police, reported the parties locations and the groups of students roaming the streets with open alcohol. I was advised officers would be dispatched.
Over 45 minutes later and the party is as loud as ever. This time my wife makes the call to the police, she is told: 'oh you are the 4th complaint tonight, we should be sending an officer soon'. The noise level did not dissipate until around 12:30 a.m. at which point it was only replaced by more students roaming the street. We frequently have people passing by our house in the middle of the night, talking loudly, screaming, trying to dunk on our neighbor's basketball net. We are at our wit's end and it's only September 4th, we have a whole school year ahead of us...
So what is the solution to this problem?
The police shouldn't have to play babysitter to these noise complaints and they are frequently slow to respond, if they come at all. Do we simply give this area of town up to students?
The parties are only one side of the story too.
Parking becomes a hazard as students fill the streets with more cars than we have curbs to hold them. Some students resort to parking in marked 'no parking zones'. This makes the bylaw officer have to come to our area frequently.
When the students move out they frequently leave furniture and large piles of garbage by the roadside. Stuff the normal garbage pickup is not going to take leaving our neighborhood looking dirty and neglected for sometimes months. Could a curfew be issues in this area? Should the noise bylaws be enforced with fines?
I am not sure what to do.
My wife and I have our mortgage coming up this year and we are with out a doubt going to list our house, thus contributing to the problem. We have a nice four bedroom house that will either be scooped up by another housing agency or we will be forced to sell to an unsuspecting family in the summer. I just hope that the City Of North Bay can find a solution to this problem.
I grew up in Thibeault Terrace and in the 90's this area used to be filled with families, not students.
By Timmy Joe Elzinga
North Bay
