North Bay Police Chief Shawn Devine knows the start of the school year is traditionally a challenge.
Devine has spoken to students at Nipissing University and Canadore College to remind them to be good neighbours in the community.
“We are going to continue to push for through the Nipissing Student’s Union and also through the school that kind of rears its head every couple of years and we have to bring the attention to our students to say this is about being respectful and being good neighbours and representing the school so it is something that our officers are going to address in the upcoming weekends,” Devine told BayToday.ca at the North Bay Police Association Golf Tournament this morning.
"Under the North Bay City By-law there is a fine, for noise by-law, I mean if it gets serious to where it’s either a mischief that is being caused or other disturbances, students or owners could face criminal charges related to them.
Devine says he is just hoping for people to use common sense.
"If you are having a party, close your doors, tell your neighbours what is going on, introduce yourself to the neighbours and respect parking, be aware of your environment and keep your residence clean. If we can get that message out to the students then I think those neighbours who are longtime residents, their concerns can be addressed."
North Bay’s Top Cop was responding to recent outrage by residents in the Thibeault Terrace neighbourhood like Timothy Elzinga.
“Every September Nipissing and Canadore students flood the area and every year the parties seem to get worse,” he stated.
“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.”
See the related story here: OPINION: Student ghetto of Thibeault Terrace forcing residents to leave
Shawn Chorney is the vice-president of Indigenous and student services at Canadore College.
He sympathizes with the home owners and can relate to it in his own way as he lives in Birchhaven very close to the Cove on Trout Lake.
“I am a supporter of the community and to generalize is not the approach I would take to try to divide a neighbourhood to label a part of town as awful,” said Chorney candidly to BayToday.ca.
Chorney adds that the students at Canadore are very well aware of how the institution expects them to act away from the school and campus including building more residences, talk about the role of a student relative to a community, as well as a Canadore integration strategy which includes volunteering throughout the community as a means for students to connect with the city and its citizens.
Bob Pipe, Communications Officer at Nipissing University believes it's a challenge for any post secondary institution, as those students are adults who are renting apartments or houses off campus.
However, Pipe says the University tries to do more outreach and education.
"We do have people in our staff and in our student union who meet on a regular basis with both the mayor and the chief of police to talk about ways in which we can be good neighbours and ambassadors for the university, and for the community," said Pipe.
However, Elzinga says he has had enough.
“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,” he said.
“I grew up in Thibeault Terrace and in the 90's this area used to be filled with families, not students.”
