2008 Woodie Awards
Vote Absentee
Cities crack down on student renters
By: MCT
Issue date: 11/5/07 Section: Off Campus Housing Guide
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WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - When three months passed and no one claimed the boxer shorts lying in front of a vacant house on her street, homeowner Hanni Sherman washed them and donated them to a charity. When raw sewage was spilling on the sidewalk in front of a student-occupied house and no one called the city, Dick Sherman reported it.
For the most part, the retired couple has learned to cope with the occasional offenses that have come as more and more college students have moved into their neighborhood on Matoaka Court in Williamsburg. Red plastic cups strewn on a lawn; one too many cars parked in driveways, blocking the sidewalk; a stop sign missing after a party.
But as the incidents and the students moving in become more frequent, the Shermans and others have grown increasingly uneasy about what will happen as more of the retirees and widows on their street move out or die.
Brian Cannon, a former leader of the W&M student body, says his classmates are also concerned about what they see going on in Williamsburg: New rental inspection laws designed, in part, to discourage landlords; increased enforcement of existing laws that have led to the eviction of students living more than three to a house; a proposal for an off-campus student-housing complex that was shot down by angry neighbors; a city that wants to take students' money but won't let them vote.
Residents like the Shermans and students like Cannon see a trend toward a Williamsburg they wouldn't want to live in. Both are part of the most heightened friction between the city and college in more than three decades. At the source of much of their unease is the basic question of where people will live.
More than a third of W&M students live off campus. Some choose to live in apartments, but students say the dearth of options around the college, the limited number of apartments and the appeal of living together in a house lead them into single-family neighborhoods. In the past five years, homeowners on some streets near the college say the number of students has increased, causing a growing number of residents to fear the loss of their neighborhood.
For the most part, the retired couple has learned to cope with the occasional offenses that have come as more and more college students have moved into their neighborhood on Matoaka Court in Williamsburg. Red plastic cups strewn on a lawn; one too many cars parked in driveways, blocking the sidewalk; a stop sign missing after a party.
But as the incidents and the students moving in become more frequent, the Shermans and others have grown increasingly uneasy about what will happen as more of the retirees and widows on their street move out or die.
Brian Cannon, a former leader of the W&M student body, says his classmates are also concerned about what they see going on in Williamsburg: New rental inspection laws designed, in part, to discourage landlords; increased enforcement of existing laws that have led to the eviction of students living more than three to a house; a proposal for an off-campus student-housing complex that was shot down by angry neighbors; a city that wants to take students' money but won't let them vote.
Residents like the Shermans and students like Cannon see a trend toward a Williamsburg they wouldn't want to live in. Both are part of the most heightened friction between the city and college in more than three decades. At the source of much of their unease is the basic question of where people will live.
More than a third of W&M students live off campus. Some choose to live in apartments, but students say the dearth of options around the college, the limited number of apartments and the appeal of living together in a house lead them into single-family neighborhoods. In the past five years, homeowners on some streets near the college say the number of students has increased, causing a growing number of residents to fear the loss of their neighborhood.
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