Parties and parking: Enforcement strong for new ordinances aimed at college students

Southeast Missouri State University students used to snatch up parking spaces on this short stretch of street that leads to campus. On Thursday morning, however, only a dark-colored Miata was parked on the otherwise empty Normal Avenue.

And it was about to get a ticket.

College students returned from summer break to find that two new laws were on the books and aimed squarely at them -- one that restricts parking near campus along four city streets and another intended to crack down on so-called "nuisance" parties.

Both were initiated by separate groups of residents who complained that students were blocking off their driveway, leaving cars abandoned for days or bumping them out of bed with noisy, late-night parties.

While some students groused about the Cape Girardeau City Council passing the laws while students were away, they saw right away that argument was futile. The tickets were flying.

"It seems like every day somebody's getting a ticket for parking on these streets," said Jay Cox, a 22-year-old senior from Sikeston, Mo. "The city probably doesn't care what we think. So I'm walking more."

The parking ordinance went into effect Aug. 25, prohibiting parking during daytime hours along sections of Normal and Park avenues, West End Boulevard and Highland Drive.

Since it went into effect, the Cape Girardeau Police Department reports that it has issued 121 parking tickets for violations along those streets. The vast majority of those, 86, were issued on Normal Avenue, more than the street saw in the entire year leading up to the ordinance.

The police department reported that it issued eight summonses for violations to the new nuisance party ordinance, which became law June 20. The new ordinance defines a "nuisance" party as a social gathering of 10 or more people on residential property, where any of a list of 11 things take place, including fighting, property damage, littering, trespassing and indecent exposure.

Cape Girardeau police chief Carl Kinnison said it's the department's job to enforce the laws that are passed by city leaders. While the parking ordinance was simple enough for his department to adjust to, Kinnison said his officers were given training tips about the nuisance party law.

"There's a small learning curve when you get a new ordinance and you were using an old ordinance," Kinnison said. "But the officers are well aware of it now."

New responsibility

The offenses listed in the nuisance party ordinance were already crimes, but the new law offers officers a few new tools they didn't have -- the ability to order partyers to disperse and the ability to cite the party's host.

"So this places a whole new burden of responsibility on the host," Kinnison said. "It gives them an incentive to maintain a level of control over their party or they could be cited."

Residents who organized the movement to get the nuisance party ordinance said that things have settled down somewhat but that some parties still happen on weekend nights.

"It must be having an effect or you wouldn't have the citizenry signing complaints to get these eight summonses," said Dub Suedekum, one of the group's organizers. "If eight of them have already been initiated, at least the residents know it's available."

Millie Strom, 83, is another resident who was kept up late at night by loud college parties on Dunklin Street near campus. Earlier this summer, Strom said it was going on every weekend and that her yard was always full of crumpled beer cans and busted whiskey bottles.

She reported it once and believes it was retaliation when someone busted a hole in the side of her house with an ax. The fraternity that lived next door to her has since moved out, she said, but there are still parties that go on in a house across the street.

"I really have had an absolutely wonderful summer since the fraternity moved out," she said. "I don't know if it had anything to do with the ordinance or not, but the people who live next door now are so nice and quiet."

As for the parking situation, council member Deb Tracy and others who pushed for the restrictions say the ordinance is working wonderfully. Tracy lives along one of the streets where parking is no longer allowed, and she said her constituents have told her they like it.

The traffic flow is better and it's safer for everyone, she said.

"The students are in the parking lots, which is what they were built for," she said. "I'm thrilled."

The reaction by students and campus administrators is somewhat different. Patrick Vining, a junior and the president of the Student Government Association, said students are aggravated, especially about the parking issue.

"As I guess would be expected, the students don't like it," Vining said.

The party ordinance, Vining said, is more a matter of enforcing laws that are already on the books. Students know they shouldn't be fighting at parties, but they can't understand whey their parking has been taken away, he said.

'Tiny, tiny percentage'

University officials said Thursday that it's really not a huge issue for their students anyway, but Dennis Holt, the university's dean of students, said that they still wanted students to be aware of the changes. They asked for an article in the student newspaper and set up briefings with Greek and athletic organizations explaining the ordinances.

Officers from the city's police department also came to campus to meet with student groups, Holt said, as part of an open forum early in the semester. Resident hall advisers were also asked to make sure students were aware of the ordinances' implications, he said.

"I'm pretty satisfied we communicated as best we could the ordinances and what they mean," Holt said.

Still, considering that there are 11,500 students enrolled in classes, the two ordinances will never touch most students, he said. Most students never parked on those streets and not a huge number attend weekend parties, he said.

"It's such a tiny, tiny percentage of the students that will ever in any way run into the party ordinance or the parking changes," Holt said. "These are not ordinances that are of any great concern to the students."

smoyers@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

One University Plaza, Cape Girardeau, MO