Northwestern students living off campus this fall may want to think twice before bringing their cars to school or leaving a bottle of Guinness on the front porch.
As part of the city’s 2004-05 budget, Evanston soon will add a new city inspector for the area west of the university. The inspector will watch for violations such as overcrowding, illegally parked cars and lawns filled with junk and debris. Aldermen at past committee meetings have said these violations are common in off-campus student residences.
Ald. Joseph Kent (5th), whose ward includes many properties occupied by students, said problems stem from absentee landlords who rent their facilities to as many students as possible but are not present to enforce city codes. Kent said this can lead to tenants parking in yards, urinating on public parkways and throwing beer bottles. The violations have created a lower quality of life in the neighborhood, he said.
“You can walk by a yard and you don’t see anything but beer bottles,” Kent said. “Most of these Northwestern students wouldn’t do this at their mom or dad’s house, so they shouldn’t be doing it here.”
Evanston resident and NU classics Prof. Daniel Garrison, who lives on the 1200 block of Simpson Street, said he often sees similar problems near his home. Garrison has kept a record of building code violations in his neighborhood since September 1996. The list now includes almost 300 violations, he said.
Garrison also said he has presented photographs to aldermen of illegally parked cars and litter in yards.
“If that city inspector is detailed to the student slum area … I think it would make a difference,” Garrison said. He added that the best remedy to the problem would be for absentee landlords to realize that they will not profit if their tenants continue to violate city codes.
But Communication senior Alan Lawrence, who lives at 1100 Church St., said he does not think that off-campus students contribute to a neighborhood decline in quality.
“I’ve never really seen a ton of stuff get thrown into yards,” Lawrence said. “I think it’s more indicative of Evanston having really anal-retentive residents who would get upset about a bottle here and there.”
James Wolinski, director of the city’s community development department, said aldermen pushed for the new inspector after receiving complaints from Evanston residents in the area. The new inspector will benefit students by ensuring that landlords properly maintain their rental units, Wolinski said.
He said he hopes to select 10-12 applicants for interviews within the next two weeks. The new inspector position will cost the city anywhere between $52,000 and $65,000.
The city also plans to add a new lawyer who will handle preservation, zoning and land-use issues — all of which have grown in importance in the wake of increased development.
“We have so much development going on right now and there are so many issues concerning zoning, preservation (and) codes, and many times we are required to ask for legal opinions on certain issues,” Wolinski said. “I think that our attorneys are overtaxed by the amount of information they are asked to provide simply because we have so much construction going on.”
City Manager Roger Crum estimated the new lawyer will cost the city between $60,000 and $70,000.
The city’s legal department did not return repeated phone calls throughout the past week.
The salaries for both positions were approved in the city’s 2004-05 budget, which was passed in February. Crum said the city intends to make the positions permanent.
