We are in a university town, also - although not one like State College or Glassboro. Here, not too many students live in town. There are not that many apartments or rental houses and the ones that are here are generally too pricey for college kids. We do have one bar that causes trouble and I'm glad we are several blocks away from it. However,, like Glassboro, the biggest troublemakers there are the 25-30 crowd who drive in from out of state to take advantage of our ridiculous state LCB law that allows them stay open until 3:30 a.m. Then, before they get back in their cars to drive drunk to their homes, they get into fights and buy drugs. The bar is a bad neighbor because they just put them out on the street as soon as trouble starts so that they don't bear any responsibility. Our town police expenses are double what they would be if the bar closed at a normal hour.
I went to Penn State and I can't imagine living in any of those beautiful older neighborhoods in between the town, the frat houses, the apartment high-rises and the teeny cramped apartments that they rent to most students. PA has a drinking age of 21 but with the number of students housed off-campus, it's pretty easy to find someone to buy the liquor for a party. I haven't spent any time in Glassboro but it is probably a similar story - I'm guessing Morgantown is like that, too..
A similar situation is in Burlington, VT. Main St, striaght down from the college to the downtown is often the scene of large gangs of kids coming and going at all hours. I know some neighborhoods got together with the college to work out how to keep the neighborhoods safer for the families who live there. But, landlords in that area take lovely old Victorians and turn them into student housing. One apt per floor. At $1000+/month it takes a lot of kids sharing a 2 bedroom flat to make a go of it.
So now Burlington has what seem like odd ordinances...no cars parked on the lawn, no 'house furniture' on the porch.
Many student housing neighbors make friends right off with the students. They haul their 3-4 year old kids over to 'meet the neighbors' so the college students see there are real families and little kids who will be disturbed by loud parties, etc. They bake cookies. They invite the students over for meals. It seems to work. But not everywhere.
To combat the end of year mass exodus, leave my trash behind scenario, they now host a 'yard sale' all over town. You put your 'stuff' outside and people come and take it away. At the end of the weekend, anything left over is hauled away by the college. This has stopped students throwing everything out the windows and smashing everything they didn't want. Someone gets some use from it all.
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