Cardinal Points

Issue date: 9/21/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Kelli Catana An officer keeps watch on a downtown crowd Friday night. The city-college commission aims to address vandalism, noise and other issues that have come to trouble community residents.

A new school-city commission is calling for stricter enforcement of city ordinances, more frequent and detailed building inspections and the installation of surveillance cameras on downtown streets.

The Plattsburgh City-College Commission Report, released this summer, details those and another 36 recommendations for mending the often abrasive relationship between Plattsburgh State students and the surrounding community.

School and city officials said they have already implemented a number of the recommendations, which range from the suggestion of more personal responsibility for students and a call for late night shuttles to more direct enforcement of laws and better monitor of late night activity.

The impact of stepped-up police enforcement has already been apparent this semester, as dozens of city officers walked the streets on weekend nights early in the semester, arresting hordes of PSUC students.

In the first two weeks of school, at least 62 students were arrested by city and university police. Charges ranged from open container violations to underage possession of alcohol to noise ordinance violations.

"One of the biggest complaints from center city residents was that, although we have a lot of laws that are in place, the city never really enforced the laws in the best manner that we could have," said Plattsburgh Mayor Donald Kasprzak. "We haven't been as strong as we could have."

The idea for the commission began in late 2006, when Kasprzak sat down with PSUC President John Ettling to discuss a number of things - among them, how to better the relationship between the college and the community, specifically in the center city area that borders the campus.

The commission formed in the spring - made-up of school and city officials, as well as community members and one student. It presented the comprehensive report - findings it had made over the course of several months - to city and school officials in July.

"One of the things that I have heard in my three years, and also the mayor had heard while he was campaigning, was complaints from people living in neighborhoods adjacent to the campus about the misbehavioof some of our students late at night - usually after they've been drinking on weekends and are making their way from downtown back towards the campus," Ettling said.

Continued...

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