Tall hedges and decades of time separate Robert Anderson from the unfamiliar neighbors next door.
His side has sunflowers. The other has discarded cigarette boxes and forgotten Solo cups.
Except for the occasional nighttime noise complaint, the two parties do not interact.
“Apart from any judgments I may have of (my renting neighbors’) lifestyle, I’m not going to judge it,” Anderson said. “I just don’t want to be in the middle of it, so to speak.”
Other student houses nearby kept him awake this past summer with newly legalized, more powerful fireworks.
“In 40 years of living here I’ve never heard any noise coming from a residential house,” Anderson said. “It’s difficult to know where to draw the line.”
An effort by the East Lansing City Council to draft a new fireworks ordinance — largely in response to noise complaints from permanent residents — is a reminder of one of the oldest and most fundamental challenges facing city residents and leaders: creating an environment friendly to both adult residents and MSU students, who differ in age and lifestyle.
“All of a sudden the prevalence of (fireworks) in the neighborhood has just quadrupled or septupled — it’s kind of ridiculous,” East Lansing City Councilmember Kevin Beard said. “It is a huge nuisance … A citizen in their home is entitled to the quiet enjoyment of their property … We all have the responsibility to keep the noise down so we don’t disturb our neighbors.”
Town and gown
Anderson and his wife, who have lived in East Lansing for 55 years, live next door to eight students on Butterfield Drive. Throughout the decades, they have experienced both the ups and downs of living so close to MSU’s student population.
“On Cedar Street (where he first lived), initially we were quite pleased to have students (as neighbors), we thought it was nice to live next to a younger generation,” Anderson said. “It turns out their lifestyle is so different from ours, that it didn’t work. They’d be up on the balcony apartments throwing beer bottles at 4 o’clock in the morning, they didn’t have to get up for their 8 o’clock classes but I did, so that didn’t work very well.”
Beard said communication is key for adults and students to live side by side.
That message especially is relevant at the beginning of fall semester, when students move into new houses and apartments.
“There are expectations for adult behavior and, even though they may be 19, 20 years old … they have to try to understand that their neighbors are working people with families, and cannot be woken up at 2 a.m.,” he said.
One of Anderson’s neighbors, supply chain management junior Connor Fast, said he has only had one incident of being asked to quiet down by his neighbor, and though it was uncomfortable, it didn’t hurt their relationship.
General management junior Ben Bowen, who also lives in the house next door to Anderson, said he and his roommates are aiming to change the stereotype of college neighbors with their behavior on Butterfield Drive.
“While we bring some new faces to his neighborhood, we also hope to bring a new attitude of change in the way permanent residents see college students,” Bowen said. “Our goal is to live in this area with respect.”
Moving forward
Despite the problems that are bound to exist in a college town, Sally Silver, a member of the Bailey Community Association’s board of directors, said in her 30 years in East Lansing, she has seen a visible improvement in student behavior after an active effort on the city’s behalf to try and enforce partying laws.
“I’m knocking on wood, but I feel like there have been changes,” Silver said. “I’ve lived here over 30 years. In the course of that many years, we’ve had riots and bonfires and weekend noise and litter, but I have to say I think the trend has a steady improvement.”
Silver said the formation of the Community Relations Coalition, a group comprised of interns paired up with residents to get a well-rounded view of neighborhood issues, has been helpful in the positive progression she has witnessed.
She also said that the recent construction of the Chandler Crossings apartment complex north of the city helped draw out some students, making the neighborhoods less rowdy.
MSU Provost Kim Wilcox had similar feelings about the town and gown relationship, and has also seen a clear improvement over the years he has been at MSU.
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“(The relationship) is a very positive one, and it’s been improving because both city and university are committed to making it the best community it can be,” he said.
