Letters on Mini-Dorms
Union-Tribune 3/17/07
The College Area is a vital neighborhood. On one block of Mary Lane Drive (just steps away from SDSU) we have 10 children ranging in age from infancy to high school. We represent different ethnicities, religions and races. We are professionals, homemakers, blue-collar workers, retirees and college students. We are owners and renters.
Usually we get along well. Students play football with neighborhood kids, retirees watch over neighborhood teens, we share cookies and recipes. Our houses have comfortable rooms and back yards we can enjoy. Small groups of renters in the typical three-bedroom house do not usually present any problem at all.
The problems stem from absentee landlords renting to large groups of kids who create problems with litter, parking and parties (not 20-30 people, but huge parties of hundreds of drunken partygoers). This neighborhood is worth saving. Landlords should be held accountable for maintaining their property and for the actions of their tenants. SDSU should look to expand to the South Bay and to the Imperial Valley to meet its needs for growth.
MARTHA FULLER
San Diego
The March 7 article was way too favorable toward the absentee landlords destroying the College Area. What a total lie that Ian Sells and Michael Haaland say they “aren't getting rich on these conversions.” Why else would they be in this business? Did you ask in what part of town Haaland, Sells or partner Brandon Blum themselves reside? I'm sure none of them live on any of the chaotic streets they've created.
After 33 years, my 60-something mom, fed up with the late-night parties, trashed front yards and overly parked-on streets, is selling her College Area house. And I'm terrified that, as described in the article, this will happen to my childhood home: “The inside has been gutted. Workers are adding three bedrooms in what used to be the back yard, and the garage is becoming a seventh bedroom. Each room probably will rent for $600 to $700.”
Haaland seems to imply older adults and young families don't have the right to stay in this area. If he and other investors continue buying, managing and converting mini-dorms, the once family oriented neighborhood will turn into one sleazy Fraternity Row.
Why doesn't the city rezone for more apartments on major (commercial) College Area streets, such as El Cajon Boulevard? Why are former businesses, including the Aztec Inn or the strip mall at 63rd Street and El Cajon Boulevard, sitting vacant when at least some apartments could be built there, pulling some students out of the residential streets?
Lastly, you did not report on SDSU's responsibility for this mess. It's anxious to up enrollment to 45,000 so it can collect more tuition dollars, but have very few projects or plans to build dorms to accommodate them. My mom recently received a letter from SDSU saying it is increasing enrollment to 10,000 more students with dorm rooms for 1,400 of them. The university should reverse those numbers.
LORA WATTERS
San Carlos
Many of the people buying and converting homes into mini-dorms are getting permits from the city of San Diego. Some of these permits allow the property owners to convert a garage into a bedroom to create the dreaded mini-dorm. It is clear to me that the city must stem the flow of issuing conversion permits in the College Area, because these property owners are simply using the existing development process to destroy the surrounding community.
MARLA DECK
El Cajon
Regarding “Mini-dorm misery/SDSU growth plans lack enough housing” (Editorial, March 11):
As president of San Diego State University, thank you for recognizing the university's efforts to increase student housing on campus and to mitigate student impacts by funding a code enforcement representative for the city of San Diego.
The nuisance rental property issue requires a comprehensive approach by the university, the city and community leaders. At its root is San Diego's shortage of affordable housing – a fact not lost on mini-dorm developers. With the aim of creating a more residential campus, SDSU continues to add to its supply of university-managed housing. Also, SDSU is exploring options to work with private developers to create housing for students near campus or adjacent to nearby trolley stations.
SDSU's enforcement and education efforts are being stepped up significantly. Our new code of student conduct allows the university to discipline students engaging in illegal or inappropriate behavior, up to suspension or expulsion. SDSU continues to support programs such as the “Good Neighbor Program” encouraging responsible behavior by students living in the area. Also, SDSU police continue to work cooperatively with the San Diego Police Department to patrol the neighborhoods surrounding the campus.
SDSU welcomes the leadership of Mayor Sanders and Councilman Jim Madaffer to tackle this issue. This is important for SDSU and the community, and we pledge our full cooperation toward implementing permanent solutions.
STEPHEN L. WEBER
San Diego