Allow me to be brutally honest: the idea of having a landlord live with me, a 22-year-old, for 10 months is never going to happen. But for some reason Hamden residents believe this is the only solution to get rowdy students to STFU on the weekends.
The Hamden Planning and Zoning Committee passed a law requiring landlords to live with Quinnipiac students for practically a whole school year.
Residents said it was about time the town really cracked down on students. They feel like this will get a handle on the "heavy partying."
This so-called "heavy partying" doesn't happen as often as residents would like to think.
Quinnipiac students are dedicated to their studies and communities. With everything they learn inside the classroom they share with the people outside the classroom.
They're your banker, news reporter, nurse, physical therapist and child's teacher.
Unfortunately, all the good the students do for Hamden is forgotten because of a few mistakes made in the past.
I am a Quinnipiac student and a resident of Hamden. I've lived on the same street six minutes from campus for 22 years. My parents lived on the same street six minutes from campus 10 years before me. The only complaint my mother has ever made was that the students don't know how to park close to the curb.
The town has given the student body a negative reputation, a reputation the majority doesn't deserve.
This new regulation has some serious issues.
Students will not have any privacy. Something they are legally allowed. How is anyone going to feel comfortable living with someone they personally don't know? Well, Hamden thinks this will push them onto campus, but in reality, they will be moving to Aspen Glen and Mix Avenue apartments (what a loophole if I've ever seen one).
Students will take their business to surrounding towns. North Haven has everything (and more, note: new movie theater and more than two restaurants) and Cheshire has Cheshire Coffee. No need to go to any Dunkin Donuts on Whitney Avenue.
I stand with Quinnipiac students. Frankly, I'm embarrassed to say these people who voted to have students, grown adults, live with a babysitter are my neighbors.
I pose this question to you, Hamden Planning and Zoning Committee and all Hamden residents: If your child attended a university and lived off-campus would you be okay with a stranger living with them (even if you think they aren't "heavy party-ers")?
