Editorial: City Councilor election poses lesson for students

Boston's elections are right around the corner, Tuesday Nov. 3, and the outcome for the District 8 City Councilor isn't looking good for college students. Mike Ross, District 8 representative and president of the Boston City Council, is favored to win.
For the most part, this isn't surprising. Ross has worked to bring physical education back to the many Boston public schools that lack it, improve the Boston Common, and reduce violence among Boston youth. But with the good comes the bad. Ross also worked very hard to pass the No More Than Four ordinance, preventing more than four college students from living together off campus. As if that's not big enough a snub, Ross is a Mission Hill resident. Apparently it's us Northeastern hoodlums who are the annoyance. District 8 also includes the Wentworth Institute of Technology, Boston University, Simmons College, the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Emmanuel College, the New England Conservatory Music and the Boston Conservatory. That's about 47,000 students affected by Ross’ decisions.
According to Ross, No More Than Four is meant to create cheaper housing for families and recent college graduates – developing family-friendly neighbors, coaxing graduates to stay in Boston and eliminating expensive student-only housing. The flaws here are pretty apparent. We've already seen that the ordinance is just about impossible to enforce. Ross and the city council unsuccessfully attempted to force universities to submit the addresses of off campus students, and most recently discussed fining landlords for allowing more than four. It's also not the best way to bring students back post-graduation. Yes, the rent could be cheaper, but it sends students the message that they are not welcome. What’s more, partying students and their overcrowded apartments are not the only problem on the Hill. Poverty, violence and crime are certainly bigger problems than drunk students.
If any other demographics of Ross' constituency were treated this way, they would rise up and fight back. He most likely wouldn't even be in office. The problem is that at any university or college, a large portion or even a majority of students aren't registered to vote in Boston. They are not official Boston residents, even though they live in the city for four or more years. No More Than Four wouldn't be an issue if students were voting. If students had a bigger voice, the ordinance probably wouldn't have passed, but most students aren't from Boston and aren't registered to vote here.
And so even though we play a valuable role in this city, we're going to be treated as a nuisance – pests that need to be monitored and controlled. In all likelihood, Ross will be elected and No More Than Four will become an enforceable reality. If we're not going to vote, the next best solution is to get involved in our community. There are more than 86,000 of college students in Boston, and with so many in District 8, any combined effort is bound to have an impact.
It may be too late now and Ross’ No More Than Four could become much more real, but we should take that as a wake up call. We have power in numbers and it's time we use it.

2 comments

Jim Williams

Fri Oct 30 2009 12:34

The good news is that Ross' ordinance is a joke... much like most of his ideas concerning college students are. I lived in the city for 6 years and was registered to vote from the beginning. I actually did vote, even on city issues, when very few long-time residents or anyone else in the Hill did (voting was always at the Mission Park apartments). Our problems on the Hill weren't the college students (okay, the students were noisy but I didn't hear the old ones complaining when they went to rent/sell their triple-deckers and houses and were commanding top dollar for substandard conditions)... the majority of the REAL problems were caused by those who were wondering through the Back of the Hill and coming over toward the Huntington side to find people, places and cars to rob. Amazingly, whenever someone I knew was robbed, the suspect was one of a handfull that were unemployed and lived within 1/2 mile of your place.

Boston Voter

Thu Oct 29 2009 06:45

Great article, but you should have run it before the deadline to register to vote!

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