Time and again we are subject to the tepid opinions of the Tempe City Council in regard to Tempe's student population. Council members talk about peacefully co-existing but then assure Tempe's long-term residents that we are a blight that shouldn't have to be endured. They smile and nod as ASU President Michael Crow talks about mixed-use education zoning but scowl at students every time homeowners need a shoulder to cry on.
And now at a review session, Councilwoman Barbara Carter (allegedly representing the whole Council) spoke of students as inevitable pests that needed to be removed from the decent people of Tempe.
Supposedly, noise ordinance violations make us bad neighbors for Tempe residents. Forget the fact that we are a campus of 57,000 students and that we are Tempe residents. Or, the fact we have quieted down substantially with Tempe police enforcing the loud party ordinance.
As Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman said in his State of the City address last year -- right before lambasting students as bad neighbors -- this University is the heart of Tempe's economy. But ASU is made of students. This campus would be nothing but fliers and shoddy construction without us.
So, since Tempe City Council has made it evident that it hates students, we thought it only fair to reply in kind: We hate you, Tempe City Council. Please go away. You're bothering us. You're lousy neighbors.
It is funny, though, how the Council appreciates the massive revenue ASU creates for Tempe, yet wants the students packed into apartments or dorms away from Tempe homeowners. In case you haven't noticed, there are quite a few non-student renters in Tempe -- far more fickle than students when it comes to "settling."
Students are taking five and six years to graduate (ideal or not), so what exactly makes them not "in for the long haul?" as Carter says.
The proposed meal plan would have us eat on campus, after which we're supposed to leave and go to our slums somewhere in Old Mesa. Oh, and we can't bloody-well drive our cars, since parking isn't a job; it's an adventure. We're supposed to ride our bikes to Gilbert or Chandler -- somewhere out of Tempe's hair.
The thing is, we don't hear a whole lot of complaints coming from the renters in the case of student tenants. To them, our money is just as good as anyone else's.
There are more of us than crabby residents. And despite popular misconceptions amid the Council, we cannot be forced or duped into cattle carts or dorm rooms when we constitute the backbone of this city.
We'll decide where we want to rent, and whether it will be a house, condo or apartment.
We are not "temporary," as Carter says. We have been here for a while; and despite the woeful increase of tuition once again on the horizon, we will be here for a long time to come.
Too long has Tempe City Council been shaking the hand of ASU while wagging its finger at students. We haven't messed your carpet: We're why it's there in the first place.
