 "Photo: Courtesy of SDSU Media Relations")
Those noisy neighbors might not be able to afford to live in their rental properties anymore.
The San Diego City Council's Land Use and Housing Committee, headed by City Councilman Jim Madaffer, voted yesterday to approve a proposal that would allow San Diego Police to give out administrative citations to residents living in a home there have been complaints about.
The proposal will be active in the College Area from April 30 to Oct. 31 for a six-month trial period and each ticket has a $1,000 price tag.
The fee can also be imposed upon the property owners who are made aware of the disturbances their tenants create and do nothing about it.
Previously, Neighborhood Code Compliance officers could only hand out administrative citations, and officers were only able to issue criminal citations, such as misdemeanor citations that go on a person's criminal record (administrative citations do not go on record).
SDPD and San Diego State Police will now have the option to issue one or both types of the citations to the responsible parties for the noise violations.
The proposal defines responsible parties as tenants, owners and/or anyone else involved.
If they should choose to issue an administrative citation, the officers will report it to the NCC who will then send the recipient a notice of their fine.
NCC Program Manager Sheri Carr said ticket holders will need to pay their fine within 10 days but can appeal to an administrative hearing officer.
"They get an invoice from the auditor's office, or they can pay by mail or in person prior to receiving that notice," Carr said. "If it's not paid or appealed within 10 days you get an invoice."
SDPD Captain Guy A. Swanger from the Midcity Division said that SDPD responded to 1,615 nuisance rental property calls in the College Area in 2006. Although he has said the Associated Students' Good Neighbor Program has helped raise awareness about the issue, it hasn't been enough. He said he hopes issuing the tickets will make noisy neighbors think twice.
"Nuisance rentals are just as much a problem for San Diego State University and for our students and faculty and staff as they are for the other citizens of this region," SDSU President Stephen Weber said.
However, 20 percent of SDSU students live on or within a one-mile radius of campus, and Swanger said about half the tenants of the nuisance rental homes are probably SDSU students.
Other tenants of the noisy homes, he said, include SDSU alumni and community college students.
For those problem tenants who are SDSU students, the university is trying to discipline them with the addition of its own code compliance officer.
SDSU is also working to put more housing on campus by adding more beds in the revised 2007 Campus Master Plan and the recent purchase of Aztec Corner (the former College Manor apartments) buildings on the corner of Montezuma Road and 55th Street. Aztec Corner will act as a residence hall as well, adding about 600 beds.
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