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Marx calls for rooftop party ban

March 9, 2015

roof 2San Luis Obispo Mayor Jan Marx is calling for a city ban on rooftop parties, following a weekend incident in which a garage roof collapsed at an early St. Patrick’s Day party. [Tribune]

At 6:21 a.m. Saturday, between 30 and 40 party goers were standing on top of a garage at a house party near Cal Poly. The roof collapsed, causing at least eight injuries, and online footage of the incident spread across the country.

Marx described the incident as mob behavior and an affront to the city. She told the Tribune it is sad that students act unintelligently and irresponsibly just months after they display the intelligence needed to get into Cal Poly.

An ordinance would theoretically put an end to “brewfing” — drinking on rooftops, Marx said. The ordinance would be a step toward regaining control in neighborhoods characterized by high student populations, she added.marx4

The roof collapse occurred during a block party on Hathway Avenue, a prime location for Cal Poly partygoers. Thousands of people attended the early St. Patrick’s Day celebration.

Cal Poly head baseball coach Larry Lee, and his brothers Mike and Terry Lee, own the property where the roof collapsed. Mike Lee said none of the tenants living at the house planned the party, and none of the affected families has threatened a lawsuit.


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Were any of these students engineering majors?


Cal Poly and SLO city need to come to a meeting of the minds. I don’t know why a clause cannot be inserted into attending Cal Poly (which we taxpayers subsidize) that says if you are convicted of or plead no contest to any misdemeanor involving moral turpitude or a disturbance along the lines of this latest incident, you will be subject to suspension for one, two, four quarters, whatever. It has to come from the university,and it has to have teeth in it. There will no doubt be all sorts of legal arguments raised against this, but SLO has other contracts with Cal Poly for fire services, etc. and we residents, businesses and taxpayers get to clean up their mess. The college contributes a lot but it also eats up a lot of our money in law enforcement, fire protection, general cleanup downtown, etc.


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Woman who has been there….I hate to tell you this, but we have been told for YEARS that we have NO MORAL authority to judge what is right and wrong.

How dare you right wing radical tea party zealot! These are just kids exploring themselves, how dare you try and put your MORALS on them!


See folks, see what happens when you take the talking points of the left and logically apply them?

A Community either gets to apply and enforce “Community Values and Morals” or they do not.

We see here what happens when we “do not”.


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There should be consequences for such behavior no doubt. However, even though it would be nice to get more cooperation from Cal Poly,I think that it is the city’s duty to enforce the laws off campus. GOOD enforcement of the noise regs and under-age drinking laws should be enough in almost every case. I would not have wept if any of the kids had been permanently injured or ever killed — not because I wish them bad on an individual basis but because it seems to be the only way to drill the dangers of alcohol-fueled mob scenes into the immature people who take part in them.


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Just because someone is clever and wealthy enough to get into an expensive school does not mean that they posess a wit of common sense. This behavior would seem to be natural selection at work. As for an ordinance to prevent furthur episodes, one would think that the prohibitions on excessive noise would prevent further such situations. Perhaps they need to be better enforced, for the sake of the rest of the community.


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It doesn’t matter a person’s IQ or level of wealth, if they get sloshed enough, they’re bound to do stupid and dangerous stuff. It’s a miracle none of these dummies were killed.

I say publish their names and expel all of ’em.


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I think that may require a study to formulate an ordinance. How many people will it take to create a party on a roof?

Will there be a weight to number of people before a violation occurs. What engineering requirements will be necessitated to allow someone to get on a garage roof?

How much will the permit fee for letting your kids play on the garage roof?


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Kick the hosts of the party out of school, that might get their attention. Also, fine the landlord, something at least as much as the cost for services, plus several thousand more, that might make them better landlords.


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Brilliant…..because now the landlord has a collapsed roof a multitude of grief and then a citation from the police? How is this landlord (Cal Poly baseball coach) liable?


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Because these tenants never presented themselves as irresponsible, and every time the landlord stopped and checked on things they were studying and the house and yard were always clean…….yeah right.


I have a nice New York bridge to sell you.


I bet the landlord never had a problem cashing those rent checks every month, rent that I am sure was reasonable…..


You want to be a landlord it comes with some responsibility, not just cashing inflated rent checks.


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It was said landlord that decided to rent their property to several students for $$$ rather than renting to a family or other, more mature adults at a lowered rate.


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There is no family that would rent that house in that block of Hathway. It is the Isle Vista of SLO.


By the way, student rentals have steadily taken over my relatively new “family”neighborhood, which is quite a way from campus, during the last few years.


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No family could afford that block of Hathway. Student housing is some serious bank. Hard for a landlord to see beyond that and contradict his/her own best interests. If you think student housing ownwers give a rat’s rear end about anything but $$$ you need to wake up and smell the alcohol.


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The idea of an ordinance trying to prevent student stupidity is silly. What form of ordinance will be next? Does Ms. Marks plan to introduce an ordinance every time someone does something stupid? Since no one can predict what will be thought of next, every ordinance attempt will be after the fact. Also, how many Poly students are aware (or care about) SLO City ordinances? Ms. Marks ordinance idea is just another left attempt to grow government.


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Good statement. Each and every one of them are guilty of vandalism and causing a public disturbance.


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Yes, every new ordinance will require a new department to enforce it, new personal or additional jobs with additional pay. Specially trained “roof to weight of party goers “specialists who will require to travel 14 times year to conferences and training, to observe how other countries perform, of course bring your spouses and children along for a taxpayer funded vacation, and just have them approve their own expenses. And of course salaries will require to be raised often to keep up with other counties/cities.


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While I can understand the basis for your concerns about motivation, I have the feeling that this is just an attempt to pander to the emotion of the moment and create an appearance of “doing something” to correct it. Sort of like the “Patriot Act”, the “War on Drugs” and the “War on Terrorism”. All sound good are start as attempts to address a real problem, but all are deeply flawed by hasty and shallow thinking that generate unintended consequences down the line.


Such an ordinance may well cause a small growth in government (“student specialists” in the PD?) but I doubt that was the intent. There are too many more efficient ways to do that like regulating rentals — both short term and long.


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How proactive, might as well ban college students while yer at it.


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I propose a ban on frivolous SLO bans.


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I’ve seen it all now….a Rooftop party ban?!?

How about Cartop party ban?

or

VW Bustop party ban?

or

a RVtop party ban?


Why don’t we just get these animals under control and stop with this or that ban?

This is the EXACT problem of not wanting to address the real issue but only deal with the symptoms!


It’s time to demand that Cal Poly get this student animals inline or what next a Front and back yard party Ban?


For the love of Pete….address the REAL ISSUE which is the out of control animals attending Cal Poly!


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Getting to the roof of the problem.


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