What noise problem?

On April 16, three Durham Police Department cars pulled up on the street in front of our house around 6 p.m. I observed the policemen on the porch of the house across the street. The four students who live there were enjoying the nice spring evening on the porch and one could only guess as to what had brought the police to their door.

A short time later, the police left and a cameraman and reporter appeared on the corner aiming their lens at the house the police had just left. I went outside and asked the reporter what was going on. She said that they had gotten a tip and were working on the story about the noise problem and asked, "Aren't you aware of it?" I replied that I was not aware of a noise problem. I also pointed out that our 18 month-old son had never been awakened by noise in the street, even though his bedroom is at the front of the house and closest to the "problem."

We have all been awakened numerous times by the train, by yard work too early in the morning, by maintenance trucks and city buses-but never by a party on this street. I know that parties go on sometimes at three of the houses on the street, but they have never been out of hand. In fact they are quite predictable-Halloween, graduation and major sporting events. Sometimes there is the odd inebriated student in the middle of the night having a lover's quarrel on his or her cell phone in the street. But again, hardly a problem. Needless to say the reporter was not interested in putting me on camera and went around the block looking for one of our nettled neighbors.

There are some aspects of this issue that concern me. First, is that everyone in our neighborhood has chosen to live within one block of a university campus and a busy commercial area. Therefore, noise, to some extent, is to be expected. If it becomes a chronic problem, then by all means have meetings and get the authorities involved-but this is not the situation on Clarendon Street. Second, most of us benefit from the proximity of the University in a number of ways: by renting an apartment to a student, by a salary that is provided by these students' tuition and/or by unrestricted access to Duke's green space. Third, and even more troubling, is why our neighbors and City Council find it important to not just have meetings about this, but to actually distract our city police and the University's police from real problems in the city and on campus to deal with this minor issue.

Elizabeth Lindquist

Durham Resident, Clarendon Street