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Eighteen years ago, I moved into the residential neighborhood that Deb Salyards represents and have watched the slow regression of a beautiful residential neighborhood into a ghetto. I am a proponent of the 30 percent rental cap to stop this disintegration of our neighborhoods. Allow me to address six points in the editorial.
Firstly, the “petty vandalism and momentary thoughtlessness” is not so pretty and thoughtless when living with it constantly. We live with congested streets, public drunkenness and indecency, destruction of property, sleepless nights from loud and obnoxious students, and fear of reprisal.
Secondly, Darrell Ehrlick and the WDN editorial board implicitly advocate the formation of a ghetto by completely converting neighborhoods around WSU into college student housing. The “Bronx” of Winona.
Thirdly, the singular attack on Councilmember Deb Salyards is especially loathsome; she strives for the good of the entire city and particularly the ward she represents.
Fortunately, she understands the problems affecting these neighborhoods by living in their midst. Those who are critical of the spread of rentals into outlying neighborhoods are truly the ones affected by “NIMBY — Not In My Backyard” syndrome.
The character of neighborhoods will be protected by a more even distribution of rental properties throughout the city as the neighborhood identity and character will be determined by its residents, not student tenants. The majority of the landlords (WSU included) do not live in the neighborhoods that they have created; they have no concern for the residents of these neighborhoods, its character or its identity.
Fourthly, a correction: It was not the planning commission (non-elected) that resigned, but the Board of Adjustment (non-elected), which merely had an advisory role, not a governing authority.
Fifthly, the students are “peregrinates” or transients; they are not permanent residents. Their temporary status gives them little vested or permanent interest in the city of Winona. In my neighborhood, I am one of the youngest permanent residents remaining; our neighbors have been in their homes for 30 years or more. The reason large houses have trouble selling is not due to the 30 percent cap, but due to the fact single families are less willing to invest in a beautiful older home only to be surrounded by noise, trash and drunken sots. We love our neighborhood and our city, and we are willing to fight for them.
Lastly, to scorn the city elders based on their average age is shameful and sophomoric; the concept of wisdom and ruling of the elders is as old as civilization. Thankfully, they question the precious “rites of passage” (vandalism, drunkenness, disturbing the peace) that seem so zealously guarded by the WDN editorial board. The council in their old-age wisdom strive for the protection of the “right” of the commonwealth.
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