In a display of political theater set against the backdrop of the now-vacant Phi Kappa Psi house, City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake on Tuesday resurrected an attempt to bolster the city's noise ordinances, an initiative that has languished in the council since its introduction nearly a year and a half ago.
The announcement, made by the second-highest-ranking official in the city, amounts to an escalation of the community's campaign to force the Phi Psi fraternity from its house of over 30 years in the quiet residential neighborhood of Tuscany-Canterbury.
The fraternity, which left its home for over a year to complete a series of renovations, has been fighting a city zoning ordinance that requires absent homeowners to file for an extension in order to retain their property. Members of the community -- including City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke -- have seized the opportunity to expel what they see as a blight on their quiet residential neighborhood.
Rawlings-Blake's legislation, which has the support of at least two-thirds of the 15-member council, would allow the city to evict homeowners who have been cited for noise violations twice in a two-year period.
According to several University officials, including Director of Community Affairs Salem Reiner and University spokesperson Dennis O'Shea, Hopkins has not taken a position on either the proposed legislation or the conflict between Phi Psi and the community.
Shaun Adamec, spokesman for the City Council President, said Rawlings-Blake chose the imagery of the Phi Psi conflict to inject new life into a bill that has stalled for more than a year, despite its considerable popularity with residents.
"That house is a symbol for neighbors wanting to reclaim the sanctity of their neighborhoods," he said, adding that the row over Phi Psi's potential eviction is "directly related to the noise."
Adamec also said that Rawlings-Blake would be sending a letter of support on behalf of the neighborhood to the city zoning board ahead of a hearing with the Phi Psi fraternity on April 17.
Clarke, a co-sponsor of the bill and ardent supporter of the Tuscany-Canterbury Neighborhood Association, said the renewed interest in the bill was primarily the result of an increase in noise complaints over the past year.
She said the bill was meant to target "chronic noise disruption" from so-called "nuisance properties," and that most cases of violations were unlikely to trigger the harshest provisions of the legislation, namely eviction.
As for the decision to make the announcement in front of the Phi Psi house, Adamec said that Rawlings-Blake was invited to the neighborhood by members of the community.
"We came to the neighborhood at the request of the Neighborhood Association," he said.
But Carl Hyman, president of the Tuscany-Canterbury Neighborhood Association, said it was Rawlings-Blake who first approached the community about using the Phi Psi house as a backdrop to renew her call for harsher noise legislation.
She "had decided that this would be a good example," he said.
Clarke agreed, saying it was Rawlings-Blake's decision, and that she supported it.
"You can't untangle the two [issues]," Clarke said.
Matthew Crenson, a professor of political science at Hopkins who also serves as an advisor to the Phi Psi fraternity, said resurrecting the bill may have been an attempt to weaken the fraternity's case ahead of its hearing in front of the city zoning board.
"This represents an attempt to conflate two completely separate issues," he said. "It drags in from the wings of the political process a legislation that has been sitting on the shelf for two years."
Rawlings-Blake, a one-term council member, "is a little new to be running for City Council President," he added. "This may be a way for [Clarke] to marshal support for [her] and strengthen her campaign."
Hyman said the issue of noise disruption was directly related to the conflict over the Phi Psi house, but that it was only one of the many reasons why his community wants the fraternity to leave.
"What's going on between the fraternity and the community is obviously not just noise," he said. "This kind of use for a property in an exclusively residential neighborhood is not compatible."
Hyman added that he was not against Greek life in the area per se, and that the University had rebuffed several attempts to discuss possible solutions to the location of fraternity houses in the surrounding community.
"They need to stop saying things like `this is not [our] concern,'" he said. "It's time for the University to enjoin the dialogue."
As for the proposed noise legislation, Hyman said he was enthusiastic.
"I've been waiting for legislation like this," he said.
In order to reach a vote in the council, the bill must first get through committee and a public hearing. If passed, it will go to Mayor Sheila Dixon's desk for approval.
-- Katlyn Torgerson contributed reporting to this article.
