Colorado State University and the City of Fort Collins held two open house sessions Aug. 26-27 for the neighborhoods surrounding the Fort Collins campus with the goal of improving relations between CSU, its students and their neighbors.
The sessions were held in part to address recent concerns regarding noise levels, traffic and parking availability in the neighborhoods surrounding the main campus. Many residents in attendance Aug. 27 expressed concerns about the noise and traffic levels produced during the recent Professional Bull Riders’ Bulls and Beats festival held at Canvas Stadium, as well as the presence of CSU’s digital billboards across campus.
“These events really are intended to reconnect neighbors with each of our institutions, resources and each other so that we can identify shared or prioritized concerns and also opportunities,” said Malissa Larson, the community liaison between CSU and the city.
Larson said the sessions were designed to help make attendees aware of the resources available to them when such concerns arise. To accomplish this, a number of staff members from CSU and city departments were in attendance, including members of Fort Collins Parking Services, Neighborhood Services and Police Services. Each table offered resources such as location info on the various parking zones on game days are located, bike registration, future development projects and more.
The sessions also included a number of survey questions for attendees to gather information on how often they attend CSU events, what they would like CSU and the city to know and whether or not they would attend more events like this in the future.
Emily Seems, associate vice president for community affairs and engagement, said the university held similar meetings and gathered community input when it was announced Canvas Stadium would be built. She said the experience helped the university understand how to respond to more recent concerns.
“What we did during that time was collect concerns, questions, thoughts (and) excitement,” Seems said. “What that helped us do, as we were going into the stadium opening, was to work on, proactively, how we can mitigate safety concerns, how we can help with traffic flow patterns (and) how we can help residents communicate.”
However, Seems acknowledged while the university had already established a system for handling common events like football games, they didn’t expect new concerns to arise from events like PBR. As a result, the university created a team of people to respond to texts, calls and emails and focused on working to staff the event in a proactive manner.
“It was like a dawning of, ‘Oh, it’s because this is new,'” Seems said. “It’s new for CSU and new for the community. Let’s come back to the table and say to the community … ‘Hey, what is happening? What are the concerns?’”
Other residents shared concerns with the behavior of some students within the surrounding neighborhoods. Amy Hahn, a Fort Collins resident who said she has lived in the community for over 30 years, said while she appreciates the “vibrancy that (students) bring to this town,” she wants students to reflect on how they conduct themselves within the community.
“It matters to me tremendously that the students understand that they are guests in the community,” Hahn said. “I’m just north of campus and (if) in the middle of the night, there’s a bunch of kids out in front of my house and they’re being really loud, and then I come out the next morning and there’s a couple beer cans in my lawn, I’m not happy about that.”
Gary Filerman, another resident in attendance who has lived in Fort Collins for three years, said he would like to see more students engaged with the community on these issues.
“It’s student leadership, too,” Filerman said. “I would look around … and say, ‘Where’s the student government? Where are the students who are dorm leaders and so on, who are engaged in more responsible relationship issues and thinking about them?’ They’re the ones that ought to be interacting with community people in this kind of setting.”
Many staff members from the city who were in attendance said they want to explore new opportunities for engagement.
Lex Lupton, a program coordinator with the city’s neighborhood services department, was in attendance to raise awareness about the department’s 360 Neighborhoods Program, a citywide program designed to help build community between neighborhoods. They spoke about their Longer Tables series, which is intended to encourage neighbors to host meals within their community.
“There are times you can feel like you’re living here temporarily, or there’s this feeling of not being here long term or a part of (the) community,” Lupton said. “With Longer Tables we’re really trying to encourage students to be involved to say, ‘Hey, you are a part of Fort Collins. You’re meant to be here.’”
Larson said she hopes to host similar events in the future, emphasizing that she hopes every meeting will contribute to a greater understanding between students and residents in the community.
“(It’s) really exciting to imagine how we can all coexist together so that all of us are enriched by knowing each other better,” Larson said.
Reach Claire VanDeventer at news@collegian.com or on social media @RMCollegian.
