Students, locals look to become ‘good neighbors’

Stacy Morgan said she loves living in Chapel Hill, but student life sometimes clashes with her life as a single parent.

“The biggest thing was the bong,” Morgan said while pushing her daughter Angelina, 1, in a stroller.

“They just left stuff out there and the kids are like, ‘Mommy, what’s that?’”

Morgan, who lives in SunStone Apartments on Conner Drive by University Mall, said that although there are occasional noise problems, most students are good neighbors.

She was one of about 20 volunteers who gathered at the Hargraves Community Center on Thursday to distribute information packets to UNC students and permanent residents as part of the Good Neighbor Initiative.

Volunteers traveled door to door distributing 1,000 packets of information — more than twice as many as last year — throughout the Northside, Pine Knolls, and Cameron-McCauley neighborhoods, said Robin Clark, community services officer with the Chapel Hill Police Department.

Now in its sixth year, the initiative uses the combined forces of Chapel Hill police, UNC organizations and town groups to improve relations between college students and nearby permanent residents.

“It’s a recognition that we’re all in this community together,” said Winston Crisp, the assistant vice chancellor for student affairs.

“We have fully half of our undergraduate student population that lives outside of the confines of campus alongside Chapel Hill natives.”

The packets contained information about town services like recycling, coupons for businesses downtown and transit information.

“I feel like oftentimes students move into neighborhoods and don’t really reach out to other citizens of the town,” said senior Kimberly Fisher, a member of United with the Northside Community NOW, who was handing out packets.

Clark said this year the initiative aimed to expand its outreach.

The initiative formerly distributed Good Neighbor information only to students. But this year, more permanent residents were given information after concerns that they were being left out.

“Last year we only delivered somewhere in the neighborhood of 450 packets,” she said. “We definitely have a little bigger goal this year.”

Joe Alston, a Northside resident of five years, said he’s received the packet before and thinks it’s a good idea, although he’s never had a disturbance from noisy students.

“It’s a quiet area,” he said. “I haven’t had any problems like that.”

Students who were home to receive the information said they found the packet’s contents helpful.

“I don’t know if a lot of neighborhoods get his kind of attention unless you live in an apartment complex or whatnot,” said Mark Grant, a senior nursing student.

Volunteers said they hope the program will help bridge the communication gap between locals and University students.

“I think it helps students realize that the town of Chapel Hill isn’t just about the University,” Fisher said. “That there’s more to Chapel Hill and Carrboro than the classes and the parties that they attend.”


Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.