Residents insist new Iona dorm would create more problems

Written by Greg Maker

Thursday, 29 July 2010 16:56

College defends parking policy

Mt. Joy Place resident Jonathan Misner remembers when Rice Hall, built in 1972, was the only residential facility on the campus of Iona College. Since 1990, Iona has built three more dormitories and is proposing to build a new 10-story dorm at the intersection of North and Mayflower avenues. Though not against development from Iona, Misner, like other members of the Mt. Joy Association, wants the dorm to be built on Iona’s campus to avoid problems with congestion and parking.

“Iona is a good neighbor but between New Rochelle High School and Iona we have seen an increase of traffic,” Misner said. “When you are coming over Eastchester Road, you almost have to go out of your way to get on the highways. A 10-story dorm is a real struggle to push on the entire neighborhood. Iona has room across from McDonald’s on Beechmont Drive. If they built the dorm there, there would be a decrease in the number of students crossing the street.”

Iona College Assistant Vice Provost for Residential Life Derek Zuckerman has heard complaints that students are not always considerate of the needs of their neighbors. However, he noted that the college has taken many proactive steps to prevent disturbances such as local security patrols that monitor the neighborhood. Students at the college have initiated a respect campaign where they confront other students about disrespectful behavior in the community. Iona’s student handbook has a good neighbor policy where they educate students on being responsible in the neighborhood while the college pays for an officer from the New Rochelle Police Department to patrol the area around campus on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.

There are currently four dorms that Iona students can live in but none that are currently geared towards upperclassmen. Loftus Hall, built in 1990, houses up to 390 students while Conese and South Halls, both built in 2003, house up to 214 students apiece. According to Zuckerman, Iona aims to create a community for students in the residence halls where they are “guaranteed a safe place to live.” Residence halls are equipped with sprinkler systems, 24-hour security and staff members to respond to complaints.

According to Mt. Joy Association Chair Robert McCaffrey, it was around 1990 when Loftus Hall was built that Iona students started having more of a presence in the neighborhood. McCaffrey, who graduated from Iona in 1983, noted that the school shifted from a commuter school to a more residential school which has created problems with congestion and parking. McCaffrey stated that when Iona was a commuter school, parking problems were the only prevalent issue. He noted that it was not a big deal when Iona first started opening more dorms, but over time the neighborhood has become more congested because of it.

“We have no control because the students can park on public streets,” McCaffrey said. “If they build this new dorm, the students are going to bring their cars. When they become juniors and seniors, they are going to be more mobile. There are no bars on North Avenue anymore and they are still going somewhere. You can see that between two and four in the morning there are a lot of Iona students who are drunk and leaving beer cans on the side of the road. A lot of them don’t wait to get home to use the bathroom as well.”

Though Zuckerman understands concerns in the neighborhood about parking, he noted that Iona students are residents of the neighborhood as well and have a right to use on-street parking spaces. He added that the college is looking to bring more students into residence halls to alleviate these concerns and to provide a safer living environment.

Zuckerman estimates that approximately 90 to 100 upperclassmen live in the dorms but most of them are either resident assistants or live in single rooms in Rice Hall. He feels that adding the new dorm would give more upperclassmen a chance to live on campus which would help with the parking problem. Currently Iona makes it clear to first- and second-year students that they cannot have cars. The college does not issue parking passes to these students. Students that would potentially live in the new dorm would be prohibited from having cars.

“If a student parks illegally and it is brought to our attention, we work with the NRPD to correct the violation,” Zuckerman said. “We hold our students responsible in the community.”

McCaffrey stated that students at Iona today have a sense of “entitlement” and often act “arrogant” about what they can and cannot do. He noted that when he was an Iona student, that was not the attitude.

“My parents wouldn’t have put up with that attitude,” McCaffrey said. “Parents now will say they would rather have 10 kids living in an apartment because it is cheaper than living in a dorm. They are ripping down high rises at the Hartley Houses to build more of a townhouse concept. Iona should be looking at townhouses opposed to a high rise building.”

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