Students are not residents. They are temporary and have no long-term vested interest in the city. They should not be allowed to vote in Wbg let alone be on the council. It sounds like they do need an overhaul to their voting laws.
Councilmembers serve 4 year terms, which is the same amount of time undergrads typically attend college for. Seems like the same term of vested interest to me 🤷 And the college is a HUGE economic boon for the city so I can't think of why you would want 65% of the city population to be unhappy.
If town residents and city council members weren't so set on making life difficult for students this would frankly never have been a conversation.
How are they making life difficult for students? They come here for 9 months out of each 4 years, rent a place or stay in dorms, and then leave to go live and invest somewhere else. I don't get what could possibly be happening in that narrow world of theirs as students that the City of Wbg is making so difficult that they need to have the power to make major decisions that affect actual residents who have lived here long before they got here and will continue to long after they're gone.
- Lack of affordable housing, and just housing in general close to campus. There are hundreds of students who have to live deep into JCC or York or Newport News just to be able to afford to live off-campus. Tons more who pay way more per month in rent than they can afford. Why are 1 bedroom apartments within a mile of downtown creeping up to almost 1800/month now? This isn't a major city. Why is literally nothing being built? There are multiple big empty lots between campus and Monticello Ave.
- Rent Ready as it's currently proposed is ridiculous. Nobody should have to take a class to live off-campus.
- Targeted policing
- Almost nothing stays open late, the city is not very interested in encouraging late night eateries or nightlife to open shop
- Poor public transit funding
- Major lack of pedestrian safety. People keep getting hit on Richmond and Jamestown Rds each year but nothing changes
Also frankly if the city was a more attractive place for young people in general people wouldn't want to leave after they graduated. Someone in their early to mid 20s who isn't a student has basically zero options for fun.
Heck, affordability pretty much affects all of us. You do realize how small the City of Wbg is, that it is a Colonial/Historical destination, and the over-inflationary market we're in right now? There is nothing "affordable" for anyone. Isn't W&M known as kind of elite school and those that go there tend to come from money? They already plan for the expenses as much as any of us can. Why would we want to fundamentally change a small little "town" and its history so we can entertain students and keep them here after. If they don't like what Williamsburg has to offer then they should move or not come to school here if they want a party town. It is why we have choices and diverse areas in this country. I don't move to a city and try to have all the buildings torn down to make it country. I just choose not to love there.
Thanks for the discussion. It is interesting how much college students want accommodated to.
It's a state school and W&M provides Virginia residents whatever aid they need to be able to attend, so there are many many students who are not wealthy at all. And many grad students rely on stipends to fund their housing and have to live way out of the way to manage that.
Frankly there is nothing "historic" about a good half of Williamsburg (don't even try to argue Richmond Road past Matoaka Ct has colonial charm). I'm not arguing we tear up CW, but replacing an empty parking lot or another vacant commercial building with apartments won't fundamentally change anything besides maybe preventing Williamsburg from further devolving into a playground for wealthy retirees. And yeah the irony is tons of people are moving down here from up north for retirement and then yelling that nothing else can change ever. Williamsburg was the home of William & Mary long before it was anything else.
That's an unfair spin. W&M is fundamentally important to the Williamsburg economy, especially now that tourism has declined significantly. Students, staff, faculty, and all of the events the school hosts bring tons of money to local businesses. If everyone just packed up and left the town would be in serious trouble. And Williamsburg needs younger people or it will decline like crazy.
Ok, I get those arguments about renovating empty parking lots and buildings, which if I recall was approved to be turned into apartments but the question on those arguments come down to if building costs and materials are through the roof and continuing upwards, how is anyone going to make them "affordable" for the students? Right now, most cannot afford it. Also, not all of Williamsburg residents are rich.
I am still not in agreement to change this into a party town. These students should know what to expect of the area before coming here.
I think the current student on council has been good for them. We are lucky to have the university and I hope they do bring new ideas. It’s an important constituency.
Exactly why do temporary residents of the city get to vote in our elections at all? They have no long term vested interest in our community. And, as this article states, they favor their fellow students, instead of what is best for the whole city. This needs to end.
Students are not residents. They are temporary and have no long-term vested interest in the city. They should not be allowed to vote in Wbg let alone be on the council. It sounds like they do need an overhaul to their voting laws.
Councilmembers serve 4 year terms, which is the same amount of time undergrads typically attend college for. Seems like the same term of vested interest to me 🤷 And the college is a HUGE economic boon for the city so I can't think of why you would want 65% of the city population to be unhappy.
If town residents and city council members weren't so set on making life difficult for students this would frankly never have been a conversation.
How are they making life difficult for students? They come here for 9 months out of each 4 years, rent a place or stay in dorms, and then leave to go live and invest somewhere else. I don't get what could possibly be happening in that narrow world of theirs as students that the City of Wbg is making so difficult that they need to have the power to make major decisions that affect actual residents who have lived here long before they got here and will continue to long after they're gone.
Here's a few:
- Lack of affordable housing, and just housing in general close to campus. There are hundreds of students who have to live deep into JCC or York or Newport News just to be able to afford to live off-campus. Tons more who pay way more per month in rent than they can afford. Why are 1 bedroom apartments within a mile of downtown creeping up to almost 1800/month now? This isn't a major city. Why is literally nothing being built? There are multiple big empty lots between campus and Monticello Ave.
- Rent Ready as it's currently proposed is ridiculous. Nobody should have to take a class to live off-campus.
- Targeted policing
- Almost nothing stays open late, the city is not very interested in encouraging late night eateries or nightlife to open shop
- Poor public transit funding
- Major lack of pedestrian safety. People keep getting hit on Richmond and Jamestown Rds each year but nothing changes
Also frankly if the city was a more attractive place for young people in general people wouldn't want to leave after they graduated. Someone in their early to mid 20s who isn't a student has basically zero options for fun.
Heck, affordability pretty much affects all of us. You do realize how small the City of Wbg is, that it is a Colonial/Historical destination, and the over-inflationary market we're in right now? There is nothing "affordable" for anyone. Isn't W&M known as kind of elite school and those that go there tend to come from money? They already plan for the expenses as much as any of us can. Why would we want to fundamentally change a small little "town" and its history so we can entertain students and keep them here after. If they don't like what Williamsburg has to offer then they should move or not come to school here if they want a party town. It is why we have choices and diverse areas in this country. I don't move to a city and try to have all the buildings torn down to make it country. I just choose not to love there.
Thanks for the discussion. It is interesting how much college students want accommodated to.
It's a state school and W&M provides Virginia residents whatever aid they need to be able to attend, so there are many many students who are not wealthy at all. And many grad students rely on stipends to fund their housing and have to live way out of the way to manage that.
Frankly there is nothing "historic" about a good half of Williamsburg (don't even try to argue Richmond Road past Matoaka Ct has colonial charm). I'm not arguing we tear up CW, but replacing an empty parking lot or another vacant commercial building with apartments won't fundamentally change anything besides maybe preventing Williamsburg from further devolving into a playground for wealthy retirees. And yeah the irony is tons of people are moving down here from up north for retirement and then yelling that nothing else can change ever. Williamsburg was the home of William & Mary long before it was anything else.
That's an unfair spin. W&M is fundamentally important to the Williamsburg economy, especially now that tourism has declined significantly. Students, staff, faculty, and all of the events the school hosts bring tons of money to local businesses. If everyone just packed up and left the town would be in serious trouble. And Williamsburg needs younger people or it will decline like crazy.
Ok, I get those arguments about renovating empty parking lots and buildings, which if I recall was approved to be turned into apartments but the question on those arguments come down to if building costs and materials are through the roof and continuing upwards, how is anyone going to make them "affordable" for the students? Right now, most cannot afford it. Also, not all of Williamsburg residents are rich.
I am still not in agreement to change this into a party town. These students should know what to expect of the area before coming here.
I think the current student on council has been good for them. We are lucky to have the university and I hope they do bring new ideas. It’s an important constituency.
Exactly why do temporary residents of the city get to vote in our elections at all? They have no long term vested interest in our community. And, as this article states, they favor their fellow students, instead of what is best for the whole city. This needs to end.
Might be better than what we have now