Chateau Trial UpdateLast Updated 3/15/2005 CO-OP LOSS IN SMALL CLAIMS COURT The University Student’s Housing Cooperative Association (USCA) suffered a temporary setback in small claims court against neighbors of one of its member houses, Le Chateau. Twenty-two plaintiffs sought maximum allowable damages from Le Chateau totaling $110,000 in reparations for living with excessive noise and other disruptive conditions that they claimed stemmed from the co-op. After two were dismissed, the honorable Judge Rantzman awarded $5,000 apiece to 12 of the neighbors, less for three, with five still pending. “While we had prepared ourselves for an adverse decision, we are surprised at the magnitude of some awards and the extent of others, particularly to people who lived more than half a mile away or who were not living in the area at the time of the lawsuit,” said USCA President Nick Hamilton. Prior to the lawsuits being filed, the USCA had been working to make improvements to respond to complaints from neighboring residents. The occupancy of Le Chateau was downsized (from 83 to 75) and remodeling projects undertaken to buffer neighbors from common house noise, including soundproofing the building, and converting a recreation room and a carriage house in the backyard into a study room. In spring of 2003 house policies and USCA resident contracts were amended in order to place more restrictive limitations on some activities. To that end, the USCA established more formal and clearly defined processes to monitor complaints and assure adherence to USCA policies. In addition, the USCA and Le Chateau are continually working to build cooperative community relations, from inviting neighbors for dinner to hosting educational workshops and art shows. The USCA has provided low-cost student housing to over 60,000 students in Berkeley for over 70 years, helping to make higher education possible to many who might not otherwise be able to afford it. While the lawsuit has strained its resources, the organization is committed to continuing to provide a student-owned, student-run cooperative experience to some 1,300 students in 17 room-and-board houses and 3 apartment complexes in Berkeley. USCA co-ops provide a unique opportunity for students to develop professional skills and gain work experience, since overall policy and management rests with an essentially all-student Board of Directors and USCA officers elected by the resident co-op members themselves. The members also retain a small paid central administrative staff, to fill full-time professional needs.
All of the structural improvements combined with the lawsuit have come at a great cost to the organization. USCA President, Nick Hamilton said, “We will have to raise rents in order to pay for it, and this will be a hardship on the low income students we serve. We do recognize that certain actions have been unacceptable and we take the neighborhood objections very seriously. We want our friends, alumni and supporters to know that we are working diligently to listen to and address people’s concerns and to restore our good name.” The USCA Board will be considering the decision to appeal.
Please see the links below if you would like more information: A Letter from the President of the USCA Community Letter In Support Of The USCA |
|
Chateau Residents on Front Steps A LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT Dear Friend of the USCA, Thank you for your interest in the on-going issues related to Chateau. While 90% of us who live or who have lived in co-ops find or have found our experiences to be not only supportive, educational and stimulating, but also in harmony in the community, recent experiences with Le Chateau Co-op have made front page news to the contrary. Disgruntled neighbors have brought us into court for being less than neighborly. We do recognize that certain actions have been unacceptable and we take the objections very seriously. We want our friends, alumni and supporters to know that we are working diligently to address the problems and to restore our good name. I want to assure you that the USCA and Chateau residents are investing a significant amount of time and attention to the matter, and we are all committed to ensuring that the house remains a valuable and viable part of our cooperative community. The residents of Chateau invest a tremendous amount of energy to make Chateau a nice place to live, and also to be responsive to their neighbors’ reasonable concerns. I would like to respond to your concerns directly and would be happy to answer any additional questions you have. Please feel free to call our office at (510) 848-1936 or email pr@usca.org. Sincerely, Nick Hamilton
____ FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Updated: 12/14/04Q. What is the trial about? A. In April 2004, 22 neighbors filed small claims court suits totaling $110,000, seeking the maximum $5,000 each in damages from the University Students Cooperative Association (USCA). The suits charge that Le Chateau Co-op has created a nuisance in the neighborhood. The case went to trial on November 3, 2004, but has been extended twice to allow time for testimony. The final court date is scheduled for Monday, December 20th.
Q. How is the USCA responding to this? A. The USCA has been working with the neighbors to address their complaints long before the lawsuits. Chateau residents and USCA officers met with neighbors and negotiated the Chateau Addendum in the spring of 2003. Every Chateau resident is now required to sign the addendum that contains a promise by Chateau residents to conform to certain standards of behavior and details punishment for any resident who fails to do so. At a meeting with the City of Berkeley in March 2004, the neighbors who are now plaintiffs acknowledged that the noise problems had improved and the Addendum seemed to have had a good effect. Furthermore, since the implementation of the addendum, USCA executives and staff have:
Q. Why did the neighbors sue the USCA? A. Despite the aforementioned good faith efforts to address the neighbors concerns, the neighbors have continued to complain. The lawsuit itself was filed in the middle of negotiations that seemed to be going well from both sides. Some of the claims are so exaggerated and/or misguided that they reveal more of an interest in finding problems than solutions. In addition,more than 77 neighbors have submitted statements in favor of Chateau.
Q: Is there truth to these allegations? A. Neighbors say there have been more Police complaints about Chateau per resident than any of the other Co-ops. A call to the police does not indicate that a violation occurred, nor reflects that Chateau residents have misbehaved. On sixty-three of the sixty-nine Loud Noise Disturbance/Disturbing the Peace calls logged in 2003-2004, the responding officers did not deem the calls deserving of citation, further action, or even worth filing a report. Clearly most, if not all, of these logged complaints do not qualify as evidence of loud noises or disturbances of the peace. Councilmember Kriss Worthington has explained that there have been far more complaints about other buildings on the same block and adjoining blocks than against Chateau. He also explained that when he receives noise complaints from the other locations, the noise is still in progress when he arrives. By comparison, the noise seems to stop before he even gets to Chateau, which is usually within five or ten minutes of the complaint. Chateau is located one block from People’s Park and two blocks from the corner of Telegraph and Dwight Way, which is an intensely populated, noisy student neighborhood. Many of the neighbor complaints—such as of homeless people and litter—are part of the Telegraph neighborhood and are not caused by Chateau. Most of the Plaintiffs live far enough away from Chateau that noise is not a genuine problem. Many of their complaints are about things that happened in 1995 or the late nineties. Those residents have moved-out of the co-ops and are not longer members of the USCA.
Q: Are student managers really competent to manage their own peers at that age? A: The USCA is now it its 71 st year of operation, having successfully housed more than 60,000 students, and growing into the largest student housing co-op in the nation. The USCA offers students a unique and valuable opportunity for leadership growth and professional development. Part of the cooperative experience is to give young adults the opportunity to grow—to accept responsibility and leadership. And most excel at it. Let us not forget that the positive improvements being made at Le Chateau are the result of concerned student managers and Board of Director representatives working cooperatively and pro-actively with the Chateau residents, neighbors and city officials.
Q: Wouldn’t it be easier to have paid house managers who could devote their full attention to running the place? A: USCA student house managers are paid in the same way the University dorm student Residence Assistants are paid, with free room and board. Hiring professional managers might be easier, but it would defeat one of the most valuable aspects and integral components of living in a cooperative – the experiential growth from learning self-governance and how to live cooperatively with others. The USCA has also historically had professional management at Rochdale Apartments.
Q: What about the filth and rats the neighbors complained about? A: The neighbors complain about graffiti, both inside Chateau properties and on the exterior. Chateau co-op does not have any graffiti on the exterior of the houses. The interior decoration of Chateau is does not affect the neighborhood, and indeed, is a private matter of its owners and residents. Chateau has garbage pick-up three times a week. For quite some time, Chateau has had a fence enclosing its garbage dumpsters so they are not visible. Chateau does not have rats.
Q. What about the chicken and the pig incidents? A: A plaintiff complained about a chicken that was killed by a Chateau resident. She acknowledges that she did not witness the event, and her account is based entirely on hearsay from an unidentified downstairs neighbor, who may or may not have seen the event. If anyone had actually seen rather than merely heard about the event, he or she might have known it was not a Chateau-generated problem. Fortunately, the Co-op has been able to piece together what actually happened: The chicken was apparently one of two strays that wandered onto Chateau and adjacent properties. The dog (the Chateau does not allow dogs) attacked and seriously injured the chicken. Seeing the chicken flopping around in agony, a well-intentioned Chateau resident tried to put the chicken out of its misery but did not do so in a particularly skilled manner. In other words, with the best of intentions, he tried to do what he thought was the proper thing to do in circumstances that he did not create, and his efforts were misperceived and mischaracterized. Another plaintiff complained about an incident involving a pig that was cooked at a luau at Chateau in April of 2000. Chateau residents promptly cleaned up the mess mentioned by neighbors and no similar event has occurred over the ensuing five years, as reflected in the neighborhood association meeting minutes. The students involved have moved out and are no longer members of the USCA.
Q: What about complaints of homeless and transient people living at Le Chateau? A: USCA policies are very strict on guest policies. While Chateau residents feel this was another area where the neighbors were exaggerating, they house policies have become more stringent. The USCA requires and verifies each semester that all members are students pursuing a degree. No homeless or transient people living at Chateau. The USCA inspects each house on a regular basis and as needed for maintenance, kitchen hygiene, scheduling repairs, training, and so forth. In a cooperative, there is a high level of trust and respect between members, and in general the central level staff and executives work cooperatively with the houses. The fact that the students themselves have voted to implement random inspections by the central level, among other things, exemplifies extraordinary initiative and underscores how seriously they are about the neighbors concerns. ____ COMMUNITY LETTER IN SUPPORT OF THE USCA Seventy-one neighbors signed a letter, composed by Le Chateau co-opers, attesting to the integrity of the cooperative and its members’ behavior. “I, a neighbor of Le Chateau, residing at _____, do hereby attest that the nature of said cooperative, does not negatively effect my life. The students who reside there seem to me to be no more noisy, harassing or messy than any other students in large, group living homes such as fraternities, sororities, or other large co-ops.” _____ LETTERS FROM USCA ALUMNI DECLAN CONROY , Boulder Creek Graduate Student, MIT As a former house manager of le Chateau (2000), and one of the people who cleaned up the pig after the incident mentioned in the article, I'd like to express how much I loved the 2 years I lived at le Chateau. The neighbors were always able to contact me, via a pager, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to register complaints about noise and trash, to which I promptly responded. This is a highly unusual and incredibly attentive relationship, for which we should be commended, not sued. While the housesuffered from many of the problems associated with any area denselypopulated by students, le Chateau also provided the rare space to becreative, engage in debate and activism, meet unique people, and participatein a social living experiment that I draw from to this day. I only wish MIT had that kind of intensity of freedom, politics, and art so bewilderingly supported by the enigma that is le Chateau. Stay gold le Chateau! PETER RALPH, Oakland BRYN WILLIAMS, Stanford _____ USCA CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have further questions, want to help or would like to request an interview, please feel free to contact our Communications Coordinator, Melanie Colburn. Melanie Colburn, Communications Coordinator Email: pr@usca.org Phone: (510) 387-0680
University Students’ Cooperative Association 2424 Ridge Road Berkeley, CA 94709 |