Miami Student

Issue date: 3/23/07 Section: Front Page

Council members, students and Oxford residents discuss the ban proposal as well as the city litter, noise and furniture ordinances Tuesday evening.

After months of discussion between Miami University students, Oxford residents and city council, the ordinance that would have banned all outside drinking games failed Tuesday night in a 4-1 vote at the Oxford City Council meeting.

Discussion has been ongoing since the proposal was initially brought to city council Nov. 7, 2006. Since then, the ordinance has been tabled three times.

Instead of the original outdoor drinking game ban, City Councilor Alysia Fischer requested that three current ordinances involving noise, litter and outside furniture be strengthened. Suggested at the March 6 council meeting, Fischer said strengthening current ordinances are a better method to tackle the appearance of Oxford and the drinking culture of the city.

"After talking to (the Student Community Relations Committee) … I talked to city council and I asked them to consider the original drinking ban because I don't feel that it addresses what we need to address," Fischer said. "When we talked about it as a wider community and looked at what the real issues were, the issues were noise, litter and the cultural symbol of the beer pong table and what it makes our community look like."

If passed, Fischer said she believes the three ordinances will be a more effective way to transform the town, yet act in a way that is fair to the students.

The noise, litter and furniture ordinances currently under discussion suggest a number of changes that would prohibit specific furniture materials outside and increase penalties for litter and noise violations.

While the noise and litter ordinances have developed little opinion from individuals, the furniture ordinance has fostered a number of concerns regarding its details.

According to the proposed ordinance, no person shall place, use, keep, store or maintain outside any couches, chairs, tables or other furniture not manufactured for outdoor use. In addition, plywood boards, construction materials, saw horses, tubes, pipes or rigid materials suspended between two supports to be used as a table are also forbidden.

Jennifer House, Associated Student Government (ASG) secretary for off-campus affairs, raised concern regarding the furniture ordinance because of the strict limit on acceptable structures permitted outside.

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