I moved to Mission Hill 35 years ago. My family has owned our home for 55 years. It has always been a pleasure living in Mission Hill because of its strong sense of community. I’ve known some of the people who were at last Thursday’s Community Conversation meeting since I was a little girl. Now, this bond is gone. Our neighbors are temporary and they treat the homes in our community that were once owned by families with no respect.

Such houses are plentiful. Recently, student residents have begun having cook-outs on their porches without regard to the dangers of burning down the houses that they rent and the adjacent homes. This past Monday, the people at a neighboring house had a cook-out party on their third floor porch and lit two decorative torches that they have tied to the porch pillars. I asked the young man who was grilling if he knew that it was against the law to have the torches burning on the porch. He said yes. I told him to put it out before he blew the houses up. He had his roommate blow them out and I went back inside. Later, when I got up to go to bed, they had the torches lit again and they continued their cook-out and loud talking and laughing until after 1 a.m. Enough is enough!

None of the hard-working homeowners and families should have to put up with this or any of the countless other stories that we hear from one another. If students are going to live off campus, they’re going to have to abide by the rules and laws of the neighborhood and city. Otherwise, like many at the meeting said, you are not welcome here! Northeastern should build the necessary dorms that they promised to build. They need to restore our community to families, not 2,000-plus students.

–Cindy Diggs is a Mission Hill resident.