Neighbors move in next to house occupied by fraternity members, expect changes..

[Kevin]

NorthJersey.com
March 13, 2003

Big, fat frat headache

By ASHANTI M. ALVAREZ
Staff Writer

PATERSON - Dr. Attallah Brightwell moved to the Eastside's Manor
section to capture the suburban atmosphere of her hometown Teaneck at
a lower cost.

She didn't bargain on moving next to an "Animal House."

Her stately five-bedroom home sits atop a hill at the bend of Park
Road and Ridge Terrace, across the street from a music producer and
former Mayor Marty Barnes. Brightwell says she pays a hefty $8,000 in
taxes on the property. But through a picture window in her dining
room, she stares at a brown, tudor-style home - with a garish red
fence and a yard strewn with boxes and overgrown weeds.

The five brothers of Tau Kappa Epsilon who live in the home at 791
Broadway park haphazardly, clogging the narrow streets, Brightwell
said. Their parties keep neighbors up, she said, and she is concerned
about students driving through the neighborhood after an evening of
drinking. She said the police are little help when they are called.

"For what we pay in taxes, I want something," said Brightwell, a
36-year-old child psychologist who runs a nursery school in Freehold.
"If anything, I want peace and quiet."

But the fraternity brothers, from William Paterson University in
Wayne, say they have done all they can to accommodate the residential
neighborhood, and modified their social lives to avoid conflict.

"We toned everything down," said Erik Joseph, a junior majoring in
communications. He said that Brightwell's accounts of 80 to 100
people attending parties at the house are overblown, although a
September 2001 police report stated that more than 200 young people
were partying in the basement of the house.

Race has become a central issue in the quarrel, with Brightwell, an
African-American, saying the white fraternity brothers are
insensitive to the wants of the racially mixed neighborhood. The
fraternity brothers say they are being singled out primarily because
they are white, in a sort of reverse racial discrimination.

Brightwell filed a complaint in Municipal Court against the
fraternity for harassment and disorderly conduct regarding noise,
parking, and trash. Last Monday, the dispute took a nasty turn. The
two sides met in court, where a mediation session failed to bring
about a resolution. Now they are headed to trial in April.

The brothers' lifestyle is quite different from their neighbors'.
While the rooms in their four-bedroom house are cavernous and the
architecture is unique, doors are falling off the hinges and paint is
peeling.

A pool table is the center of activity on the first floor, and their
basement party space is outfitted with a DJ booth, beer posters,
pictures of beautiful blondes, and second- and third-hand couches.
There is no bar because the fraternity brothers usually have keg
parties, Joseph said.

The Manor is an enclave primarily composed of middle- and
upper-middle-class black and Hispanic families, leading Brightwell to
question whether the same behavior would be allowed were the roles
reversed.

"Would there be such tolerance from members of a black fraternal
organization in a white neighborhood? Would they be viewed as poor
college students or a menace to society?" she asked.

Joseph stressed that Tau Kappa Epsilon is not a "white" organization.
He gets visibly frustrated when talking about the racial tensions.
"We have Indians, African-Americans, Asians, homosexuals," he said.
"We don't judge the person - we judge the person as a person, that's
it."

He said the brothers living in the house - all white - feel as though
they are the ones being targeted because they stand out. "I think one
reason things have gotten to where we've gotten is because we're
white. ... We didn't see color when we moved into this neighborhood,"
he said.

Police have responded to noise and parking complaints several times
since 2001, most recently Feb. 27. Brightwell complains that the
police are chummy with the fraternity brothers, which Joseph
confirmed: "They usually make fun of her for a while ... they'll be
hanging out with us. They've told us that we don't do anything wrong."

Police Chief Lawrence Spagnola said his department has grown more
aware of the problem over time and patrol sergeants in the
neighborhood have been paying more attention to the house in recent
weeks.

"No neighborhood should have that problem," he said. "If in fact it
is deemed a nuisance, then you can go right to the owner of the home.
If there are violations, then action has to be taken."

Even though police have responded to calls from the neighborhood
several times, they have not issued one summons.

Brightwell started a petition drive aimed at getting the fraternity
evicted, and got about 20 neighbors to sign on, issuing entreaties to
Councilman William McKoy and Deputy Mayor Rigoberto Rodriguez.

The problem is, no one knows exactly what to do.

Police officials say they can respond only to noise complaints. The
house meets zoning requirements, they say.

Emanuel Munayyer helps owner George Grossbard of Teaneck oversee the
property and handles business with the fraternity brothers. "They are
excellent kids," he said.

Joseph said his brothers have made good-faith efforts to address the
neighbors' concerns. They instructed visitors to park several blocks
away, near Route 20, so they wouldn't hog the streets. They shovel an
elderly neighbor's walk in winter, and they've cut down on partying.

The brothers also invited Brightwell, her husband, and their two
young children over during a barbecue.

Brightwell rejected the invitation, and said the shuttling back and
forth from Route 20 is still a nuisance.

"It's not even just that they're out there, but they're back and
forth," she said. "We've got to get up and go to work in the morning.
... I have a problem with the fact that they're using this as a
college campus," she said.

Music producer Darren Lighty lives close to the house, and
acknowledged that the fraternity brothers have made efforts to curb
their bothersome behavior. Still, with two children ages 9 years and
4 months, he hoped for different neighbors when he moved to the Manor
section more than a year ago.

"They're not trying to be intrusive. The biggest thing is, this is
not the type of neighborhood for it,'' Lighty said.


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