Negative article from front page of Toronto Star

[RACooper]

The following article appeared on the front page of today's Toronto Star - one of 4 newspapers with national distribution here in Canada

Delta Kappa Retch-on Lawn
Frat boys return 'a slice of hell'
Annex frat house bane of neighbours
17 in one house — `I'm not going to lie'

CHRISTIAN COTRONEO
STAFF REPORTER

It's the season of the student.

And few brace for that riotous rite of autumn more than the Annex neighbourhoods surrounding the University of Toronto, where noise complaints flow fast and furious.

Jennine Profeta, who lives across the street from Delta Kappa Epsilon at the corner of Lowther Ave. and St. George St., sums up the neighbourhood sentiment:

"September is a little slice of hell."

The sprawling fraternity house has long been the front line in the timeless battle between the back-to-school brigade and red-eyed residents.

Looking out the window of its television room — a makeshift home theatre with rows of mismatched couches — it's easy to see why.

An apartment building swallows the view, seeming almost on top of the red-brick house. There's another building just like it on the other side. Not to mention a crop of older Annex houses, just an upward turn of the stereo volume dial away.

"Thankfully we have a church over there," says fraternity president Ben Lee, pointing at the only non-residential space on the block.

Delta Kappa Epsilon is in tight quarters.

For its part, Ben Lee says the fraternity is always looking for ways to party in a vacuum. They put insulation around doors and windows, urge partygoers not to loiter loudly on the balcony and even try to cultivate relations with the neighbours.

Last year, the fraternity threw a barbecue, blanketing the surrounding buildings with invitations.

"We pretty much told them, `Here's what you can expect,'" Lee says. "It's noisy," says Lee, a neighbouring renter who would only give her first name. "I live on the back side of the building so it's not as bad for me. I know there have been people who have moved out of the building because of the noise.

the rest of the article at:
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Con...acodalogin=yes

It's looking like the community is gearing up for another assault on the Fraternities living in the neighbourhood... Fraternities that seem to take all the blame for any noise or drunken louts in the area - even though the Madison Avenue Pub is located in the neighbourhood as well (Toronto's largest pub with a 1200+ person capacity) - and of course hundreds of students in apartments or renting roomsin the area... of course this doesn't totally excuse the noise complaints lodged against houses; it's just that the Fraternities serve as an easy, identifiable target for the brunt of the communities complaints.

In the article it mentions a meeting that took place a couple of years ago between the community, police, fire, and Greeks - a meeting which I attended... it really wasn't a meeting but seemingly a forum for the community to bitch about the Greeks to the "authorities" - with one exception: the neighbours of Sigma Chi did get up and defend them as considerate and co-operative.