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Tempe is a party ground for drunk and stoned ASU students!

Off-campus rowdiness near ASU on rise

Tempe police called 10-20 times a week for disturbances at apartment complex

by Megan Boehnke - Jan. 30, 2010 12:00 AM

The Arizona Republic

Residents and guests threw eggs at police from a seventh-floor balcony Wednesday, prompting officers to make 25 underage-drinking arrests at a swanky high-rise apartment building across from Arizona State University's Tempe campus.

The incident offered the latest example of what Tempe police say has become a persistently dangerous situation at the Vue on Apache, a private off-campus housing complex that opened in August.

Records obtained by The Arizona Republic show that by Christmas Eve, police had been called to the building 244 times, nearly four times the number of calls to other high-end complexes populated largely by students along Apache Boulevard.

"It's a dangerous area for our officers and even for their own residents to be there," said Sgt. Steve Carbajal, a Tempe police spokesman. "What we're trying to do is curb some of these problems and put a stop to these problems before, God forbid, somebody gets seriously hurt or killed."

Jennifer Sanford, the Vue's office manager, said that the situation has improved substantially during the current semester and that the Number 1 goal is to protect the health and safety of residents, their guests and people around the complex. Relatively few incidents have occurred since December and they weren't necessarily related to students' behavior, she said. She noted that she called police, for example, about a homeless man who was passed out in front of the complex.

Representatives of the Vue met with police at the end of the last semester and then developed a "zero-tolerance" plan designed to discipline and educate students in proper behavior, she said.

"I firmly believe we're moving in the right direction," Sanford said. "We've got a great system in place, and we're seeing progress."

Soon after the building opened, police described the scene there as an upscale-nightclub atmosphere. On a weekend night, the building had a line of people stretching "dozens of feet" out the door, while security checked guests' IDs. In one four-day-weekend stretch, officers made 85 alcohol-related arrests. Though the activity slowed somewhat through the rest of the semester, police said they were still being called to the apartments 10 to 20 times a week.

Grigio Metro, a newly built loft-style building across from the light-rail stop at Apache Boulevard and McClintock Drive in Tempe, had 64 calls between late August and December. Vista del Sol had seven calls. Campus Suites had 35.

"The difference has been that other apartment complexes have been able to get control over residents and residents' guests quickly," said Tempe police Lt. James Click, who works evening and early-morning shifts, when the calls come in.

The Vue, which has no connection with ASU, features many upscale amenities: a pool that lights up at night, private cabanas, tanning beds, volleyball courts and mountain views in every apartment. The units have been rented mainly to college students, who pay from $1,060 per month for a one-bedroom apartment to more than $700 per person for multiple-bedroom units. Each furnished apartment features LCD-screen televisions, granite countertops and stainless-steel appliances.

Police said they have worked with the Vue's management company to control residents' behavior. Management served eviction notices to the residents of the apartment where eggs were thrown Wednesday, and to a few other residents this week, Click said.

Managers also evicted two men who were arrested on suspicion of selling marijuana out of the building last month. Police serving a search warrant on the apartment said they seized thousands of dollars and half a pound of the drug.

The type of calls to the building concerns authorities, police said. Most have been noise complaints and parties, along with fights, assaults, liquor violations and criminal damage. Those, along with the alcohol use, can escalate, Click said.

"I don't want a kid to get hurt, and I don't want one of my officers to get hurt," he said.

Though the volume of calls at the Vue was still much higher than at any other complex in the area, Click said they seemed to plateau before Wednesday's incident. The setback has made police consider whether disruptions are escalating again.

With a transient population that tends to cycle in and out with the school year, Click said management will have to instill the rules with each new class.

"It's been a huge problem and the type of resident they've attracted hasn't been told 'no' in the past, and they're used to having virtually unlimited resources to do what they want," Click said. "The folks living there, this is the first time they've had this level of freedom, and they don't know how to react when somebody tells them they can't do something."