Last family moves from Queen's U student ghetto street

The last family to live on a notorious street near Queen's University in Kingston, Ont., has moved away, and some people are blaming their student neighbours.

Howard Lee recently bought a home in another part of the southeastern Ontario community and left behind the Aberdeen Street house where he and his family have lived for 35 years.

"I love this area, but I'm getting older," Lee said. "I don't want, you know, the big house to look after."

The street is famous for an annual street party attended by thousands of students every fall. In 2005, the students burned a car and police laid dozens of alcohol-related charges. The students also hold smaller noisy events throughout the year.

Chris Coupland, who is on the board of a local residents' group, said the Aberdeen Street is not an easy place to live.

"The houses are in generally poor repair, there's often garbage strewn throughout the neighbourhood," said Coupland, who is with the Sydenham Ward Tenants and Ratepayers Association.

"You can see it's an area where people live in a temporary circumstance and they aren't committed to making it a long-term community."

Coupland said he is saddened by the departure of families such as the Lees.

His group wants tougher rules on property standards and more police and university enforcement against rowdy students in the area. He said that might encourage families to return.

Jason Laker, the university's dean of student affairs, said there are a number of ways families become displaced by students in neighbourhoods such as Aberdeen Street.

For example, he said, "maybe they want to stay in their home, and because they didn't feel like their neighbours, the students, were being respectful … they felt somewhat pushed out of it."

Meanwhile, Lee's house isn't slated to join the other student housing on the street. The university plans to turn it into an outreach centre for off-campus students.