Monday, January 26, 2004

Wilmington, N.C.—Chancellor Rosemary DePaolo of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and Wilmington Mayor Spence Broadhurst announced today plans to establish an innovative City of Wilmington, UNCW and community task force. The task force will examine a variety of quality of life issues related to UNCW’s impact on city neighborhoods and make recommendations to the university and the City Council for action ultimately to develop partnerships and shared responsibility for managing these issues.

“We are proactive in our efforts to examine and hopefully solve some neighboring community issues,” said Chancellor DePaolo. “I believe students at UNCW who decide to live in the community should be responsible citizens and be held accountable for their actions. As chancellor, I am committed to making sure UNCW students are well aware of this expectation.”

In addition to area residents and university and city staff, the task force membership will include representatives of the Alcohol Law Enforcement, Cape Fear Community College, Wilmington Board of Realtors and Wilmington Apartment Association. It will be facilitated by the Community Mediation Center.

Among the issues on the task force agenda will be parking, housing density, late night parties, noise and litter, with the underlying value of how the community can preserve a reasonable quality of life for families while allowing students to maintain that same quality of life.

“We recognize the neighbors’ frustrations, and Chancellor DePaolo and I have committed to work together to find manageable solutions. During the past several months we have pulled together a good representation of governmental officials, university staff, professional organizations and citizens to take a comprehensive look at the quality of life issues facing property owners surrounding the university,” said Mayor Broadhurst.

A Web site with the task force members and their contact details is available at www.ci.wilmington.nc.us/community/office_neighborhoods.htm.

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Media Contact: For UNCW, Mimi Cunningham, university relations, 910/962-3171 or cunninghamm@uncw.edu; for the City of Wilmington, Malissa Talbert, public information specialist, 910/342-2736 or malissa.talbert@ci.wilmington.nc.us.