Grassroots Group Continues Picketing Against College Boarding Houses

The Stony Brook Concerned Homeowners lined up on Strathmore Village Drive on Saturday morning, intending to get the attention of a specific South Setauket resident who the group alleges rents homes illegally to college students in Stony Brook.

The group's message? That they will not tolerate illegal college boarding homes in the Three Village area, according to Bruce Sander, one of the group's organizers.

It's the fifth such picket since the group was formed earlier this year, he said, and the first in South Setauket.

Sander alleges that the homeowner at this specific Strathmore Village Drive home is a university professor who owns four run-down rental properties in Stony Brook's "B" section, "H" section and other neighborhoods.

"As a professor of the university, is it not unethical for you to be renting to your own students and own homes at the expense of the neighborhood surrounding you? That's how we feel right now," he said.

More than 50 people showed up to picket on Saturday. At one point two people arrived at the house in a white SUV, but did not interact with the protestors who stood across the street from the home.

"Lately, the past couple of years, I've seen some of the houses really run down," resident Patti Bravata said. "I thought it was the economy, that people weren't fixing up their houses, at first. I wasn't aware that it was slumlords."

Another resident, Carole Noren, blamed "the college boarding house problem" on Stony Brook University, which she called "greedy" for enrolling more students than its housing programs could accommodate.

"Shame on the university for disrespecting its neighbors and the community," she said.

Stony Brook University officials have said numerous times that they are working with the Town of Brookhaven to increase awareness of the town codes and safety issues among its students, and have taken steps such as limiting its off-campus housing listing service to only those properties with valid rental registrations. 

At one point on Saturday, a police officer responded to the picket. Sander said he had told the Suffolk police department in advance to let them know the group was planning to picket there.

"We're just keeping it peaceful and letting you know that we're watching everything that's going on in the [rental] homes," Sander said. "Obey the town codes. Keep the neighborhoods neat. If you have four or less students, we don't care. But make sure you have a legitimate rental registration."

At the home on Strathmore Village Drive, no one answered the door on Saturday and a phone call to a number listed for that address went unanswered.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to clarify the intent of the group's message.