SLO town-and-gown committee isn’t working, neighborhood group says — so it’s out
Residents for Quality Neighborhoods, a community group that advocates for quality of life in the residential neighborhoods of San Luis Obispo, resigned from the Student Community Liaison Committee, citing an “elimination of both free speech and open discussion” and an erosion of community representation, among other concerns.
The Student Community Liaison Committee facilitates discussions between Cal Poly, Cuesta College, the city of SLO, the county government and community groups, according to its website.
Its mission is to “proactively engage in discussions to promote positive relations, mutual respect and improved quality of life for all citizens of San Luis Obispo,” its website said.
But according to a resignation letter sent Monday and obtained by The Tribune, Residents for Quality Neighborhoods feels the committee has drifted away from its original purpose.
In recent years, Residents for Quality Neighborhoods has been at the forefront of advocating for stricter enforcement on St. Fratty’s Day, the annual event that in 2024 and before resulted in a large unsanctioned street parties blocking residential roads and vandalism.
According to the letter, certain committee decisions over the past few years — the same timeframe in which the town-and-gown tension over St. Fratty’s and other noisy parties has risen — “weakened the collaborative aspect” of the group.
But recently, the group hit a breaking point after it says free speech and open discussion were dampened.
“Thus, we have concluded that SCLC, as currently structured and operated, has lost its original purpose and no longer meets the needs or expectations of city residents — particularly those in the impacted neighborhoods,” the letter said.
The resignation went into effect immediately on Monday, according to the letter.
Cal Poly did not directly comment on the group’s resignation but reaffirmed the university’s commitment to the committee’s work, in collaboration with Cuesta College, the city of SLO and local residents.
Spokesperson Matt Lazier told The Tribune over email that the committee “focuses on bringing a variety of voices together to envision ways in which we can work together to continually improve our community for everyone who lives here.”
“Cal Poly is committed to carrying this approach forward, through SCLC and more broadly in our ongoing relationships with the city, Cuesta College and local neighbors,” he continued.
The city of SLO also told the Tribune it intends to continue working with the student community committee.
“While the city is disappointed that the Residents for Quality Neighborhoods group decided to leave the Student Community Liaison Committee, we are encouraged by the committee’s approach to relationship building and continued collaboration with students and the broader community,” city spokesperson Whit Szentesi said over email. “The city has been a longstanding member of the committee since it formed in 1987. We will continue to participate in the Student Community Liaison Committee and build on the foundation to improve the quality of life for all.”
Why did longstanding group resign from committee?
Residents for Quality neighborhoods originally formed in 1990, marking the start of its work with local stakeholders to improve neighborhood living.
According to its website, the group launched after longtime “residents began to notice a deterioration of their once family-friendly neighborhoods.”
The group’s early concerns included parking and traffic, as well as noise levels in the low- and medium-density neighborhoods, its website said.
The group wrote in its resignation letter that the Student Community Liaison Committee originally served as a forum to address community impacts, but has since strayed from that purpose.
“Meetings have shifted toward institutional reporting with limited opportunities for meaningful dialogue,” the group wrote.
The letter alleged that the group’s chairperson, who is also Cal Poly’s ASI president, limited the type of questions allowed during meetings and encouraged “substantive discussions” to be held outside the meetings.
The letter said those actions “further reduced the committee’s traditional emphasis on collaborative problem-solving to one of controlled information-sharing.”
Additionally, the letter said the voting representation within the committee had grown “increasingly imbalanced” — with Cal Poly holding eight voting seats, Cuesta College and SLO each having four, and the community having two. The Board of Supervisors also had one vote, the letter said.
“This imbalance is compounded by inconsistent attendance from non-Cal Poly members, leaving Cal Poly with a dominant share of votes,” the letter said. “As a result, proposals made on behalf of neighborhoods cannot move forward without Cal Poly support.”
City officials and neighbors have repeated frustrations as Cal Poly has appeared to take a backseat to regulating student activity in the neighborhoods, even as SLO has cracked down on code enforcement for fraternities over the past year.
One resident is currently in the middle of a lawsuit with Cal Poly, after she says the university has refused to release a complete list of fraternity addresses despite multiple public records requests.
Neighbors have also commended Cal Poly’s efforts to rebrand St. Fratty’s Day into an early-morning concert that has successfully drawn crowds of students to campus instead of the streets for two years in a row.
Meanwhile, Residents for Quality Neighborhoods took issue with the decision not to record the committee meetings, “despite repeated requests from community members.”
The group mentioned concerns about community representation on the committee, alleging two of its recommendations for neighborhood representatives were rejected, while the committee selected someone who did not live in a student-impacted neighborhood.
“We cannot continue to participate in a process where collaboration is claimed but not practiced,” the letter said.
“Our decision to withdraw does not reflect a retreat from civic engagement,” it continued. “We remain committed to working toward solutions through processes that are transparent, balanced and genuinely inclusive of residents living in student-impacted neighborhoods.”
The group said it hopes its decision to resign prompts the committee to reflect on whether its practices are aligned with serving the community.
This story was originally published April 13, 2026 at 4:13 PM.
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