From heightened DUI arrests last month, to claims of racism in renting Oxford venues and the possibility of a Double Decker this semester, Mayor Robyn Tannehill covered a lot of ground in her town meeting with the Associated Student Body on Wednesday, Feb. 10. This was the Associated Student Body Senate’s first virtual town meeting with Tannehill in a new effort to establish a direct line of communication between students and the city of Oxford.
Tannehill said she believes the heightened number of DUI arrests in January is partly a result of bars closing at 11 p.m. and a decrease in available Uber drivers. She also said many of the DUIs are related to a benzodiazepine issue in the city.
“A lot of the DUIs we’re seeing aren’t alcohol,” Tannehill said. “It’s Xanax, mainly. It’s folks that are eating bars like they’re PEZ candies.”
Tannehill said that within the next month, the city hopes to create a lane of traffic designated for Uber drivers, Oxford University Transit buses, taxi drivers and designated drivers behind Boure near the parking garage on the Square. This way, those walking out of the bars at 11 p.m. will have an allotted area to find a safe ride home.
“We know that we do help cut down on DUIs if we have cars sitting there. A lot of people, if it’s super convenient and they can jump right in, they’re going to take that option,” Tannehill said.
Some students raised concerns about housing for students in Oxford.
Bennett Matson, vice chair of the ASB External Affairs Committee, asked Tannehill if she would be interested in supporting an initiative that would give collective bargaining power to students living off-campus who are affected by “volatile rent prices, inadequate safety attention and fees for basic amenities such as printing.”
Tannehill related this issue to the public dissatisfaction of expensive cover charges on the Square, saying that while she sympathizes with students, ultimately, only they can control where and how they spend their money.
“I don’t think that the mayor and Board of Aldermen will get into telling businesses what they can or can’t charge,” Tannehill said. “You all will do that by where you choose to live and where you choose to pay cover charges.”
Matson also asked Tannehill why Black organizations on campus have not been able to have equal access to local venues for their events, a problem of which Tannehill said she had no prior knowledge.
Tyler Yarbrough, ASB Liberal Arts Senator, read anonymous comments that town hall participants sent via chat. One comment was from someone associated with the Divine Nine sororities, a group of nine historically Black National Pan-Hellenic Council sororities, and it said NPHC sororities typically pay double what non-black sororities pay to use venue space in Oxford. Another comment said some venues in Oxford “flat out won’t rent to (Black organizations) or assess it as a security risk.”
Tannehill said that if concerned students would be willing to share specifics about their experiences, she would be open to facilitating conversations with businesses individually. She pointed out that city properties, such as the outdoor pavilion at the corner of Bramlett Street and University Ave., are available to every organization on campus.
“Our city facilities are probably much more reasonably priced than some of the private facilities,” Tannehill said. “I hope that you’ve never experienced that with a city facility. If you have, then I’ve got a real big problem.”
A section of the town hall was designated to Oxford’s ongoing COVID-19 response plan. Tannehill said that as of Tuesday, approximately 15,000 people have been vaccinated in Lafayette County with 7,893 reporting Lafayette County residency.
“‘Is the light on at the end of the tunnel yet?’ It is,” Tannehill said. “We are giving almost 1,000 vaccinations a day at the National Guard Armory.”
With only eight new cases reported on Wednesday and vaccinations continuing in Oxford, Tannehill said she is hopeful that the city can celebrate the Double Decker festival in some capacity this year. Double Decker was postponed and eventually canceled in 2020.
“My gut tells me that it’s not going to be the Double Decker that we all know and love, but it’s also not going to be nothing,” Tannehill said. “So, hang with us. We’re getting there.”
