Queen’s University Students Fight Noise Complaint Fines and Feel Unfairly Attacked – Kingston | The Canadian News

Raucous street parties in Kingston’s college district have put several young people on the wrong side of the law.

Two Queen’s University students were slapped with a pair of noise violation tickets earlier this week, totaling $ 400.

Justin and Charles, who refused to give Global News their last names, set up a GoFundMe account to help pay for tickets, because they feel they were unfairly attacked.

“There were no noise complaints in the general area. They just stopped by and fined us for having the music, “says Justin.

“While they were fining us, they never asked us to turn it down. And we had a full conversation with them while the music was playing. “

These noise violation tickets were issued by the police at 1:40 am Monday morning.

The couple say they did not violate public health measures and that it was not during a large gathering.

However, a comment the couple made about hosting a keg party to celebrate whether their GoFundMe campaign was a success caught the ire of Mayor Bryan Paterson on Twitter.

Paterson tweeted that if they had a party like this, they would probably have more and bigger fines.

“If we need to issue a larger fine to get that message across, so be it,” says Mayor Paterson. “But I honestly think this is not just a question of issuing fines. It’s about sending a message as a community. We expect everyone to comply with the rules and statutes of our city. “

This comes on the heels of the massive parties thrown by college students in recent weeks.

The crowds for some parties reportedly reached 5,000, so the two young men are saying they regret their ‘keg party’ comment and that any such party would be ‘after’ the pandemic is over.

“That was the plan originally,” says Charles. “We should have realized that we should have specified it and said it directly. And we apologize to Kingston for that, because we know how harsh COVID has been. “

The Earl Street couple still say that if and when they have a party, the mayor will be invited.

Mayor Paterson, for his part, says he will not accept the offer and that all celebrations must be respectful of the city, its residents and its bylaws.