Plastic cups scattered across the front yards, glass from beer bottles are hidden in the grass and trash lines the streets -- that is the picture Howard Clements, a Durham City Council member, painted for his fellow council members regarding the on going house parties that are becoming nuisance for neighbors.

The issue has been in the spotlight and examined since August of 2008 but the problem neighbors say, has been going on for years.

The offenders are almost always students from Duke University. All students, except for seniors, are required to live on campus. But fraternity houses aren't allowed on campus, and these nearby neighborhoods such as Trinity Heights, are where they take up residence.

The council on Thursday addressed the ongoing complaints from neighbors and agreed something needs to be done. Clements asked the Durham Police Department to pull records showing the number of citations given in the neighborhood for noise, trash and underage drinking.

Councilmen Eugene Brown, Mike Woodard and Howard Clement all agreed a zero tolerance is in place for Durham Police Department but not for Duke University. Brown said he feels the university is not being proactive on this issue and other community members are having to bear the burden of finding a solution.

"Larry Moneta and the rest of the Office of Student Affairs are part of the problem, not the solution," Brown said.

Mayor Bell and others agreed one point of action that could get the ball rolling on seeing some solutions is to get President Richard Broadhead involved. He also asked the police department to pull citations from the last three years in that area. According to Durham Police Jose Lopez, Duke Police is notified every time a student is cited from his department.

Another department handling this issue is the neighborhood improvement services. Constance Stancil, director of NIS, confirmed her department monitors the neighborhood biweekly looking for violators. She said her department looks for trash and other things in yards that shouldn't be there such as couches or chairs.

While most neighbors say they are aware that the house parties and problems caused by them only make up about 2 percent of the student body. However residents like Christine Westfall said her quality of life has been affected by the parties.

In a February 18th meeting with residents, students who live in the neighborhood, Duke officials, Durham Police and elected officials from the city, Westfall described many nights when she had to call the police just to get some sleep from the noise outside her home.

While most of the council felt comfortable and confident with the next step in this process as being contacting the President of Duke, Clements said he still isn't satisfied with the timeframe of this issue has taken.

"This is going on way to long and our consituents our taxpayers are living with this," Clements said. "It needs to be resolved. It needs to be resolved now."

The next meeting between residents and the city is April 1 to discuss any additional issues or any progress that has been made to finding peace and quiet for neighbors.