The City Had the Fraternity Addresses. Code Enforcement Didn’t.

Public Interest File No. 2

One of the central findings of the San Luis Obispo County Grand Jury’s June 2025 report was that the City had failed to effectively enforce municipal codes prohibiting fraternity activity in residential neighborhoods, in part because identifying fraternity locations was difficult. The report also noted that the City had no easy way to verify fraternity locations after Cal Poly stopped providing address information. Public records obtained from the San Luis Obispo Police Department later revealed that, for more than two years, Cal Poly Police had been regularly providing SLOPD with weekly lists identifying fraternity and sorority event addresses, dates, times, and chapter. The documents published in this file allow readers to review the underlying records and reach their own conclusions.

Overview

One of the central questions surrounding fraternity enforcement in San Luis Obispo has been: How could fraternity events continue occurring at the same addresses in the residential neighborhoods year after year if the City was attempting to identify and enforce the zoning code which prohibits unlawful fraternity operations in the City’s neighborhoods?

Public records reveal a disconnect.

From at least February 2022 through at least March 2024, Cal Poly Police regularly emailed weekly lists of approved fraternity and sorority events to the San Luis Obispo Police Department. The lists contained exact event addresses, dates, times, and chapter names of each Greek organization. The records further show that SLOPD distributed and used the information operationally.

Yet in June 2026, Code Enforcement Supervisor John Mezzapesa stated that Code Enforcement was unaware those lists were being provided to SLOPD until residents brought them to his attention. He further stated that Christine Wallace, SLOPD’s Public Affairs Manager and Code Enforcement’s primary liaison with the Police Department, had advised him she was also unaware the lists existed.

The records show that fraternity event addresses existed, were collected, and were being used within the Police Department. Christine Wallace was listed as a recipient of the lists in a 2022 email and in a separate 2024 email, she states she was cross-referencing the weekly list against the SLOPD dispatch log on Monday, following a weekend of parties. At the same time, Code Enforcement was separately attempting to identify many of the same locations on the lists received by SLOPD. The documents raise questions about how information already in City hands failed to reach the department responsible for enforcing the City’s zoning regulations.

The records also show that when Code Enforcement later attempted to obtain confirmation of fraternity locations directly from Cal Poly, the request was denied even though many of the same addresses had appeared on event lists emailed to SLOPD for over two years.

What the Documents Show

February 2022 – March 2024

Cal Poly Police and Cal Poly’s Fraternity & Sorority Life program regularly emailed weekly lists of approved fraternity and sorority events to SLOPD. The lists identified event locations, dates, times, and the Greek chapter hosting each party. The records show the practice continued for more than two years.

June 2023

After receiving one of the event lists, Lieutenant Aaron Schafer asked Cal Poly Police to add another lieutenant who oversaw patrol operations to future distributions. He explained: “That way he can let his teams know.” The communication indicates the information was being distributed within patrol operations — a fact later confirmed on June 1, 2026, when Code Enforcement stated the weekly lists were given to SLOPD patrol teams.

October 20, 2023

One of the event lists transmitted to SLOPD identified an approved Theta Chi event at 1350 Stafford Street. The same property that later became the subject of resident complaints and Code Enforcement inquiries involving 496 Kentucky Street and 1350 Stafford Street, two homes built on the same parcel of land. The records demonstrate that Cal Poly knew the location, SLOPD received the location, and the event had been approved through Cal Poly’s Fraternity & Sorority Life process.

December 2023

An 89-year-old resident who had lived in the neighborhood since the 1950s contacted her neighbor for help after a fraternity moved in next door to her home at 496 Kentucky Street / 1350 Stafford Street.

On December 8, 2023, Code Enforcement Supervisor John Mezzapesa responded that he had spoken with both Cal Poly and SLOPD regarding the broader fraternity issue. He wrote that he had spoken with “Elizabeth at Cal Poly and with Christine Wallace with PD to make them aware of the situation” and would be “coordinating a larger effort to address these issues.”

At the time, SLOPD had already been receiving weekly fraternity event address lists for nearly two years. The 1350 Stafford Street property was included on the lists, confirming fraternity parties were held there.

February 2, 2024

After receiving another weekly event list, Lieutenant Aaron Schafer wrote: “We need to have some conversations about these events they approve.” Christine Wallace responded: “I can catch you up on what’s happening with CDD. Chat Tuesday.” The records do not reveal the substance of those conversations. They do, however, demonstrate that approved fraternity events and Community Development issues were being discussed among City personnel.

March 11, 2024

SLOPD Public Affairs Manager Christine Wallace emailed Elizabeth Aiello-Coppola, Assistant Director of Cal Poly’s Fraternity & Sorority Life office, regarding an unruly gathering citation issued to residents at 299 Albert over the prior weekend.

Wallace wrote that she had reviewed “the list of approved FSL events for the weekend” and noted that 299 Albert had not appeared on it. She asked Aiello-Coppola to confirm whether her understanding was correct so she could update her records.

Aiello-Coppola replied that 299 Albert had in fact been on her list as an approved party for that weekend.

Wallace responded: “Okay that’s weird because it wasn’t on the list that CPPD sent to the lieutenant. What the H.”

The exchange documents that as of March 2024, Wallace was actively reviewing the weekly Cal Poly event lists and cross-referencing them against SLOPD enforcement activity.

October–November 2024

By late 2024, Code Enforcement was attempting to identify fraternity locations throughout the city. On October 25, 2024, Code Enforcement Supervisor John Mezzapesa submitted a Public Records Act request to Cal Poly seeking confirmation of whether fraternity or sorority events had been registered at eighteen specific addresses, including 496 Kentucky / 1350 Stafford, 1229 Fredericks, 1525 Slack Street, 1218/1220 Bond, 171 Orange Drive, 260 Chaplin, 348/350 Hathway, and 2090 Hays Street.

Many of the addresses identified in the request had previously appeared on fraternity party lists emailed to SLOPD. On November 4, 2024, Cal Poly declined to confirm whether events had been registered at the identified locations. Code Enforcement was seeking confirmation of information that had already been provided to another City department.

June 2025

The Grand Jury’s investigation into fraternity activity, neighborhood impacts, and enforcement efforts was hampered when two senior police officials declined to make patrol officers available for interviews. According to the Grand Jury, the effort was blocked by “two senior police official’s unwillingness to grant an interview,” which hampered its fact-finding.

May 23, 2026 — Resident Inquiry

A resident submitted a written inquiry to Code Enforcement Supervisor Mezzapesa asking directly whether Christine Wallace had disclosed the existence of the weekly event lists during their December 2023 conversation, at which point SLOPD had already been receiving the lists for nearly two years. The inquiry was copied to City Council members and other City officials.

June 1, 2026 — Code Enforcement’s Response

Mezzapesa responded that Code Enforcement had been unaware of the weekly event lists until the resident brought them to his attention in April 2026. He stated that Christine Wallace, Code Enforcement’s primary SLOPD liaison, had advised him she was also unaware the lists existed. He explained that the lists had been provided to the Patrol Division and had not been distributed to Wallace or to Code Enforcement.

Mezzapesa also noted that after reviewing the records, he believed the majority of the events would have been captured by the 2022–2023 AB 524 report, which at that time included addresses and was incorporated into enforcement efforts in early 2024. He acknowledged, however, that events occurring before and after that academic year were not captured “due to the disconnect in communication between the Patrol Division and Code Enforcement.”

Cal Poly’s voluntary AB 524 publication of fraternity event addresses is the subject of separate ongoing litigation.

The records show that fraternity event addresses existed, were collected, and were being used within the Police Department. At the same time, Code Enforcement was separately attempting to identify many of the same locations. The documents raise questions not about how information already in City hands failed to reach the department responsible for enforcing the City’s zoning regulations. The Code Enforcement Supervisor was actively attempting to verify addresses through his SLOPD liaison, Christine Wallace. She received the lists of the fraternity addresses, according to the records, but did not disclose that information to Code Enforcement.

What the Grand Jury Was Never Told

The 2024–25 Grand Jury investigated fraternity activity, neighborhood impacts, and the City’s enforcement efforts. As part of that investigation, the Grand Jury requested interviews with two SLOPD patrol officers.

According to the Grand Jury report, that effort was blocked. Two senior police officials declined to make the officers available, which the Grand Jury stated hampered its fact-finding.

SLOPD leadership, including senior officials within SLOPD, were receiving the weekly Cal Poly fraternity event address lists. According to Code Enforcement Supervisor Mezzapesa’s June 1, 2026 statement, the lists were provided specifically to the Patrol Division and were not shared with Code Enforcement.

The City publicly stated that the two SLOPD staff that were interviewed by the Grand Jury were Christine Wallace and SLOPD Chief Rick Scott.

The Grand Jury completed its investigation without access to the patrol officers most likely to have direct knowledge of how the weekly address lists were received, used or not used in course of responding to fraternity parties in the neighborhood, while residents continued reporting neighborhood impacts and Code Enforcement searched independently for the same addresses.

Why This File Exists

The purpose of this Public Interest File is not to tell readers what conclusions they should reach.

It is to preserve and organize the documentary record so that members of the public, journalists, researchers, and policymakers can review the underlying evidence for themselves.

The records show that information regarding fraternity event locations existed, was collected, and was shared within government agencies. They also show that access to that information was not uniform, and that accounts of who knew what, and when, are not fully consistent with the documentary record.

Together, the documents provide a contemporaneous record of how fraternity event location information moved — or failed to move — between Cal Poly, the Police Department, and Code Enforcement while residents continued reporting neighborhood impacts.