Towers to squeeze in more students

Kristie Hartz had many things in mind when she registered to live in Temple Towers next semester, but living with seven other people wasn’t one of them.

“I wanted to live in the Towers and still want to,” said Hartz, an undeclared freshman. “But if I wanted to live with eight other people – friends or not – I would have moved off campus. How am I going to study with seven other people sitting at their desks, watching TV around me?”

On March 13, Michael Scales, assistant vice president for Student Affairs and director of University Housing and Residential Life, sent an e-mail saying Temple Towers, which will be undergoing a projected $27 million renovation this summer, will be combining three- and four-person units to create new eight-person units.

The announcement came as a surprise to the affected students, who originally received their assignments to the three- and four-person units as early as Feb. 6.

“[University Housing and Residential Life] is playing it off like it’s going to be a great thing for everyone,” said Shanna Metague, a freshman actuarial science major and one of Hartz’s future roommates. “But it’s not. We’re still paying as much as people living [in the two-, three- and six-person units], but we’ll be crammed with eight.”

Scales said regardless of room size, each resident will pay the same amount – $3,670 per semester.

“Really, what you have to think about is that Temple Towers has by far more square footage than any other unit in the [University Housing and Residential Life] inventory,” Scales said. “These are large units. It’s a dynamic process. When you go from a project being on the books to actually happening, things change.”

Scales said while he couldn’t give an exact date as to when his office became aware of the eight-person compaction, it was prompt in contacting the affected students via e-mail and setting up meetings to discuss the changes.

Scales and Sean Killion, assistant director for assignments and billing, hosted a meeting March 19 to discuss how the options will affect students.

Students were given the option to either accept the assigned room and live with four other strangers, find four other Temple Towers residents to fill the four-person vacancy or be reimbursed their $250 deposits and find housing elsewhere, Scales said.

Students who attended the meeting were treated to refreshments and $25 in Diamond Dollars for their time.

“Twenty-five Diamond Dollars?” Hartz said. “It already costs an arm and a leg to live on Temple’s campus. They know that we will pay whatever they charge because it’s dangerous to live off campus. We shouldn’t have to pay the same amount for more roommates and less space to share. At least throw us a bone and comp us a meal plan so we can eat.”

Scales said the plans for the renovation, which began more than a year ago, include permanent eight-person units consisting of four bedrooms, two-and-a-half bathrooms and shared kitchen and living space.

The recent changes to the blueprints as presented to University Housing and Residential Life included the consolidation of all rooms with numbers ending in 05 and 06.

“So basically, we’re being punished for choosing an arbitrary number,” said Colin Saltry, a freshman economics major, TSG Senate clerk and soon-to-be Temple Towers tenant. “It’s an issue of fairness.”

Yesterday, Temple Student Government addressed the housing issue at its Senate meeting, and a motion was made to set up a meeting between TSG, University Housing and Residential Life and the administration in hopes of accomplishing a concession in fees for those affected by the eight-person room change.

Representation from the Residence Hall Association was also present at the meeting and said it feels as though the situation is “outrageous and atrocious” and will support any decisions TSG makes regarding the issue.

“At the end of the day, we really are student advocates,” Scales said. “Helping people have good stays and a good experience is a paramount issue for [University Housing and Residential Life]. We recognize that, but it takes a little bit of time and patience sometimes.”

Still, recognition isn’t enough for Hartz and others in her situation.

“Right now, we’re kind of being forced to shut up and put up, but I want compensation,” she said. “This is where we’re paying to live for the next year, and we shouldn’t have to put up with incompetence.”

Maria Zankey can be reached at maria.zankey@temple.edu.

Students pay big bucks for beds

Meredith Bratton was an out-of-state freshman at Temple when she faced the challenge of finding an apartment.

Like most students, she lived in a residence hall but would need to find somewhere to go for her sophomore year when Johnson, Hardwick, Peabody, White Hall and 1940 were not guaranteed as housing options to her as an upperclassman.

Looking for housing toward the end of freshman year has become a rite of passage for Temple students.
Bratton, a junior advertising major, turned to Kardon-Atlantic Terminal at 1801 N. 10th St.

“It’s a great space,” she said. “It’s lofty.”

Kardon-Atlantic, a former industrial building, has high ceilings and large living room windows. The loft-style apartments have bedroom walls that don’t reach the top of the ceiling, allowing sunlight to enter from living room windows.

The apartments’ open spaces come at a price.

Bratton shares a one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment with a friend and says they split the $1,260 to $1,270 rent every month at $630 each. There has been a small increase since the two signed their lease her freshman year.

A two-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment at Kardon-Atlantic costs nearly $2,000 a month. With an average apartment size of approximately 1,500 square feet, the cost runs about $1.33 per square foot per month.

Costing a bit more expensive per square foot is Oxford Village, located along the 1600 block of North 15th Street. Oxford Village has a different layout compared to Kardon Atlantic – rather than a single apartment building, units are located in separate three-story row homes.

A management representative at Oxford Village said the average price for a four-bedroom apartment is $575 per person per month, and the average square footage is about 625 square feet.

At $2,300 a month for the whole apartment, the price per square foot is $3.68.

Features include refrigerators, stoves, microwaves, intercom entry systems, intrusion panic alarms, cable TV and high-speed Internet access.

The management office does not provide security guards. Tenants use keys to enter main entrances and apartments.

The Edge at Avenue North is another popular choice among sophomores. The Office of University Housing and Residential Life assigns rooms to freshmen in the Edge when residence halls are full.
The apartments are small in space but costly.

A two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit with a kitchenette and living space shared among four people costs $1,310 or $655 each a month.

Management at the Edge said the average apartment in the complex is 200 square feet.

Junior business major Kevin Kless lived in the Edge his sophomore year but said he was dissatisfied and moved into an apartment on Broad Street with a friend.

“The Edge was mad small,” Kless said. “Everyone on my floor closed their doors and kept to themselves. It was a cement jail.”

Kless said he likes his current living situation better.

“We have the same stuff – a kitchen, living room, bathroom, two bedrooms, huge closets,” he said. “There’s Chinese food and Zavelle downstairs. The Secret Service knocks on your window when Barack gives speeches in the parking lot across the street.”

The Edge did have some benefits for Kless.

“It was good to live near campus, and there was free coffee and some days free snacks downstairs,” Kless said. “There were free flat-screen TVs in the bedrooms, too.”

Electricity, water, cable TV and Internet are included in the rent, as well as amenities like furniture and flat-panel TVs in each bedroom.

Security guards are stationed at the entrance of the Edge.

Residents must swipe their ID cards upon entering the building and sign guests in and out.

Kardon-Atlantic also has the same security procedures, which Bratton said she dislikes.

“It’s not necessary. I’ve never had a problem,” she said. “It’s really irritating to pick up guests.”

However, unlike the policy at residence halls, if Kardon tenants are 21, alcohol is permitted into the building. There are no resident assistants. Bratton guarantees there are parties happening in the building on any Thursday, Friday or Saturday night.

University Village is also a popular choice for those looking for off-campus housing.

University Village neighbors Kardon-Atlantic at 1701 N. 10th St.

For a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment with a kitchen area and living room, four people sharing bedrooms can expect to pay $540 per person per month. At $2,160 for the 682 square foot apartment, the cost is $3.16 per square foot.

If students do not want to share bedrooms, a four-bedroom, four-bathroom apartment will cost students $715 per person per month.

The larger space of 1,125 square feet has a lower cost per square foot of $2.54.

The price includes furniture, a full-sized refrigerator, cable TV and Internet.

University Village has community assistants, who are the off-campus equivalents of resident assistants.
Michelle Wallace, a senior BTMM major, is a CA at University Village.

“The apartments are fully furnished, and all beds in the bedrooms are full sized,” Wallace said. “This is a big thing since most places they are only twin.

“The courtesy offices are open 24 hours a day, and there are cameras around the perimeter of the building. There isn’t crime here like in a regular neighborhood.”

University Village employs AlliedBarton security personnel, and residents have to swipe ID cards to get into the building, as well as their apartments.

Wallace said University Village follows Pennsylvania law and allows 21-year-old renters to drink alcohol.

With a variety of apartments to choose from, students will most likely find a lease that best suits their needs.

Leases are usually allowed to be broken in the direst circumstances, but a new renter must be found to rent empty spots.

Some students are searching for vacancies through local real estate agencies rather than renting apartments in complexes near Main Campus.

TempleTown Realty owns several properties surrounding campus. The company has a variety of floor plans from studio apartments to large scale row homes.

TempleTown was unable to give an average size of its rentals, but management said the average price for a student to have his or her own room is between $525 and $575 per month.

Owen McDaniel, a junior history major, found his apartment on Craigslist but only after many attempts to secure a legitimate landlord.

“One guy e-mailed me back in broken English,” he said. “It was really weird.”

McDaniel eventually found a studio apartment on Franklin Street.

The studio includes a kitchen, one bathroom, a rooftop deck and a living room that doubles as a bedroom.

McDaniel pays $450 per month for rent, which includes gas and water bills. The apartment was unfurnished, but a refrigerator, stove and oven were supplied.

While living off-campus allows for more freedom, it has cons, too.

More often than not, off-campus apartments and houses are not within walking distance. McDaniel bikes to class.

Safety also can be an issue for areas not patrolled by Campus Police.

McDaniel said there aren’t any other Temple students living in his building, but it doesn’t bother him.
“I don’t mind being alone,” he said. “I can always have my friends come over.”

Bratton’s building houses many Temple students, but she says it isn’t a tight-knit community.

“Last year, I didn’t even know the people who lived next door,” she said. “There are awkward elevator rides all the time.”

Michelle Provencher can be reached at michelle.provencher@temple.edu.

Housing Crunch

The rush for student housing starts every spring on Main Campus.

The warm weather and uptick in classified ads are synonymous. When freshmen and sophomores realize Temple is giving them the boot, many turn to popular options like University Village, Oxford Village, Elmira Jeffries and Kardon-Atlantic Terminal. These buildings can offer amenities like game rooms, security guards, modern furniture and even tanning beds. But those fancy extras come at a price that’s beyond the reaches of most college students’ budgets.

A two-bedroom apartment in Kardon-Atlantic runs about $2,000 per month, slightly less than the $2,300 price tag on a four-bedroom space in Oxford Village. Throw in utilities, and other living expenses, and the average student living in one of these apartment complexes is paying closer to $1,000 every month, in addition to what he or she is paying for tuition and utilities.

But the pricey housing options most students go for aren’t much in comparison to what freshmen pay to live in residence halls.

A 10-feet by 4-feet dorm room in Johnson Hall costs $3,063 per semester — $6,126 for about seven months. This doesn’t include the separate but mandtory meal plan packages, the cheapest of which is $1,239, according to Temple’s Dining Services Guide. The cost only covers 10 meals a week and $150 Diamond Dollars. Add all that up, and the bare minimum for a freshman just to sleep and eat on campus is $8,600 for seven months. No wonder so many students choose to live off campus.

Incoming freshmen should consider spending their first two semesters at Temple in buildings like University Village, which is full of students, near campus and has a security guard. A full year in one of these buildings costs less than two semesters on Main Campus, and the facilities are nicer.

The next step, of course, would be to look for non-student housing as upperclassmen. Craigslist advertises refurbished houses just three blocks from Main Campus for only $475 a month per person, and apartments in trendier neighborhoods like Fishtown and South Philadelphia for less than $600 per month. Students looking for a balance between school and a social life can find it better off campus than they can in dorms and other student housing.

Temple is doing something wrong if a semester in a dorm room costs more than six months’ rent in a house.

Temple tenants violate ordinance

Longtime Yorktown residents are finding the stability of their neighborhood to be a cause for concern because real-estate investors are buying homes and converting single-family dwellings into multi-unit housing for Temple students.

The influx of speculator activities in Yorktown, a community largely comprised of homeowners and retirees, has vexed some residents who say the converted properties that house transient students will destabilize the character of the area.

“The next thing you know, this community will be blighted, and once a community becomes blighted, it becomes subject for condemnation and from [there], eminent domain, which means all of us have to go,” said Pam Pendleton-Smith, who has lived in Yorktown since 1956.

“That’s why everyone is so up in arms about Temple now,” she added. “With these speculator activities going on throughout the community, this looks like the tippy toes that come before the heavy foot steps.”

The enactment of the North Central Philadelphia Community Special District Controls in 2005 has affected the legality of many students’ tenancies. The city ordinance prohibits the construction of multiple-family dwellings, apartment and tenement houses and absentee landlords who rent properties to students.

“The investors are still finding properties to purchase, which is a quandary for us because these are properties that never have for-sale signs, to give single families who want to come and live in the community the opportunity to buy,” Pendleton-Smith said. “You have them snapping up the houses before we ever know the house is available.”

Junior Josh Schrager and his two roommates are three student occupants that reside in one of Yorktown’s single-family houses on the 1300 block of Jefferson Street.

Not stepping in the house until a month before the fall semester began, Schrager signed the lease unaware that his tenancy would be in violation of the ordinance.

“We do pay rent and [the landlord] doesn’t live there,” the journalism major said. “I think his daughter lived there the previous years and she graduated so he just put it up for sale and we found it.”
A recent city ordinance limits the number of unrelated persons living in a house in the community to no more than three people.

Pendleton-Smith said Temple students have lived in the neighborhood since the ‘70s, but student housing not owner-occupied will not be tolerated.

“The property owner that [rented] the first property started multiplying across the community, but when he realized the homeowners were not going to stand for that type of activity, he quickly sold and got out,” Pendleton-Smith said. “The investor that came in behind him has continued to multiply his holdings throughout the community.” 

William Bergman, vice president of operations at Temple, said the Office of Off-Campus Living removed listings for rentals in Yorktown because the university “did not want to be involved in those issues.”
“I think what we are trying to do is continue to be a good neighbor to them and work very closely with them on all these issues,” Bergman said.

Schrager’s efforts to be a “good neighbor” began when he first moved into his house, which has remained in its original structure.

“Me and my roommates made it a point to go out to our neighbors and the people who lived next to us, to introduce ourselves and get to know them,” said Schrager, “and they seemed nice.”

“I have heard of confrontations between the students and the residents living around here but me and my roommates are trying to make it so that it doesn’t occur,” he added.

“The students make it seem like we are under attack. You don’t come into my home and disrupt it,” Pendleton-Smith said. “I have a constitutional right for the peaceful and quiet enjoyment of my home. You don’t have a constitutional right to have animal-house parties, underage drinking and everything else that goes into the college syndrome.

“I’m not saying that every single house that has students in it has that sort of activity going on, but before investors were buying up properties, we didn’t have that type of activity at all.”

Renea Crawley has lived on the 1500 block of 13th Street in Yorktown for 19 years.

“I had a couple Temple students come down and ask me if I was willing to rent out to them. I told them ‘no.’ It’s a family thing,” Crawley said.

For Crawley additional vehicular traffic has decreased parking previously available to her and fellow neighbors.

“Parking has been a really big issue,” Crawley said. “We did get a sign posted out here, but a lot of times they don’t adhere to that. [Students] just park wherever they can because they’re trying to get to school. If they would really adhere to no parking on [my] side of the street it would be such a joy.”
Pendleton-Smith also said investors are taking advantage of the students who are no longer eligible for on-campus housing.

“Temple has created this situation because Temple has decided that once you have spent two years in the dorms, you have to go. That pushes that population onto us,” she said. “Investors and speculators see an opportunity to create housing for these people that are in need. In the course of them doing that, they are breaking one law. They bring unlicensed contractors and unlicensed contractors are more apt to do work that is not up to code.”

Bergman said the university is working closely with the Department of Licenses and Inspections to address possible infractions.

“I think that this issue is one that we have to approach. We have to see exactly what the city wants to do and how they’re going to go about handling this whole issue. When [Temple] gets a clear cut message from the city, what we will do is put some strategies together,” Bergman said.

Pendleton-Smith said Temple should inform students about the communities that are covered by the city ordinance during freshman orientation.

“Make them aware that at your own risk you stand being evicted.”

Brittany Diggs can be reached at bdiggs@temple.edu.

RA training prepares hall leaders for the worst

Every year, a group of dedicated students decide to embrace an opportunity and make a difference by applying for a resident assistant position.

Commonly known as RAs, these students live in residence halls and advise residents to become interactive within their residential communities.

“The reason why I am an RA is because I like to help other people,” said senior biochemistry major Amaris Rodriguez, who serves 1300 residence hall.

At the start of the spring semester, applications are submitted and the selection process begins. Once candidates’ applications have been reviewed, selected applicants participate in Group Process Day, which features various group-oriented activities. Next, they meet with a resident director and two RAs to discuss qualifications for the position. After the screening process is completed, a mandatory six-week RA course is administered to candidates and alternatives. The course instructs RAs on leadership skills such as ethics, problem-solving abilities, diversity and social justice.

Ingrid Tannous, a senior secondary education major, was selected as an RA for Johnson Hall.

Tannous said the six-week class allows RAs to practice skills.

“Compared to last year’s training, [the class] allowed us to focus more on practical application, since theory was covered,” Tannous said.

Victoria Peter, a sophomore business major, said assignments given in the course were beneficial in preparing her for a productive community environment in her residence hall.

“We had to plan a program. It sort of jump-started our thoughts and got us excited about thinking about stuff during the summer,” said Peter, who is an RA for the Edge.

The six-week class is only the beginning of the process. A two-week training program requires the attendance of RAs during the summer. The first day of training was an RA ‘welcome back’ celebration that was followed by a full day of events.

To promote team building, training included a scavenger hunt around Philadelphia and a rope climbing challenge in which RAs learned to overcome their fears and challenges in an effort to encourage fellow staff members.

Conference-style sessions allowed RAs to participate in workshops such as “(Re)Discovering Your Passions” and “I Can’t Believe I Ate All That (Nutrition).”

RAs were also given the opportunity to acquire certification as peer educators from the BACCHUS Network, a university- and community-based network that focuses on comprehensive health and safety initiatives. Firefighters also educated RAs on fire safety and what to do in emergency situations.

Training ended with RAs staging realistic situations in a play, while incorporating all of the skills learned during the two weeks.

“Every year, RA training is cool because we always have new people and we have fun,” said senior English major Danny Calise, who has been an RA for more than three years.

RAs play a vital role in the Temple community. Some RAs are responsible for up to 80 residents. They undergo intense training in order to have a positive impact on their residents.

“My RA really influenced me to be an RA because she was so nurturing,” said Shalea Khan, a sophomore accounting and finance major, who recently became an RA at the Edge for the fall semester.

During summer training, RAs moved into 1300 residence hall, where the staff became better acquainted at late-night events such as movie nights. It was at these events where the soon-to-be RAs shared unique experiences on a more intimate scale.

Keisha Frazier can be reached at keisha.frazier@temple.edu.

To President Ann Weaver Hart

I am graduating. After four years on North Broad Street – two more than you – I have plenty I want to share with you. Space is limited, so forgive my suddenness.
Throw your students into the surrounding communities.

For 45 years, this university has tried to figure out how to trick middle-class students into studying amid one of this country’s densest collections of black people, many of them poor and uneducated. So we built walls and took publicity shots facing south. We closed North Park Avenue, tried to close 13th Street and turned inward.

So, each year, a portion of accepted students confuse Temple with shootings at the Norris Apartments and confuse Philadelphia with an abandoned row home at 20th and Diamond streets.

That’s backwards. Have Provost Lisa Staiano-Coico amend our new general education requirements to involve 10-credit hours of “community education.” The engineering students can take a class on the most efficient means of backfilling condemned buildings, architecture students can figure out what’s wrong with the North Philadelphia subway stop, and students of the social sciences can work with the nonprofits that are trying to help our neighbors.
Leverage our intellectual capital and market it as the most unique academic experience in the world.
End Temple’s shuttle-industrial complex.

At a time when environmentalism is cool, Philadelphia is hot and SEPTA is actually sufficiently funded, Temple should buy in. Many Philadelphia grade school students get monthly TransPasses for free because of state funding. In Pittsburgh, college students can get free access to the city’s mass transit. Sell half your busses – sell off the rest when you solve that nagging Ambler campus problem – and buy passes to give to students. Send us into the city.
Embrace Philadelphia.

I almost gagged when I read that the Office of University Housing and Residential Life dropped all its listings, aside from a handful of private partnerships that surround this university [“Housing removes listings,” Mary Hagenbach, April 28, 2008].

There is an enormous difference between a city college and a college in a city. For much of our existence, Temple has been the first. If we keep attracting students to rowhomes around Main Campus, we’ll create another thick, invisible wall between the community and us.

Go to the 2000-block of Carlisle Street. Just four years ago, it was filled with mostly premanent residents. Now just three remain.

Give students a TransPass, a bicycle, and have the Owl Ambassadors tell parents how many Temple students live in Center City or Francisville or Mantua. Have them boast to parents how many students live in Philadelphia, not on campus.

Walk into the Howard Gittis Student Center and find room 217 on your own. If you can’t do it, then you need to get someone to renumber the rooms if it’s meant to be a center of student activity. Buy artwork from Tyler students to decorate this university. Do something about the Bell Tower – it’s embarrassingly ugly, like a monument to urban blight and the worst of 1970s architecture.

Lastly, cherish traditions. We don’t have many. Spring Fling. A men’s basketball game against Duke University.

The community, trains and Philadelphia could be others. Develop them. Nothing brings in money like tradition, a feeling of belonging and a sense of individuality. That means keeping Temple unique.

I think some of these ideas would do just that. I wish you the best of luck, President Hart.

Christopher Wink can be reached at cwink@temple.edu.

Housing removes listings

The Office of University Housing and Residential Life has changed their policy and removed all but five listings from their off-campus living directory, and apartment complexes that didn’t make the cut are left to wonder why.

Off-campus living is mandatory for juniors and seniors and optional for freshman and sophomores. Prior to February, the Office of Off-Campus Living made it their job to inspect properties throughout the city. If residences met university criteria, they were posted on the housing Web site to assist students in their search for a space. Michael Scales, director of university housing and residential life, said the focus for the Web site has changed.

“The new policy went into effect Feb. 8, 2008, and is now focused on education for those students preparing to make alternative living arrangements,” he said.

The Web site now lists five apartment complexes – Kardon-Atlantic Terminal, University Village, Oxford Village, Sydenham Commons and The Edge – and a range of educational information, from safety tips to the Pennsylvania Landlord Tenant Act.

Dennis Ruffing, director of community operations for York North Apartments, is one leasing operator affected by the new policy. Located at 1320 Somerville Ave., York North apartments sit near La Salle University, but Temple students take advantage of their housing, as well.

“I noticed the phones weren’t ringing as much as they were this time last year,” Ruffing said. “I really think our decline in business has to do with being removed from the Temple University off-campus housing list.

“[York North] put a significant amount of funds into accommodating Temple students, he said. “We have a shuttle that runs four times a day, and our target marketing demographic is college students, primarily Temple and La Salle students.”

When Scales was told how apartments like York North were upset with the new policy, he said, “The listing was a service, not a right. And if you are a good property manager, you should be able to get business through a different means.”

Beyond the decline in business, Ruffing said he was concerned about how the change would affect students.
“This is not about us,” he said. “I am concerned as to whether this was the best decision for the students, since they deserve to know their options.”

“I had no idea there was an Off-Campus Housing Office,” freshman environmental engineering major Leigh Cignavitch said. “[I] found a house for next year on Carlisle Street through Craigslist.”

Junior business major Sean Hushon said he knew about the office but was unaware of the recent policy shift.

“That’s ridiculous,” Hushon said. “Some of these apartments around here are pretty overpriced, and they used to offer student discounts for houses all over through the Temple office.”

Scales said he thought the decision to change the policy made was in part by the Campus Safety Services
“The buildings still listed all have similar arrangements to on-campus residence halls in terms of security [and] maintenance and are within walking distance of campus,” Scales said.

“I understand how the listings being close to campus make sense, and it should be a legit place if the university lists it,” sophomore biology major Tom Seckinger said. “But at the same time, I think students should have more options and decide themselves.”
Ruffing said he has tried to get back on the ff-campus housing list, but has not seen any changes yet.

“It’s just a matter of finding the right person to talk to,” he said.

Mary Hagenbach can be reached at mary.hagenbach@temple.edu.