Student managers
New housing plan limits options

The State College Planning Commission is once again trying to pull the wool over the eyes of State College students and property owners.

The planning commission seems to have decided that restricting the number of unrelated people to three is not enough micro-management in people's lives. Now it is considering reducing even the three-unrelated occupants ordinance to two-unrelated people in one residence.

Planning commission members must forget this new idea, and instead accept something similar to Undergraduate Student Government President Mike King's square-footage plan.

The new "block-face theory" ordinance makes it more difficult for students to live in different sections of the borough. The planning commission forgets that students are responsible for the existence and growth of State College. Without students here, the University would not be here -- and neither would State College.

If the planning commission does not realize that by itself, it will be up to students to remind commission members. Students have a lot to lose if the new plan passes, and should voice their opinions loudly and strongly against such blatant discrimination.

If such an ordinance is enacted, not only will students be limited to where they can live, but it is likely that their rents will be affected, and not in a direction that would please students.

Under this plan, rental costs would increase because there would be fewer students to split the rent. And prices would then increase not only in the areas where the ordinances are in effect, but also across town, as the laws of supply and demand work their way into unaffected areas.

The two-person-unrelated occupancy limit only touches upon the problem. Students and community members must now work together to solve these problems and create a plan that is beneficial and fair for everyone involved.