Thursday, April 2, 1998
Neighborhood plan needs support
Currently before the State College Borough Council is a neighborhood plan for the Highlands neighborhood. The area under consideration is roughly between Pugh to Allen streets from Nittany to Irvin avenues, 202 buildings in all. Of those buildings, only 19 are owner-occupied. The rest are churches, businesses, fraternities and 156 student houses.
There are compelling reasons for University students to actively
support the Highlands neighborhood plan.
The neighborhood plan protects student houses, the environment
and discourages "warehousing" students in apartment
buildings. Many students prefer to live in houses because of the
lower density of people.
The neighborhood plan will encourage better maintenance of student
houses. Most landlords own rental houses and rent to students
for the money. It's a business. The most money is made if a house
is rented to as many people as they can and maintain it as little
as they must.
Even good landlords, over time, do not do much to improve the
properties. They maintain them. When the basic structure is in
serious disrepair, the landlord will tear the house down and,
depending on the lot size, build an apartment. If the lot size
is not large enough, two lots may have to be joined together,
to provide enough space. In this case, two houses will be destroyed.
Under the neighborhood plan, new apartments will not be permitted
along Pugh and Allen streets from Fairmount to Waring avenues.
Thus, landlords will be encouraged to "improve" these
houses, to keep them in better shape for the future.
There is no change from what it is now. The editorial in Monday's
The Daily Collegian says this plan "would allow students
to live in a particular area of State College Borough."
Not true. All student houses will remain student houses, unless
the landlord decides to not rent to students. Nothing would change
except the incentive to protect and maintain the 148 houses in
the area -- listed in the National Historic Register.
Students are encouraged to take a more active role in the community.
As 70 percent of the population, students significantly impact
State College. Why not use this as an opportunity to join with
the nonstudent neighborhood residents to accomplish something
which would benefit both: A Third-Party Tenant-Landlord Dispute
Resolution Board? Contact me to work with you and represent student
interests on borough council.
This puts more pressure on the University to provide enough housing.
The editorial put it succinctly: "The problem lies in Penn
State's getting more and more students, and the areas allotted
for students getting filled faster and faster." The University
needs to take greater responsibility for the living conditions
of students. It is inappropriate for the University to force students
to compete for housing. Why not build apartments on University
land?
Elizabeth Goreham
State College Borough Council member
Rally against display held today at HUB
We the students of the Penn State Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, Womyn's Concerns and Women Advocates are writing this letter in response to the anti-abortion display that has been on campus since Monday.
While we believe very strongly in the right of groups to exercise
their First Amendment right to free speech, we believe that a
woman's right to choose a safe, legal abortion is equally important.
In response to these photos, we are organizing a demonstration.
There will be a rally at 12:30 p.m. today in front of the HUB.
Heather Keegan
Penn State ACLU
