We hear the public hearing might be February 2008 on this, quite possibly the 20th?

Where are your properties located? Are the homes, apartments, or condos? Are your expenses higher because the students are messier? WOuld you rather have students you can get more money or a long term tenant? Are your student properties legal? Do your students comply with the number of students allowed or do you not care if they cram more in? If more students are living in your properties then legally allowed, what do you do? Since you have students in your properties, your input here adds insight we might not get ordinarily.

You are correct, there is no reason why landlords shouldn't be held accountable on any type of property whether it be commercial or residential, yet we all know that reality is truly different.

last evening if you live in Lower Merion, you would have seen the beginning of the discussion on the student housing ordinance amendment.

Someone from the federation of civics got up and reminded the BOC about what Penn and Drexel did in the 50's a 60's (see article excerpted at bottom of this comment)- a member of the Bryn Mawr Civic and Bryn Mawr community remarked that this would take housing options away from regular residents, even seniors, who could not afford to stay in Lower Merion except to rent an apartment. This person also commented on the fact that according to Bryn Mawr's own college newspaper this need is not old news - so why is it the community's responsibility to bail out institutions when they can't manage their admissions numbers, etc.?

However, it does not seem that all commissioners are gung ho on board at this point? One commissioner in particular cautioned against undoing something carefully done merely to accomodate one party - because this could have far reaching effects even if everyone is not adjacent to R7 in Lower Merion.

Black Bottom Blues:Revisiting the neighborhood that Penn and Drexel gobbled up.
by Jeffrey Barg

Don't think for a second it hasn't all come at a very hefty, very human price.

University City's surge in retail and construction has been a boon for the neighborhood's institutions of higher learning, and for longtime residents who've seen the values of their homes rise. But some old-timers still fondly remember the Black Bottom: a tight-knit working-class neighborhood obliterated in the decades following World War II by the expansion of Penn and Drexel, which were aided and abetted by the city.

“The Black Bottom is a textbook example of institutional racist development policies,” says Billy Yalowitz, a Temple assistant professor and director of community arts who's created performance pieces about the neighborhood's history. “There's still enormous resentment among the thousands of people exiled from the destruction of that neighborhood in the '50s and '60s, and that resentment is palpable in the community surrounding the university.”

The Black Bottom, named for its largely African-American population and for its socioeconomic location at the “bottom” of West Philly, stretched from 32nd Street to 40th Street, and from University Avenue to Lancaster Avenue—encompassing most of the present-day campuses of Penn and Drexel. As Penn grew, the university bought up and leveled entire blocks, often through shady legislation and business deals, displacing an estimated 5,000 residents.

“They started buying up properties and not doing anything with them,”

Parking Policy at Bryn Mawr to change By Lakshmi Gandhi NEWS EDITOR

Facts and Figures-Amount of money that Bryn Mawr recieved for Glenmede

Dorm Profile: Glenmede By Gabriel Effron GUEST WRITER

As a former resident of the oft-forgotten dorm Glenmede, I have confronted many rumors regarding the off campus estate....Glenmede, the former Pew family estate, is located approximately one-half mile from central campus and can be reached only by car or by the Bryn Mawr shuttle. There are 5 buildings on the estate, the Main House, the Carriage House, the Gardener’s Cottage, the Gate House and the Pool House. However, despite its size only 15 undergraduates and 10 graduate students are currently housed at Glenmede...
http://www.glenmededeservesbetter.blogspot.com

MARCH 25, 2003 Glenmede, HCA Close to Bryn Mawr Students
By Robin Reineke STAFF WRITER

MARCH 25, 2003 Glenmede Shut Down Will Reopen When BMC Enrollment Returns to Previous Levels
By Sarah Friedman NEWS EDITOR

The Bryn Mawr trustees have finalized the decision to close Glenmede and to end Bryn Mawr’s lease on the Haverford College Apartments (HCA) due to budget constraints and the availability of rooms in dorms on campus.....Unlike many decisions that will affect students, this decision was made without their input.

APRIL 11, 2006 BMC Housing at Full Capacity for First Time in Years By Thea Hutchinson STAFF WRITER

This year Residential Life is reevaluating the housing availability on campus, and a leading factor for this action is the recent incrase in the number of students currently attending and intending to attend Bryn Mawr College.

“We are not anticipating a huge incoming class this fall. It should be about 360,” said Angela Sheets, director of Residential Life. It is not that next year’s incoming freshman class is especially larger than previous years’ classes, but rather that the classes of ’07, ’08, and ’09 have been around 350-360, while the class of ’06 was smaller than usual. “This year, room draw will be interesting because it is different and on a larger scale from the past years.”

Many rooms that were singles are being converted to multiple occupancy rooms, and occupancy numbers will rise for several doubles and triples. In terms of overall housing, Residential Life “must use [rooms] at maximum occupancy,”....Residential Life is also making efforts to create more housing in addition to increasing room occupancy....When asked what precautions should be taken with respect to housing, Sheets said, “Bryn Mawr should recognize [the population increase] in terms of offering housing on campus to students interested.” Currently, the majority of undergrad students live on campus, with only about twenty to forty students living off campus annually. Sheets said, “The residential experience on campus is popular, and for one of many reasons, because a lot of our singles truly are singles.”

Bryn Mawr is an unusual isntitution in its ability to offer student the possibility of a single during their college experience. “Housing changes really impact the entire campus,” said Sheets.

SEPTEMBER 16, 2003 Housing Crunch Leads to Utilization of Parker By Stephanie Rudolph
FEATURES EDITOR

ARCHIVES > SEPTEMBER 11, 2007 > FEATURES > Article View
Glenmede Sold to Preservationists for $9.5 Million
By Rachel Park
STAFF WRITER

ARCHIVES > MARCH 25, 2003 > FEATURES > Article View
Glenmede, HCA Close to Bryn Mawr Students
By Robin Reineke
STAFF WRITER

Also see: http://www.villanova.edu/studentlife/reslife/offcampus/complexes.htm

NY Times: January 6, 2008
Age of Riches
Private Cash Sets Agenda for Urban Infrastructure
By LOUIS UCHITELLE

NEW HAVEN — Conceived as a freeway, the Route 34 Connector still promises to whisk motorists across New Haven as they exit Interstate 95. But in less than a mile, the three broad lanes abruptly end, forcing traffic onto side roads that skirt the unbuilt right-of-way — a wasteland of elongated asphalt parking lots and scrub grass.

Mayor John DeStefano Jr. calls the aborted project a tragic example of public infrastructure gone awry. He has drawn up detailed plans to rip up the highway and parking lots and restore the neighborhood of homes and stores that once existed. But lacking money, the mayor’s project only inches forward.

A few streets away, there is no such obstacle. On either side of New Haven’s highway to nowhere, city streets throb with construction activity. A different kind of infrastructure spending — unrelated to roads or rapid transit, airports or levees — is under way.

Yale University is rebuilding itself....private spending, supported handsomely by a growing number of very wealthy families, is gaining ground on traditional public investment. In the case of New Haven, once the recipient of more federal dollars per person for urban renewal than any other city, private investment now far surpasses public outlays.

“For us,” the mayor said, “infrastructure spending has come to mean growing the university. Yale has the money, and what they get from us is the approval to grow.”

But for all the wealth going into private philanthropy, its reach is limited. Richard C. Levin, Yale’s president, is not committing money to the mayor’s reconstruction plan or to other items on Mr. DeStefano’s wish list...Propelled by the construction on campus, Yale has become a big owner of commercial real estate in the surrounding downtown, engaging in a form of urban renewal not unlike what Mayor DeStefano wants for Route 34.....As Yale invests, pursuing its goals, Mayor DeStefano falls increasingly into step, blurring the line between public and philanthropic infrastructure spending. Yale has acquired land to build two more residential colleges, and the mayor contributed by closing off and giving portions of two streets to the university.

In return, Yale has agreed to spend $10 million to repair bridges, streets, lights and sidewalks in the neighborhood — in effect, picking up a bill that would strain the city’s budget.