For the Record 10.15.14 - The Housing Issue

OCT. 15— OCT. 21, 2014

THE HOUSING ISSUE

Housing Issue

October 15, 2014

OPINION: U Square standard of living parallels prices Spacious bedrooms provide luxury, privacy, furnish overall satisfactory living experience ELYSSE WINGET | STAFF REPORTER

Though I only moved into the U Square apartments on Calhoun Street in August — the same month the complex won a national award for student housing — I already feel at home. Though there are a few apartments sporadically inhabited by your average Clifton family, most apartments house other University of Cincinnati students.

The first week after I moved in, I met four guys down the hall who have now become four friends who come in handy when my TV refuses to work. I also met someone down the hall who I worked with in high school; it’s a small world in U Square, and that’s part of its charm.

This small-world feel is good, in the sense that it’s easy to meet people, but bad when it is Friday or Saturday and the parties won’t end. Beer cans can be found stacked up in elevators as well as the occasional vomit stain on the carpet, but it’s always gone come Monday morning.

Otherwise, the building is typically kept very neat. As a second-year college student, I feel extremely privileged to live in an apartment with its own washer and dryer unit and granite counter tops. However, it does come at a price, and being that I live in a two-bedroom apartment with only one other person, that price is steep.

On average, U Square tenants pay around $500 in rent per month each because two or more people share bedrooms. But for those of us who took out a late lease and only have two people, the cost is more like $1,800 per month — not including utilities.

For two people, though, the apartment offers a lot of space. My roommate and I share a kitchen with a common living space, but also have a lot of space to ourselves — space that a hermit like myself needs. I get my own bathroom and bedroom, complete with a walk in closet. My roommate also gets her own bathroom, a walk in closet, and a sliding door closet. She got the master bedroom, though the joke is on her because I got the bathtub.

The solitude is nice for the days when I need to get my studying done. Since my roommate sings 24/7, it’s great that I can close the door and hear nothing but the sound of my Spotify playlist.

In addition to my apartment’s spaciousness, the building is also extremely safe and secure. There are 24-hour security officers in the U Square complex, so there’s always someone walking around to make sure the cars in the garage are safe, students and families within the building are safe, and that no one is breaking into the building.

Each resident has a room key as well as an electronic sensor to the building. It gets annoying on the weekends when I’m in my flannel pajamas and have to take the elevator down to the first floor to let people in. But I would much rather be safe than sorry.

Since we are managed by Towne Properties, there’s always someone in the offices between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. to help with anything a resident might need. It’s nice to be able to personally hand my rent check to someone and avoid any confusion.

I also enjoy my proximity to the shopping and restaurants below me. Though my credit card may not like my direct access to Highway 55, Waffle House, Lime Fresh

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U Square apartments are located above popular restaurants, including Lime Fresh Mexican Grill, Keystone Bar and Grill and Starbucks.

FILE ART

FILE ART

U Square is located near various eateries, including Orange Leaf, a popular frozen yogurt place that opened in the fall of 2013.

Mexican Grill and Keystone Bar & Grill, I sure do enjoy the fact that food is simply an elevator ride away — especially on those nights where you’re broken hearted and just need Orange Leaf.

My apartment is also in close proximity to the university.

I lived in Calhoun Residence Hall my freshman year which is right across the street from U Square, so my commute to classes is roughly the same as last year.

I think living in U Square is one of the best decisions I have ever made ... If only the drummers above me would stop playing after 11 p.m. on school nights!

ELYSSE WINGET | STAFF REPORTER

Select bedroom views overlook the university and surrounding city.

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October 15, 2014

Housing Issue

Word on the Street: Students talk Clifton living experience MADISON SCHMIDT | PHOTO EDITOR

MADISON SCHMIDT | PHOTO EDITOR

“I live on Rohs Street in a house. I lived in a different house last year on Stratford, and we’ve had mice and cockroaches in both, so that’s kind of a bother,” said Adam Comer, a third-year economics student. “[My landlord is] better than last year but not great ... We had black mold growing in our basement walls and they just came and got it the other day and we’ve been complaining about it for like two and a half months ... Freshman year I was in Calhoun; it was all right. My year there was an outbreak of bedbugs in the dorms, so that was interesting. Pretty much everywhere I’ve lived there’s been bugs.”

“My roommate just recently moved out yesterday,” said Amanda Scalzitti, a first-year biochemistry student. “So this new girl is moving in tomorrow. The roommate that did move out, she was a very big problem. She was just very inconsiderate of everyone’s stuff. I came home and my desk and everything was messed up, my computer was broken and she decided to have sex on my desk. It’s been ongoing since like the second week of school, and so now it’s just been resolved. The only reason she moved out was because she felt uncomfortable in the room, because I stopped talking to her completely.”

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MADISON SCHMIDT | PHOTO EDITOR

“I stay at Ludlow, so I definitely think it’s one of the best places to stay,” said Pooja Chari, a first-year environmental studies graduate student. “There’s so much food there. There’s a new Moroccan Café there. I had dinner there a couple days back; it was really good. I do [think it’s safe to live on Ludlow], because my roommate walked at three in the morning. She was at Skyline with her classmates, and she walked from there almost to CVS, because we stay [in an apartment complex] opposite CVS, so she walked all that way and was fine. “

MADISON SCHMIDT | PHOTO EDITOR

“I lived in Calhoun [my freshman year], and it kind of sucked,” said Nick Taylor, a secondyear student. “I’m an Air Force ROTC so I’m not really the partying type, and everybody was always partying and throwing up everywhere.

I had a really sh---y roommate. It really sucked living with him. We just had totally opposite schedules and priorities. He’s just a really awkward guy. He actually put his d--- in my protein shaker bottle. Things didn’t really end up well. At the end of the year I actually put hot sauce in his eyes. He was crying for like the next three hours; he was drunk.”

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ASK THE EDITORS

Housing Issue

What has been your worst housing experience?

For my first semester, I went to the College of Wooster. The worst part of living in Wooster wasn’t being trapped in a cornfield but staying on a co-ed floor in the worst dorm. The shower I shared with one girl and 15 boys was a small square room with a thin, nearly transparent curtain separating me from the smelly, naked men. Not an ideal living experience.

I lived in New York City for over six years, which means I have a lot of housing horror stories. For the average bargain price of $1,000/month, I put up with falling ceilings, cat-sized mice and less-than-sanitary roommates. The worst experience was coming home to find out that a decaying body had been found in the apartment above mine. Didn’t sleep for weeks!

NEWS EDITOR

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Natalie Coleman @_NatalieColeman

Elizabeth DePompei @EDePompei

Last year I lived in Daniels Hall, a sanctuary for druken first-years who turned down for literally nothing. Don’t get me wrong, the social aspect exceeded all expectations, however, so did my roommates’ interesting lifestyle choices. Let’s just say they were neither the sharpest nor most sober crayons in the box. Though, I learned a lot — soap operas are even less enjoyable firsthand. I mean I’m not going to say I survived, but I thrived.

I’m not a super neat person. My roommate and I spent freshman year Frebrezing most of our clothes until we absolutely had to wash them. Somehow, I’ve now found myself in a position acting as house mom. My favorite game I play is called, “What hasn’t expired yet?” and I have sadly accepted the fact that a turned-over glass cup on the floor means I have to dispose of yet another roach.

NEWS EDITOR

PHOTO EDITOR

Katie Coburn @_katiecoburn

Madison Schmidt @madiesch

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October 15, 2014

Student-athletes extend relationships beyond court, field Teammates who become roommates strengthen dynamics, build trust CLAUDE THOMPSON | STAFF REPORTER

Camaraderie is just one component of a sports team – one that coaches and players might say maintains and creates success on the field or court. University of Cincinnati student-athletes take this to a new level by not only practicing and playing together, but also living together.

UC student-athletes have established a long and treasured culture of living amongst their teammates to build trust and friendship. For UC’s basketball team, this culture begins when a recruited player is brought through the University Park Apartments complex above Gettler Stadium during campus visits before committing to the university.

“When I came on my visit, I saw that everyone had a roommate and I knew I wanted to be living with my teammate when I came to Cincinnati,” said senior

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In addition to UPA, the majority of first-year student-athletes take up residence in Schneider and Turner Halls.

forward Jermaine Sanders, who has lived in UPA for four years since coming to UC. Sanders hails from Far Rockaway, New York, and played at Rice High School

before moving to Cincinnati.

Sanders has lived with teammates who come from places ranging from California to Florida. The players’ sprawling roots haven’t stopped them from growing together to be a better team on the court before the season starts in November.

“It’s been a great experience for me, learning new things and how people from around the country interact differently with each other,” Sanders said. “Like any other family, things happen when you’re around each other all of the time that may cause an argument, but nothing serious.”

This kind of living arrangement helps with more than just players getting to know each other. It has become an effective tool for players to motivate each other to be on time for classes, meetings and practices.

This kind of relationship helps establish trust and accountability that acts as the foundation of an effective team, while also helping each other become better students in the classroom.

“Always with being a good teammate, you want each other to be up and on time,” Sanders said. “So whenever you’re up and you see that he’s lagging behind you can go help him wake up and get along to the places they need to be at certain times, so I think that’s more beneficial than you being off by yourself and not having that person there for you.”

It’s easy for the basketball teammates to get rooms together with an active roster of only 13 players. The men’s football team, however, can’t have dedicated football athletic dormitories anymore.

“The NCAA, about 15 years ago, passed a rule that no more than half of your football team can live in the same dorm,” said Tommy Tuberville, head coach of the UC football team.

MADISON SCHMIDT | PHOTO EDITOR

Tuberville makes due by having the freshman players live together to help them grow accustomed to their new lives away from home and with other student-athletes around them.

“I want [the freshmen] to learn how to be self-responsible, you know, by themselves,” Tuberville said. “You have older players and younger players. Those older players have fought, laughed and cried together for four years. You don’t want to put [the freshmen] around those guys, because they wouldn’t learn on their own.”

Approximately one-third of the football team is allowed to live off-campus if they meet specific requirements laid out by Tuberville and his staff, but always with another member of the team.

“I think it’s better for the older guys, being in an environment that they’ve been in for 2-3 years, to spread their wings and move to a new apartment.

When I first got into this business, everyone lived in an athletic dorm and was around each other all of the time,” Tuberville said. “I had more problems with that because, you know, they’re all rambunctious and so the more you get together as a group, the more problems you have with guys pulling pranks and doing that kind of stuff. I think there are pluses and minuses for it.”

Tuberville said he believes that keeping seniors in the same dorms over the course of a four-year career may cause some players to lose some of their drive or motivation. But Sanders sees more plusses than minuses when it comes to living with teammates.

“I believe that being around each other every day, getting used to each other’s habits, benefits the team more than everybody just doing their own thing.”

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October 15, 2014

MADISON SCHMIDT | PHOTO EDITOR

Keep Cincinnati Beautiful aims to prevent crime and make areas aesthetically pleasing.

Housing Issue

MADISON SCHMIDT | PHOTO EDITOR

A vacant building on 15th and Vine streets is an example of Future Blooms’ work that helps transforms decrepitude into art.

Future Blooms recaptures lost beauty in city’s neglected areas KYLEY FREDRICK | STAFF REPORTER

Once a pillar of middle-class malaise, Over-the-Rhine is now torn between gentrification and the inhabitants sworn not to abandon their beloved neighborhood.

There are many vacant lots and buildings that time has left dilapidated, slowly compromising the neighborhood’s Italian architectural roots. But dedicated citizens and organizations are working toward improvement.

Keep Cincinnati Beautiful is a non-profit organization working to foster community pride by providing sustainable results through grassroots initiatives that improve the environment and quality of life for Cincinnati’s inhabitants.

Despite various name changes and leaders, KCB’s goal has remained to promote litter prevention, recycling, community improvement and beautification. Citizen action, education and strategic partnerships enable KCB to continue its line of work for over the last 30 years.

Future Blooms is a program within KCB, dedicated to ridding landmark blemishes across Cincinnati’s urban core. The program deals with revitalizing destructed buildings and vacant lots.

Future Blooms Program Manager, Katie Ferncez, is an installation artist working to rid Cincinnati of decay and to rehabilitate forgotten pieces of the city.

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Ferncez became affiliated with KCB and the Future Blooms program in 2010 through a co-op with the University of Cincinnati while she obtained her bachelor’s degree in interior design.

“Future Blooms has many ongoing projects. Typically we go out every day and paint, weather permitting,” Ferncez said. “We have a volunteer event planned for the week of Oct. 20 where we will be repainting an old theatre in the West End. It is a highly visible building, which is why we have targeted this location. It is expected to take about 10-15 volunteers and half a day to complete.”

KCB finds it important to understand the community’s expectations as well.

“We make a point to talk and get feedback from people that live in the communities we are restoring,” Ferncez said. “Their interest is a very important part in what we do.”

There is an intricate plan behind every lot chosen by Future Blooms. It starts by building a geographic information system overlay, selection of lots, continued stabilization of those lots and a future goal of clustering project sites for impact.

Since 2009, KCB members and community volunteers have transformed 350 vacant lots and 800 buildings. The Future Blooms program alone has painted barricades on 116 buildings to look like doors and windows with awnings and flower boxes.

In addition, 13 murals were created while simultaneously educating members of the

community about the environment. Last year when students at Withrow High School were learning about water systems, they visited portions of the Mill Creek. Partnering with members from KCB, students wove recycled vinyl into thoughtful geometric shapes along the chain-linked fences surrounding the Mill Creek.

This was done in an effort to draw attention to the Mill Creek beyond the fence, so people passing by would think twice before littering or taking negative action against this important waterway.

The work being done by Future Blooms is producing results, and many are wide-eyed at what it has produced. It’s hard not to do a double take passing by the reimagined, vacated buildings that have remained an eyesore for years.

Future Blooms is modeled after the Philadelphia Horticulture Society’s Philly Green program.

Environmental Educator and Vacant Lot Program Manager Jenna Hudson obtained her bachelor’s degree in interior design at UC and also came to her role at KCB through a co-op program. Hudson’s love for educating students about the environment is translated through her work.

According to Hudson, OTR has seen a 17 percent reduction in crime, a 20 percent reduction in blight and a 34 percent reduction in litter. “We were able to concentrate heavily in that area and have a

big impact,” Hudson said in an email.

KCB frequently works with the police to target its efforts. An example can be seen on Green Street, which was the center of crime and drug trafficking in OTR. The police approached KCB to work with them on repainting the abandoned buildings and even board up stoops so drug dealers wouldn’t have a place to sit.

“This, in combination with efforts the police took, have worked miracles on the street and it is now re-opened and a center for development,” Hudson said.

The Future Blooms program does not just set up shop and then leave. Currently, workforce training programs are used to sustain the stabilized lots. About 22 percent of the buildings worked on by Future Blooms are either renovated or under construction.

KCB and the Future Blooms program are pivotal to progression of long forgotten urban neighborhoods in Cincinnati. The organizations whole-heartedly subscribe to the “Broken Windows Theory”— if a place has broken windows, or is vandalized, it is far more likely to perpetuate crime in the area.

“Passing through I feel like Future Blooms will help restore the old, cool parts of Cincinnati,” said Elizabeth Campbell, a thirdyear organizational leadership student at UC. “Cincinnati is a city with so much character which isn’t always seen. The Future Blooms program will help to reveal the beauty hidden behind the rubble.”

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Commuting vs. dorm life: Why I choose to live at home

MADISON SCHMIDT | PHOTO EDITOR

The availability of various shuttles to and from campus adds even more benefits to commuting.

EMILY BEGLEY | COLLEGE LIFE EDITOR

I was destined to commute to campus from the moment I toured a University of Cincinnati dorm room. Expecting an only child to coexist alongside a stranger equals bad news, and adding a confined

Clifton’s

best DELIVERY

space to the equation exacerbates the problem.

So since my first day of class, I’ve loaded my car up with papers and books and made the drive to UC. I’m always surprised at the comments this receives; my friends wonder how I survive living with my parents and question the efficiency of driving back and forth. But

one question outweighs them all — “Aren’t you missing out on the college experience?”

Absolutely not.

If anything, living at home has enriched my time at the university.

I’ve heard film-worthy horror stories of bad roommates, tales of cringe-worthy dorm parties and laments on the perpetual loss of privacy.

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Commuting doesn’t prevent me from spending time on campus — I actually spend the majority of my days here. But it does prevent me from experiencing the ugly side of dorm life, which drives many students to move back home.

I haven’t once been compelled to change my living arrangement. Paying for classes is tough enough without ponying up for rent. Commuting saves hundreds of dollars every month, even with paying for gas.

Depending on where you live, you can save even more by hopping on UC’s free shuttles. For my first two years, I caught a shuttle at the University of Cincinnati Blue Ash, which is about a third of my commute to main campus.

I genuinely enjoy living at home, even though my schedule has grown more demanding and I work an on-campus job. Yes, going home at midnight sucks, especially after a full day of work and classes. But the drive pays off when I make it home to my bed, where I can study and work without fear of a drunken roommate stumbling in at 3 a.m.

I also have the luxury of living with my pets, which is extremely important to me.

Although some off-campus options are pet-friendly, I doubt they would allow four dogs, a bird and two guinea pigs.

Living at home isn’t for everyone.

College comes with an almost whimsical opportunity to live on your own, which many students have never experienced. I am admittedly particularly close with my parents, so I was never compelled by this initial desire.

But commuting comes with an arsenal of benefits that tremendously outweigh the disadvantages.

In the thick of my final year, I have no regrets — my experience has been everything I wanted it to be.

TOPPER’S Probably the best local pizzeria for delivery, and open until 3:30, Topper’s is a no-brainer if you want something already deemed a classic in Clifton. 513-475-9999

INSOMNIA COOKIES If you’re studying late for an exam, have a black hole in your stomach that can only be filled by cookies, or just want a midnight snack, Insomnia is for you. The service specializes in delivering warm, gooey, oven-baked cookies to where you live, and is conveniently open until 3 a.m., perfect for satiating nocturnal students. 877632-6654

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EDUCATION DOESN’T END WITH GRADUATION Discover your next move at the

GRADUATE EDUCATION EXPO Wednesday, Oct. 22 5:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m.

Cintas Center xavier.edu/gradexpo

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