City's real movers are its citizens
News - 26 Jan 2008
... DURHAM, NC - After some years of clean-up and watch-out and spread-the-word projects, Uplift East Durham is holding a tour of homes this weekend to interest buyers and sellers of real estate in investing in the historic but high-crime Driver Street-Angier Avenue section.

That's all in the Bull City tradition. East Durham may be a district of ill repute nowadays, but, hard as it may be to believe, even tony Trinity Park was, a generation or so back, a neighborhood on the way down ...

New role for red-brick masterpiece
Liverpool’s Victoria Building gave the term “red-brick university” to the language
Daily Post - 26 Jan 2008
... LIVERPOOL, UK -
even in decline the Victoria Building’s uncompromising stature and unbending style continued to make a statement across the city, with its chiming Jubilee clock-tower visible for miles.

Now an £8.6m restoration project is well underway to transform the building into an art gallery and museum to coincide with Liverpool’s year as European Capital of Culture ...

It is believed that no other British university will have an equivalent building that will attempt to bring “town and gown” together so closely.

“This is the first time we’ve ever had a building specifically open to anyone who just wants to visit,” says Prof Kelvin Everest, university public orator and manager of its Capital of Culture programme ...

Heated debate over mini-dorms is far from settled
Union-Tribune - 26 Jan 2008
... DAN DIEGO, CA - One of the biggest issues in the College Area and surrounding neighborhoods is the proliferation of mini-dorms. They've been been around for years, but tensions surrounding the rental homes have grown increasingly heated over the past 18 months, leading to protests and reforms. The following is a brief guide on what mini-dorms are and what has been done to limit them.

QUESTION: What are mini-dorms? ...

Three frats agree to move from houses by fall 2009
Banner-Herald - 26 Jan 2008
... ATHENS, GA - The university plans to tear the old houses down to make way for future UGA expansion - possibly a new home for UGA's Terry College of Business - along the stretch of South Lumpkin Street between Baxter and Broad streets. A new special collections library also is slated to go up nearby.

The relocated fraternities will create a new fraternity row on River Road near the School of Music, on a stretch with room for seven fraternity houses. Two other UGA fraternities already have houses on River Road, so two slots still will be available there after the three Lumpkin Street fraternities move ...

Hotel being remade as dorm
Former Best Western in Troy will be converted for use as RPI student residence
Times Union - 26 Jan 2008
... TROY, NY - With financing and other approvals in place, work is expected to begin soon on converting the former Best Western hotel at 1800 Sixth Ave. into a dormitory for students from nearby Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Late Thursday, the Rensselaer County Industrial Development Agency approved a $23 million financing package. The IDA basically will act as a conduit through which money will flow for construction materials for the project, saving developers the cost of sales tax, said Robert Pasinella, the county's planning director ...

Storrs Center: Putting The Town Back In 'College Town'
Daily Campus - 25 Jan 2008
... MANSFIELD, CT - The University of Connecticut is known for preserving its rural, agricultural roots. The town of Mansfield is known for preserving its history and culture. But the together, the two lack something that many feel is needed in a college environment - a college town.

In 2001, UConn and the town of Mansfield came together to form the Mansfield Downtown Partnership - a collaboration that would plan for the construction of a town center to benefit the UConn community, the local community and university visitors.

The project, which officials estimate will be complete in 2014, will transform Route 195 near UConn's Fine Arts building and the Mansfield Community Center into vibrant, pedestrian-oriented college town that will include small neighborhoods, a town square and shopping areas that will foster a center of civic activity for the community. Locally owned retail operations, restaurants and other businesses will provide activities for locals and visitors ...

Is NYC becoming a college town?
AM New York - 25 Jan 2008
... NEW YORK, NY - Colleges and universities are forecasting unprecedented growth in the coming years, adding as much as 17 million square feet of space -- or more than either the World Trade Center or the controversial Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn -- and may begin to exert an even greater influence on the ebb and flow of life in the city.

"Our fear is that the neighborhood could be overwhelmed by these institutions that they have played host to for 150 years," said Andrew Berman of the Greenwich Village Society for Historical Preservation ...

Oxford Idol returns Sunday
Oxford Press - 25 Jan 2008
... OXFORD, OH - Oxford Idol is set to return to Hall Auditorium for the second year in a row at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 27. Chris Adryan is the producer for this Kramer Elementary parent group fundraiser ...

The money raised from the show is used for various educational field trips for the students at Kramer Elementary to places like COSI and the Cincinnati Art Museum.

"Many of the kids would normally never have the chance to go on trips like these," Adryan said. "It's a great opportunity." ...

"We thought it would work well because it is a college town and all different age groups enjoy it" Adryan said. "Its fun because every age group is covered from first grade to middle school or high school to 70-year-old tap dancers." ...

Avalanche of events packs midstate arts agenda
Telegraph - 25 Jan 2008
... MACON, GA - In the space of a few weeks, virtually every performing and visual arts organization in the midstate will be in action. Theater, music, film and art exhibitions - all will be available in such profusion that most of us will be able to take advantage of only a fraction of this entertainment avalanche ...

College, town mull how best to fire up economic engine
Buletin - 25 Jan 2008
... AMHERST, MA - Amherst College wants to help the town of Amherst help itself.

Often in a financial bind, Amherst leans heavily on residential taxpayers for its tax base, and three of its largest employers - Amherst College, the University of Massachusetts and Hampshire College - are tax-exempt. As a result, taxes are high, and budget cuts always seem to be knocking on the door.

As part of an ongoing effort to aid Amherst and foster collaboration, college officials met Tuesday with their municipal and business community counterparts to discuss ways the college could help promote economic development in town ...

Vision emerges for UMore
U of Minnesota plans 20 - 30K new city - Umore Park
Town Pages - 25 Jan 2008
... ROSEMOUNT, MN - The reports lay out a city where residents will be able to walk or bike past a variety of public art, where gathering places are plentiful and where on-site solar and wind power generators produce much of the electricity used by residents.

“They’re pretty high-end principles,” Carlson said. “There is tremendous work to be done in really listing out very specific goals and strategies and priorities underneath those and then thinking what would be the best way to move forward? How can we move forward with some of these really interesting ideas?”

University committees used input from residents, collected at several meetings last summer, to produce the reports. The University and a consultant it has hired for the project will in turn use the reports as they develop a clearer plan of what the development, expected to bring 20,000 to 30,000 new residents to the area in the next 25 years, will look like ...

Fires prompt safety drive, free batteries
Badger Herald - 25 Jan 2008
... Madison, WI - Free nine-volt batteries were distributed at Union South Thursday to remind students to check their smoke detectors.

The Madison Fire Department and the University of Wisconsin Offices of the Dean of Students aim to educate and promote fire safety among students ...

The main goal of the giveaway was to insure fire safety and awareness among UW students, especially in the wake of the fires that occurred near campus last November ...

Thursday's joint meeting focuses on safety
Daily Reflector - 25 Jan 2008
... GREENVILLE, NC - A "town and gown" summit Thursday scored high marks with both the Greenville City Council and East Carolina University student government representatives.

The joint meeting, the first in quite some time, according to city officials, took place at City Hall and was billed as a way to encourage a dialogue on relations between the city and university students ...

Topics Thursday ranged from off-campus safety, to city housing-occupancy codes, to volunteerism.

The meeting kicked off with an overview of city ordinances that relate to the large number of ECU students who live off campus.

Merrill Flood, head of Greenville's community-development department, noted that more than three unrelated tenants sharing a dwelling is a violation of city ordinance.

Dunn said the rules are there to protect the quality of neighborhoods and aren't designed to target students for special punishment ...

Frat house gets a week to clean up
TRASHED AND CONDEMNED
Hearld-Leader - 25 Jan 2008
... LEXINGTON, KY - The Sigma Pi fraternity house on Aylesford Place was condemned by the city Wednesday afternoon.

The house at 364 Aylesford was "trashed," said David Jarvis, the city's code enforcement director. "There were beer cans, trash and food everywhere. The place was a mess."

Code enforcement issued between 15 and 20 citations, involving trash, minor electrical problems, housekeeping issues and fire hazards, Jarvis said. The bulk of the citations were related to trash, he said ...

A legacy of students and beer
Michigan Daily - 25 Jan 2008
... ANN ARBOR, MI - Tensions between the town and gown have always been just under the surface in Ann Arbor, but few modern examples of that relationship are more extreme than an 1856 standoff, which escalated to include battering rams, muskets and plenty of spilled beer before a peace settlement was reached.

"The Dutch War," as it is inexplicitly referred to in The Making of the University of Michigan: 1817-1992 by Howard Peckman and the University's Encyclopedic Survey, began innocently enough.

One night, Jacob Hangsterfer, the proprietor of a popular student hangout on the corner of Main Street and Washington Street, kicked two rowdy students out of his shop.

The students were not about to let the incident go, though ...

College 'Kids'
More and more boomers retiring where it all began -- in (bigger) schoolyards
Jewish Exponent - 24 Jan 2008
... USA - "It's really convenient to be close to the college because I have use of the library, which is very important," said Marcel Gutwirth, a former Haverford College professor who retired to the Quadrangle, a Haverford-based retirement community. "I think people who are attracted to this particular place are attracted to it, at least in part, by the fact that there is intellectual activity."

But with everything within reach -- from classes to sporting events -- are college-town retirement communities more like dormitories?

Not at all ...

Trader Joe's not interested in area
State Journal - 24 Jan 2008
... EAST LANSING, MI - Despite a grassroots effort by local residents, this college town just doesn't fit into the business plan for trendy grocery chain Trader Joe's.

That's the message from a broker for the Monrovia, Calif.-based company, who's been fielding calls from East Lansing residents making the case for their city.

"We've toured the area a couple different times and they've run forecasting models and it just doesn't meet their current needs," said Mike Deighan, managing principal at Southfield-based Timberline Realty Advisors who does brokerage work in the Midwest for Trader Joe's ...

'Mini-dorm' has negative context
U student council sees term as discriminating against students
Daily Aztec - 24 Jan 2008
... SAN DIEGO, CA - Mini-dorm is not a legally defined term, but rather one that has grown out of a long history of housing problems in the College Area. Doug Case, president of the College Area Community Council, said it was coined in the '80s when SDSU was over-enrolled and there was not enough on campus housing so investors bought neighborhood homes and rented them out by the room.

Because it was operated much like a residence hall, it was called a mini-dorm ...

Chicago in top ranks for Peace Corps volunteers
Chronicle - 24 Jan 2008
... CHICAGO, IL The University is the No. 1 Peace Corps volunteer-producing school.

With 34 College alumni serving as volunteers during 2007, Chicago ranked first on the Peace Corps’ annual list of schools with 5,000 undergraduates or less.

Struggling café pursues renewal
Middlebury Campus - 24 Jan 2008
... MIDDLEBURY, VT - "I stumbled onto it," Melanson said. "I just happened to start something that I thought was needed, and it has turned out to be a very necessary space, and not only as a meeting space."

Professor Jay Parini, patron and friend of John's, agreed that Carol's holds a vital place in the Middlebury community.

"Its loss will be sorely felt by many," said Parini. "I've been a regular patron of Carol's since it opened. I stop in every morning, and write some poetry there, and often meet students and colleagues. It is certainly the liveliest college/town meeting place in Middlebury. It's absence will have a miserable effect on the community."

Other members of the community also fear the loss of Middlebury's lone coffee shop. According to Melanson, ever since he began to tell his patrons that business was bad, he has received a great deal of support from his customers ...

Letter: What makes a townie, a townie?
Townsman - 23 Jan 2008
... ANDOVER, MA - Referring to the "townie" commentary that appeared in Town Talk last week (Jan. 17), I'd like to add a few thoughts ...

My understanding is a townie is someone who was born and raised in Andover, or just raised here, or lived all or most of his or her life in Andover. The term also suggests that a person has first-hand knowledge of or a connection to people, places and events that figured in the town's past. Webster's online dictionary defines a townie as a "resident of a college town not affiliated with the college." Encarta adds, a townie is "somebody who lives permanently in a town." ...

Bring Students to Master Plan Table
Heights - 24 Jan 2008
... BOSTON, MA - THE ISSUE: Task force, BC discuss neighborhood problems
WHAT WE THINK: Students should be part of solution

Town-gown relations are often among the foremost problems facing universities, especially as they seek to expand. Boston College is no exception. After another Allston-Brighton task force meeting Tuesday night, one can't help but wonder when, if ever, the neighbors and the school will be able to reach some sort of consensus about BC's new expansion plan.

Tuesday's meeting was filled with more conversation about the community's uneasiness about BC's Master Plan. As usual, the main complaint from the residents concerned boisterous, off-campus students, who have long plagued the neighborhoods with late hours and rowdy parties. The new Master Plan aims to remedy this problem with 610 new beds, increasing the proportion of students living on campus to 90 percent, and cutting the number of students living off campus by approximately half in the process ...

City launches pilot program for rental inspections
News Journal - 24 Jan 2008
... RADFORD, VA - Renters on certain streets in the City of Radford may soon have inspectors knocking on their doors.

Radford City Council agreed Monday to launch an approximately two month pilot rental inspection program that will be used to “gather data,” according to Radford City Manager Tony Cox, to help determine if the city will include a full-fledged rental inspection program in the city’s next budget.

“This will allow us to gather data so we can really learn what it would take to put a program in place permanently,” ...

Cornell Workers Deserve a Living Wage
Daily Sun - 24 Jan 2008
... ITHACA, NY - As a large landholder, Cornell can also help by working to provide more affordable housing in the community. All of the college students in the Cornell area drive up the cost of rent, putting local housing beyond the reach of many working families. With the rising cost of gas, commuting is eating up more and more of workers’ paychecks.

Last fall, Cornell announced a plan to create residential neighborhoods on Cornell-owned land. But many workers fear these properties will be far too expensive for families earning less than $50,000 a year, a threshold few Cornell workers reach. Cornell can work with Tompkins County and Local 2300 to ensure the homes that go up are not mansions, but affordable housing for custodians, food-service workers and other low-income employees ...

Coates Run developers getting ducks in a row
Messenger - 24 Jan 2008
... ATHENS, OH - Though developers are waiting for permit approvals for a student housing project on the south side of Athens, they are still working to move construction along.

Meanwhile, Athens administrators are attempting to keep tabs on issues that might crop up as a result of that development ...

Student housing worries residents in Mont Alto
Record Herald - 24 Jan 2008
... MONT ALTO, PA - Three Penn State Mont Alto sophomores spoke in favor of a proposed off-campus student housing development Wednesday night in Mont Alto's fire hall and opened the eyes of some angry residents who opposed the plan.

At the conclusion of a lengthy public meeting, some residents came away more open to the proposed 59-unit student housing community a developer wants to build on Slabtown Road, although no decision was reached Wednesday night ...

Neighbors: BC housing will bring noise, litter
Tab - 24 Jan 2008
... ALLSTON, MA - University neighbors expressed everything from worry to outrage about the student housing plan set forth in Boston College’s 10-year master plan which includes 500 new beds on the Brighton campus (St. John’s seminary land) out of a total of 610 new beds. The plan calls for no new housing in Newton.

“This plan victimizes Brighton,” said resident Eva Webster at the most recent meeting of the Boston College community task force. She added that BC is “afraid of the money that is in Newton,” drawing applause. “No one wants to move away, and we don’t want those dorms here.” ...

Developing relationship
Carolina North requires town, UNC partnership
Daily Tar Heel - 23 Jan 2008
... CHAPEL HILL, NC - It's been a bumpy road.

Fourteen years of questions and disagreements have led the University and the town to where they are today: still in the planning process of Carolina North.

For the University, every time the plans start to move forward on the satellite campus - set for a 963-acre tract of a land just north of UNC -something throws a kink in the process, causing officials to reevaluate their ideas ...

Students fear bylaw will leave them homeless
Star - 23 Jan 2008
... OSHAWA, ON - The walls are closing in on Oshawa's student population.

A bylaw that will force hundreds of college and university students out of rental houses in the city's north end moved closer to fruition Monday night when the Development Services Committee voted it through to council for approval.

The proposal – which requires landlords to get a licence, imposes tougher housing standards and limits the number of bedrooms in a house – aims to resolve issues of noise, parking and irresponsible behaviour by tenants ...

Your Turn: OU’s housing plan ignores off-campus upperclassmen
Post - 23 Jan 2008
... ATHENS, OH - Does Ohio University seriously think it has solved the housing problem?

I am glad that the university has created a back-up plan for underclassmen housing, but in no way does this new back-up plan solve all of OU’s housing problems. Sure, if enrollment continues to increase, which is likely, all of the underclassmen will have a place to stay. That is great. But there is eventually going to be fallout for upperclassmen in two ways. First, current upperclassmen who were banking on living in the cheaper-than-rent-priced dorms and who did not get an apartment for next year will be in trouble. Secondly, and the larger problem, is in about two years, when all of this year’s freshmen need to find a place to live off-campus, this will be difficult. The problem is that OU (officials) did not think this through all the way. Sure, they evaluated and dealt with on-campus housing. That is great. But they did not think about nor deal with the real problem at OU, which is off-campus housing. There are several ignored issues pertaining to off-campus living that need dealt with.

Athens has a limited amount of off-campus dwelling. Landlords are already maxing out the housing (some are already beyond the suggested safety limits). Where will all of this year’s freshmen and next year’s freshmen live when inadequate and unhealthy off-campus housing during their junior and senior years is all that is left?

Pittsfield Building to house college students
Crain’s — 23 Jan 2008
... CHICAGO, IL - College students soon will be taking up residence in the Pittsfield Building, the 38-story landmark on Jewelers Row.

Skokie-based developer Alter Group has acquired floors 13 through 21 in the vintage office building at 55 E. Washington St. and plans to convert them into a 450-bed dormitory for downtown college students ...

West side neighbors blast student housing complex
News - 23 Jan 2008
... ANN ARBOR, MI - A proposed student apartment complex for 640 tenants on Ann Arbor's west side was rejected on a 10-1 vote by the City Council following an emotional public hearing at which nearby residents angrily decried the project.

Residents spoke for nearly 90 minutes on Tuesday night, most urging the council not to vote for the 42 North apartment project proposed by Wood Partners, saying it would bring increased traffic, more crime and strain the city's water and sewer system.

The proposed complex marketed to college students would have brought 160 four-bedroom units in five buildings with 640 parking spaces ...

Plans for dual towers down-sized
News - 23 Jan 2008
... ANN ARBOR, MI - The developers who recently proposed constructing what would have been among the tallest buildings in Ann Arbor revised their plans Wednesday to make University Village smaller.

Originally planned to be connected 26-story and 18-story mixed-use student housing towers, Dan Ketelaar and Ronald Hughes now propose to build adjacent 22-story and 18-story towers at the southeast corner of South Forest and South University avenues. The developers plan to resubmit site plans to the city today ...

Council postpones mini-dorm decision
New panel to look over ordinance
Union-Tribune - 23 Jan 2008
... SAN MARCOS, CA - The San Marcos City Council last night tried for a third time to curb the spread of mini-dorms but ultimately delayed its decision.

In recent months, some homeowners have complained about unruly college students' loud partying at night, drunken misbehavior and littering in residential areas near Cal State San Marcos. As a result, the council has been grappling with a “rooming house” ordinance that would provide a way to deal with such problems ...

Staff Editorial: Outrageous rental plan
Flat Hat - 22 Jan 2008
... WILLIAMSBURG, VA -The latest anti-student measure undertaken by the Williamsburg city council — converting rental housing near the College to owner-occupied units — represents our local tax dollars at work in the most irresponsible and unnecessary way.

The converted houses will be sold to the new owners on the condition that they are never rented without city approval. The subtext of this unfair stipulation is clear: students not wanted.

The first house converted under this plan is already a financial disaster for the city ...

Harrison house loses city $27K
Flat Hat - 22 Jan 2008
... WILLIAMSBURG, VA - It appears that the Williamsburg Redevelopment and Housing Authority will lose at least $27,000 on the sale of a home at 110 Harrison Avenue in an effort to convert the former rental property into an owner-occupied residence.

The reportedly dilapidated property was purchased in March of last year by the WRHA after chemistry professor David Kranbuehl notified the city of its availability. According to Sharon Scruggs, chairman of the WRHA, city loans funded the purchase and subsequent renovations of the property, totaling $416,000 in costs.

The house re-entered the market at $425,000 under the stipulation that the new owners live in the house, and not rent it out to anyone else. Eventually, the listing price dropped down to $389,000 — $27,000 less than what the WRHA spent on the property ...

The next page in downtown plan
A UMB bookstore on Baltimore St. block is envisioned as a critical piece in continued west-side development
Sun - 22 Jan 2008
... BALTIMORE, MD - the city is pressing the university to put a planned student bookstore, to be managed by Barnes & Noble, at the northeast corner of Baltimore and Paca streets, a move officials hope will inject more energy and visibility to an area undergoing a slow transformation ...

University has duty to help renew downtown
Star - 22 Jan 2008
... CAMBRIDGE, ON - We've seen the impact of a downtown university campus in the examples set by other cities, which have been successful beyond all doubt. On Nov. 6, 2007, we heard Prof. Rick Haldenby, director of the University of Waterloo's School of Architecture, speaking at the downtown Armouries about the economic impact of locating his campus in downtown Cambridge ...

Housing authority readies for redevelopment
Faces challenges of how to handle public housing
C-Ville - 22 Jan 2008
... CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - Councilors interviewed seven candidates for the two positions for the CRHA Board of Commissioners. Board members are staring down a large looming question: What to do with the city’s aging stock of public housing? ...

Candidates included former city councilor Kendra Hamilton, who was Council’s representative on the Board until her term expired last month (Mayor Dave Norris took over her position). Wade Tremblay, a city student housing developer and property manager, also interviewed. Tremblay cited his development and management of housing on Wertland Street, not far from the Westhaven public housing stock, as experience. He also was a strong advocate for demolishing Westhaven and redeveloping it as mixed-income housing ...

Niche market seen as secure investment
Western Mail - 22 Jan 2008
... UK - THERE is a shortfall in student accommodation in South Wales university towns, a property survey claims.

More than three quarters of the estimated 38,000 students in full-time higher education in Cardiff and Swansea are competing for 9,000 beds in purpose-built halls of residence.

The report by international property consultancy King Sturge suggests that the UK student accommodation sector has moved from a niche property market to being regarded by financial institutions and investors as an asset class in its own right ...

Vertegy's Award-Winning Sustainable Design Services Tapped for World-Class International Project

VERTEGY'S AWARD-WINNING SUSTAINABLE DESIGN SERVICES TAPPED FOR WORLD-CLASS INTERNATIONAL PROJECT
STLtoday - 22 Jan 2008
... QATAR - Already recognized for its role in delivering the St. Louis region's first two LEED Platinum certified commercial buildings, St. Louis-based Vertegy's award-winning sustainable design and consulting services have recently caught the attention of a development team embarking on a residential project that will take the firm's expertise overseas. The sustainable consulting firm today announced it has been tapped to assist with the sustainable design of a world-class student housing complex in Qatar, an Arab Emirate in Southwest Asia ...

City Council aims at student housing with apt. occupancy limit
Daily Free Press - 22 Jan 2008
... BOSTON, MA - The search for affordable urban housing may become more difficult if a recent Boston City Council bill to limit the number of people living together in a rental property passes.

If the legislation is approved and then affects the Boston Zoning Commission, landlords would not be permitted to house more than four non-related occupants in an apartment ...

Council tackles mini-dorm issue again
Enforcement policy, student-community commission proposed
North County Times - 22 Jan 2008
... SAN MARCOS, CA - The City Council is expected tonight to vote on an ordinance intended to curb "mini-dorms" -- or single-family homes leased to three or more people, often college students sharing expenses ...

In September, residents at a city-sponsored education forum complained of rowdy students, noise, litter and scarce parking in their neighborhoods. Since then, the search has been on for a solution that keeps longtime residents happy while accommodating the growing number of Cal State San Marcos and Palomar College students who want to live near the campuses. Neither campus provides much student housing ...

Politicians tweak student housing bylaw
Students still say their concerns ignored
News Durham Region - 22 Jan 2008
... OSHAWA, ON - After being given strict orders not to cheer or jeer, many in the audience at Monday night's student housing meeting simply shook their heads in frustration as councillors dove into the latest round of debate.

"They still haven't listened to us, none of the student's concerns are present in the changes they made," said Fraser McArthur, Student Association president for Durham College and UOIT. His biggest concern is where students will live if a bedroom cap is implemented for rental houses ...

'Enter here, all who love books'; Used-book store, Mark Jokinen Books, celebrates 20 years on Water Street
Examiner - 21 Jan 2008
... PETERBOROUGH, ON - When someone brings in a box of books to sell, Mark Jokinen instantly dives in, quickly sorts what he wants and then picks up the winning pile and announces a price.

What's he looking for?

"Books that can sell over time," Jokinen said.

Next month, Jokinen will mark 20 years since he first opened Mark Jokinen Books on Water Street ...

New $106 million residence hall project begins
Quad - 21 Jan 2008
... WEST CHESTER, PA - The West Chester University Housing Renewal Initiative commenced on Jan. 2 to change the face and usage of the residential quad and Hollinger Field with the construction of a $106 million residence hall project ...

Harrisonburg hopes development will foster revitalization
Times-Dispatch - 21 Jan 2008
... HARRISONBURG, VA - After years of seeking to revitalize Harrisonburg's faded downtown, city leaders hope a proposed $25 million development means success is on the horizon ...

Landlords targeted in budget proposal
Free Press - 21 Jan 2008
... LONDON, ON - London could become one of the first Ontario cities to crack down on bad landlords by forcing them to pass mandatory inspections or lose their licences to rent.

Tucked in the city's budget document is a small item seeking cash for two inspectors to handle the licensing program.

"It would weed out the bad landlords," said Orest Katolyk, a London bylaw enforcement manager ...

Reshaping America
Star-Tribune - 20 Jan 2008
... CASPER, WY - The most common defense cites an increased call for "walkable" areas that allow people to live, work and play in the same proximity.

Chris Leinberger, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution and author of "The Option of Urbanism," said core development is also critical for economic stability.

He said 30 to 40 percent of Americans want a walkable alternative to our suburban lifestyle.

Generation Xers, he said, demand a walkable urban area. Unlike their predecessors, Gen Xers tend to move to cities for the city and not for a job.

A unique downtown could also be the answer to increasing tourism.

Edward Hill, a distinguished scholar and professor of economic development at Cleveland State University, said an interesting downtown is what visitors remember and keeps them coming back ...

Students for students
MU reaches out to New Orleans
... MILLERSVILLE, PA - The students are collecting supplies like aprons for craft projects, chalk, puzzles and pencils; just about everything needed in a primary school setting.

"Many donations that we have received have enhanced concepts for learning and also those of healing that exist as a result of Katrina," Loughran wrote.

"Millersville University has my sincere gratitude for helping my students learn while they are having fun. The evidence is in the smiles, the thank-you letters, and their confidence." ...

What a concept: Doing some good just for good of it
Post - 20 Jan 2008
... NORMAN, OK & TALLAHASSEE, FL - Americans say they're sick of partisan politics, and some of them really mean it.

In Norman, Okla., and Tallahassee, Fla. - two university towns where football usually matters more than governance - local leaders weary of blood sport have begun taking matters into their own hands ...

"If you say you're nonpartisan, nobody believes you," Katz said.

With that reality in mind, To The Village Square aims to remind Americans of The Big Idea for which our ancestors spilled their blood - that Americans should be self-governing.

The Web site, tothevillagesquare.org, explains history in the context of today's political dialogue, which "wouldn't be tolerated between 5-year-olds at recess."

"We've turned 'talking' over to professional polarizers on television who make seven-digit careers surfing this wave of hostility," the Web site reads. "They warp what were once perfectly useful ideas, when understood in moderation, into black-and-white caricatures of ideas, so oversimplified they become effectively useless in solving real problems ...

Early to Wed
Globe - 20 Jan 2008
... BOSTON, MA - While their college peers perfect the casual hookup and their older sisters and brothers delay marriage until later and later, a small number of college students are bucking both trends and committing to "I do" while still in school. A look inside the lives of these quiet rebels ...

Alliance stands up to NU
Students, neighbors battling expansion
Globe - 20 Jan 2008
... BOSTON, MA - Roxbury residents have gained an unlikely ally in their fight against Northeastern University's expansion into their neighborhood: Northeastern students.

"We live next to a community that has a history of getting kicked around by Northeastern," says Timbah Bell, a junior from Gloucester. Bell was among the nearly 100 people at a campus forum last month on Roxbury relations, strained recently by a 1,200-student dorm project and the school's purchase of a low-income apartment building ...

Dead Or Alive
Chronicle - 20 Jan 2008
... USA - But now comes an interesting new twist. While neighbors may have their doubts about the merits of students who are quick, living down the street, they have fewer concerns about those who have gone on to their eternal reward. Dead. Beneath the quad once called home, passed alumni can now spend an eternity. Last spring a newspaper article by Roy Rivenburg spoke about a renewed and growing trend on campus, the construction of crypts. Partly a fund-raising opportunity, partly the chance to provide a final resting home for a mobile society that doesn’t have the traditional geographical roots of earlier generations, these programs take different forms from campus to campus: Duke has a new 2 acre-memorial garden; the Citadel is adding urn niches to a carillon tower; and the University of Richmond has a serpentine wall with 2,900 niches. Afterlife membership costs are considerably less than tuition. Even if you count the cremation ...

Show Instead of Tell
Show of works by teachers at city's five colleges & universities worth a visit to two of the galleries in the Sawtooth Building
Journal - 20 Jan 2008
... WINSTON-SALEM, NC - Although not often described as a college town, Winston-Salem is home to five colleges and universities. All of them offer formal instruction in visual art, and over the years their teaching artists have contributed significantly to the city’s strong cultural reputation.

In recognition of this, the Arts Council has organized an invitational show of works by 21 artists who teach at those schools. Because they’re all within five miles of each other, the show is titled “FIVE Schools/FIVE Miles.” ...

Empty chairs
Half-full colleges
Gazette-Mail - 20 Jan 2008
... CHARLESTON, WV - As West Virginia’s population shrinks, so does the size of each graduating high school class. That means there are fewer students from whom colleges may draw scholars. Naturally, colleges look to other states to fill their classes and pay tuition.

There’s nothing wrong with attracting out-of-state students — even large numbers of them. Students contribute to the local economies while they attend school. They add to the varied society of college towns where they live. Many even settle in West Virginia after they have earned their degrees — possibly as many as 15 to 20 percent, higher education chancellor Brian Noland reported to legislators last week. Noland himself was an out-of-state student ...

Big Plans for Finger Lakes Community College
WHAM - 20 Jan 2008
... CANANDAIQUA, NY - Tucked away in the hills atop Canandaigua you will find Finger Lakes Community College.

Some 5,400 students attend classes there.

But with the cost of 4-year colleges skyrocketing, Dr. Barbara Risser, the school's new president aims to double enrollment - or at least 11,000 students - within the next 10 years ...

Xavier's doing more than just talk about setting academic priorities
Enquirer - 20 Jan 2008
... CINCINNATI, OH - There also will be plenty of off-campus construction.

Work will start soon on Xavier Square, the 20-acre property stretching east from campus to Montgomery Road.

That complex will include stores, restaurants, and about 550 units for student housing.

It will also contain a student recreation center and the campus bookstore.

XU owns the land, and much of the money will come through developer Corporex Cos. The university plans to implode the old Zumbiel Packaging plant there ...

Minnesota Bill Would Ban Limitless Drinking Specials
NY Times - 20 Jan 2008
... MANKATO, MN - On Thursday nights at the Haze club in the college town of Mankato, Minn., students used to pay $5 for unlimited cups of beer and mixed drinks from 9 p.m. to midnight. A nearby bar, Boomtown, offered similar specials, known as cup nights, on Tuesdays and Fridays, and on Thursdays women drank free.

But after the death in October of a 21-year-old from alcohol poisoning, the city passed an ordinance banning bottomless drink specials, which had been under consideration for months. It took effect on Jan. 1 ...

Party law stirs Edmond debate
Oklahoman - 20 Jan 2008
... EDMOND, OK - Monday marks the first anniversary of the social host law.

Edmond was the first city in Oklahoma to pass such a law. Midwest City, Moore, Mustang, Shawnee, Tecumseh, Yukon and Ponca City have since enacted similar ordinances.

Oklahoma is one of 20 states with such criminal laws addressing underage drinking. There are between 150 and 200 communities in the United States with similar laws ...

Mardi Gras is not giving up, police fear
Their presence will be beefed up after a party promotion was discovered on Facebook Web site
SanLuisObispo - 20 Jan 2008
... SAN LUIS OBOSPO, CA - Police are going into the fourth year of what officials hoped would be a three-year effort to tamp down Mardi Gras weekend rowdiness, which had risen steadily before culminating in a riot in 2004.

The city’s “Party is Over” campaign started in 2005 as a cooperative educational effort among the city, Cal Poly and Cuesta College (because most of the people involved in the riot were student-aged) ...

Surveillance cams cause stir
Evening Sun - 20 Jan 2008
...STATE COLLEGE, PA - Following a loss of the Penn State men's basketball team in March 2001, 4,000 Penn State students rioted in the streets of State College.

It was the third riot in a four-year time period for the college town.

About two years after the 2001 riot, the borough and its police department purchased three surveillance cameras with the hope of deterring future criminal activity in the town's most highly trafficked areas.

Statistics are skimpy on whether the idea worked, but one thing is for sure: State College has not had a riot since ...

Crowded houses
Densely packed rentals may be cheap but they can create conflicts
Times - 20 Jan 2008
... CORVALLIS, OR - Take a walk through The Annex, the sprawling former frat house-turned-rental housing complex at Northwest 23rd Street and Jackson Avenue, and you’ll see plenty of movie posters, piles of dirty laundry and lots of contented college students.

“This is really working for me,” said Zac Hervey, a junior in math education who shares one floor of the four-story structure with four roommates. “It’s cheap, it’s my own space, and it’s 20 feet from campus.” ...

Group living arrangements are common in the neighborhoods around OSU, where fraternities and sororities, co-ops and apartment buildings line the streets and students crowd the sidewalks on their way to and from school.

But the high density levels can lead to friction with other residents of the area, and sometimes the neighbors complain to the city about overcrowded rental units. City officials said they’ve fielded a spate of such complaints in the fall, and a number of cases are still open ...

Landlords, city reach settlement on over-occupancy suit
Reflector - 20 Jan 2008
... GREENVILLE, NC - The city of Greenville has reached a mediated settlement with landlords it sued for allowing more than three unrelated tenants to share rental housing.

The city sued Tim Ferruzzi, his wife Ann Nunez, and husband and wife David and Rebecca Renn in January 2007. The suit said the defendants owned or managed a dozen properties in the Tar River/University neighborhood where more than three unrelated people resided, which is a violation of city code.

City Attorney Dave Holec filed the suits when owners failed to comply with the ordinance after being sent notices of violation. The landlords also did not pay fines associated with the violations ...

The consent judgment calls for the defendants to pay $8,000 in fines and also sets out a shortened process for bringing action against the landlords in Superior Court in the case of future violations ...

Ness says consequences of rental rule are ‘unacceptable’
News Tribune - 20 Jan 2008
... DULUTH, MN - Last August, Don Ness was one of six city councilors who hoped to stem the tide of single-family homes being turned into rentals by passing an ordinance banning new rentals within 300 feet of an existing one. On Friday, Ness used his first news conference as mayor to call the consequences that have come from the ordinance “unacceptable.” ...

That’s because while the ordinance allowed existing rental homes to be grandfathered in, homes where a rental license had lapsed or was revoked for housing code violations would be found in violation. Ness said Friday that many of the landlords who learned that their licenses had expired tried to contact the city to renew them, only to be told that they couldn’t and eviction notices were sent to their tenants.

Ness said that the city will no longer enforce that part of the ordinance until June 1 ...

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