The Oberlin Review
<< Front page News September 9, 2005

The rocky road to Union Street
New student housing opens
 
An ungraceful union: Three homes within the Union Street project remain unlivable.
 

As returning students moved back into their residences this past Sunday, happily decorating their walls with the quintessential Picasso posters and trying to connect their computers to the campus server, 23 of them dragged their luggage instead into the Oberlin Inn, 11 into College rental housing and one into a converted janitors’ closet in Langston Hall. These students make up the 36 whose new houses on Union Street have yet to be fully constructed.

The Union Street Housing project, a massive undertaking that officially began during the last academic year, was expected to be finished and ready for move-in by the time the first students arrived back on campus on Aug. 19. By Sept. 4, all the houses were in livable condition except for three, displacing students until a promised move-in date of Sept. 16.

“It could be worse,” said College junior Ben Johnson, one student currently living in the Inn. “They [the College] are putting us up, giving us all we need for a while...at least we’re not living on the street.”

Mike Kroner, also a College junior and the one living in what was once a storage closet, said his temporary housing situation is “not so bad; it’s actually bigger than a single.”

The optimism is not surprising given what just about everyone perceives to be beautiful new residences with four single rooms per floor, fully-equipped kitchens, large living rooms and balconies. Kroner and Johnson mentioned that, while they were certainly frustrated by and disappointed in their temporary housing situations, one look inside their friends’ more-or-less completed houses only proved to them that the wait will be worth it. College junior Jesse Garrison, who has already moved into his house, said that, aside from the problems, “It’s great...it’s almost worth it. None of us know what to do with all the space we have.”

However, the residents of Union Street are not without a variety of complaints. Throughout this first week, many houses were without Internet access and hot water. The floors were covered with construction debris including paint chips and dust. Windows had no blinds and lights did not always turn on.

One rumor even speculated —causing considerable anxiety — that someone had forgotten to install a gas line, which Associate Director of Facilities, Planning and Construction Sal Filardi confirmed was false. The contractors had not, in fact, “forgotten,” and there are plans to install gas lines in the near future.

“It’s just a matter of getting the gas company to commit to a date,” Filardi said.

Regarding the construction delays, Filardi said that for the most part it could not be helped. He explained that last winter was one of the worst in recorded history with an abnormally large amount of snow accumulation, slowing that season’s progress and putting the project behind schedule by almost two months. This, he said, accounted for the three unfinished houses as well as the ones undergoing technical difficulties.

“The project’s not finished so, of course, there are issues,” Filardi said in response to specific concerns regarding lack of Internet access and hot water. “Our priority was to just have them in move-in condition, and the majority of the work has in fact been completed.”

Filardi also mentioned that the College had brought in additional work forces for the project and that the construction workers had been putting in extra time recently and throughout the summer months. He maintained his confidence that houses two and six will be ready for move-in next weekend as promised, and says house number seven will most likely be ready as well.

Molly Tyson, the director of Residential Education who has served as a liaison between the construction committee and Union Street student residents in communicating up-to-date information, expressed her appreciation that “most students have been extremely patient and understanding throughout the whole process. A couple of students expressed frustration, which is understandable.”

Associate Director of Residential Education Michele Gross remarked, “It’s too bad the delays are tarnishing an exciting, grand opening for the Union Street houses, because these houses really are truly fabulous.”
 
 

   


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