Out on the streets: Students march on city hall

By Casey Wheeless

Around 100 students gathered near the Student Center patio Tuesday to voice their opinions on the current student housing proposal being debated in  city council.

The “March on City Hall,” hosted by UK Student Government Association, began around 10:30 a.m. when students walked from the patio to the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government Building downtown.  There, the Urban County Council’s Planning Committee held a meeting where 45 students, landlords and citizens spoke on the issue to produce a finished proposal to submit to the council for a final vote.

The proposal, submitted by the Student Housing Task Force, involves university student rentals, including single family homes, in certain residential areas in Lexington.

The report lists the “primary areas of concern” by neighborhood representatives, citing issues regarding trash, parking and poorly maintained properties.

The proposal, still under evaluation, would limit student housing in Lexington specifically on and around campus. One of the main points of the proposal, if passed, would prevent any two student houses from residing next to each other.

“I’m here to show my support, this is blatantly discriminate towards college students, it’s going to increase living costs,” said Greg Kyes, a Political Science and English sophomore.

Kyes currently lives in an apartment off campus but said this will most likely increase rental fees as the number of places to live on campus decreases.

In a city council meeting on Sept. 3, home owners expressed to the council a need to solve issues concerning their neighborhoods.

Many landlords were also at the meeting to express their opinions on the issue.

“We are here to support the students and our business,” said landlord Darrell Ratliff. “We’ve played by the rules and we’ve taken action before the problems happen.”

Ratliff said he is willing to talk to his tenants and make plans to prevent littering and other problems home owners in the area see.

“We still have to pay the mortgage so we have no choice but to raise the price of rent for a room, we don’t want to do that,” said landlord Kevin Martin, who owns properties on University and State streets, as well as on some other roads in that area.

Ratliff and Martin also said if this proposal is passed, it will knock out about two-thirds of their rentals.

“If this plan is passed the problem will only get worse,” Martin said.

No decisions were made at the meeting.  Another meeting is scheduled for Oct. 5 at 1 p.m. and is open to public comments on the issue.

 

 

**CORRECTION:  In the print edition, the article reported around 50 students participated in the march.  However, almost 100 students participated.