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The Battalion
weather
Vol. 70 No. 128
12 Pages
Wednesday, June 22, 1977
College Station, Texas
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
Mostly cloudy, warm and humid
Wednesday and Thursday with af
ternoon showers and thunder
showers. Rain probability both
days is 40 per cent decreasing to
20 per cent tonight. High both days
in low 90s. Low tonight in the mid-
70s.
Officials expect apartment
surpluses, higher rents
r son or
tement,
LUV’s triangle
Savoring his moment of triumph. Milt (Steve King, standing) gives his
blessings upon the intended marriage of his wife Ellen (Tricia Cox) and his
friend Harry (Dave Rich). The three characters illuminate, through
parody, the behavior of adults in the Aggie Player’s production of Murray
Schisgal’s “Luv.” The play opens tomorrow in the Memorial Student
Center. Battalion photo by Steve Goble
By SARAH E. WHITE
Battalion Staff
Texas A&M University officials predict a
surplus of student housing for this fall ac
companied by higher rents and more
apartments with individual electricity
meters.
“We are going to have vacancies,” Di
rector of Student Affairs Karen Switzer
said. “The thing is the later it gets the less
choice a person will have.”
Local housing is becoming more scarce
for this fall. Most apartment complexes
have leased many of their units already for
the fall. In a recent telephone interview
The Battalion found that most of the large
complexes are filling rapidly. But the
majority still have openings.
Martell Properties totalling 960 units
which includes Scandia I, Scandia II,
Taos, Aurora Gardens, Sevilla, Sausalito
and Sundance (now under construction),
have approximately 200 vacancies for the
fall.
Scandia I, with 152 units, has 40 apart
ments available for the fall, assistant man
ager Alda Shaw said. Taos, with 54 units,
has 13 vacancies, and Aurora Gardens has
two, she said. Shaw said she expects more
apartments to be available when summer
leases expire in July.
Scandia II, with 204 units, has about 30
apartments left and Sevilla, with 198 un
its, has less than 100 available.
Sausalito, 148 units, has five apartments
available and Sundance, 168 units, has 28
apartments left for the fall, the assistant
manager said.
Other large complexes surveyed in
clude Old College Main, The Oaks, Doux
Chene, Willowick I and II, Travis House,
Boyett Townhouses, Southgate Village
and Southwest Village. Those complexes
total approximately 1751 housing units. Of
those, approximately 135 are definitely
available for the fall but some availability
is pending expiration of summer leases in
July or August.
Old College Main, with 179 units, has
40 apartments available and The Oaks, has
33 of 248 units left for the fall.
Doux Chene, a 352-unit complex, has
approximately 20 apartments left. Wil
lowick I and II, totalling 318 units, have
two apartments left to be leased for the
fall. Travis House, with 118 units, has
about 20 units left.
Several apartment managers said they
could not estimate the number of available
apartments for this fall.
Boyett Townhouses, Southgate Village
and Southwest Village, totaling 536 units,
are almost completely filled at this time.
Some managers explained that they could
make no estimation about fall apartments
because leases expire throughout the
summer. Those apartments then become
available if the current tenants choose not
to renew their leases.
Because it is getting closer to the begin
ning of the fall semester apartments will
be less and less plentiful but there will be
more than enough housing this fall,
Switzer said.
“There were vacancies last year,” she
said. “There will be more this year for sure
because we have so much more construc
tion this year.”
Several apartment complexes are now
under construction and almost all of them
are equipped with individual meters
which means the tenant pays for electric
ity, Switzer said.
Those now under construction include
Hyde Park, Arbor Square, Sundance,
Villa West, Parkway Plaza, Willowick II,
Lexington, and Mark XII. Most managers
for those apartments said they hope to
complete construction by mid-August.
Hyde Park, owned by A. P. Boyett Jr.,
has 87 units, 20 of which are leased for the
fall. Boyett said August 20 is the expected
date of completion but added that there is
no ironclad guarantee that rain will not
postpone the date. He said that if the
apartments are not finished by the fall
semester he will make temporary housing
arrangements for people leasing in Hyde
Park.
All of Arbor Square’s 176 units are
leased. Villa West, with 40 units, has
plenty of open apartments because only 10
to 15 have been leased for the fall, the
manager said.
Parkway Plaza is really expanding,
Switzer said. The plaza includes Durango
and Parkway Plaza totalling 168 units,
which are 100 per cent leased and 75 of
Cheyenne’s 84 units are leased for the
fall, said Dan Sears. He is a partner in
Spearman, Sears, and Murphy, Co.,
which is developing Parkway Plaza. Phase
I Duplexes, with 24 units, are 100 per cent
full. Fifty eight units more are being built
on Georgia Street, he said, and about 30
per cent are leased.
Most apartment dwellers will be paying
higher rent this fall. Rent has gone up an
average of 20 dollars from last fall, Switzer
said.
“The variance is considerable,” she
said. “I know of a couple that didn’t go up
at all. A couple decreased their rent which
is misleading because they also went to
individual meters. The individual meters
is probably the biggest trend in town.”
While this tends to be true in the
apartments being constructed, the survey
showed more of the established complexes
are not adding individual meters.
Shaw, the assistant manager of Scandia I
(See HOUSING, Page 5)
A&M shuttle bus service
to he reduced for summer
Presnal ‘didn’t do his job’;
one of Texas’ 10 worst
as
considered
legislators
PRESNAL
BY RUSTY CAWLEY
Battalion Staff
Texas Monthly magazine has released its
July issue which contains its list of “The 10
Best and the 10 Worst Legislators” from
the last session of the Texas House and
Senate. Included in the list of the 10 worst
is Bryan Representative Bill Presnal.
In a televised interview Monday night,
Presnal dismissed his position on the list
as a “cheap shot at his political career.
But Texas Monthly senior editor Paul
Burka defended the article yesterday, say
ing he could not imagine any magazine
doing a more thorough job.
Burka said Presnal is on the list because
he failed to provide leadership in his posi
tion as chairman of the House Appropria
tions Committee. The office is considered
the most powerful in the Texas Legislature
next to the Speaker of the House and the
Lieutenant Governor.
“I think the story speaks for itself as far
as Mr. Presnal’s concerned,” Burka said.
“He’s a nice man, but he didn’t do his
job.”
Neither Presnal nor his assistant. Bill
Krueger, were available for comment.
The story accuses Presnal of losing con
trol of his committee, claiming that re
sulted in over a half a billion in pork-barrel'
legislation.
“Pork-barrel” legislation is an unneces
sary, self-interest appropriation of state
money. It also attacks Presnal for over-
zealous money appropriation to Texas
A&M University and the City of Bryan.
The Texas Monthly staff interviewed
over one hundered lobbyists, legislators,
staff members and state agency represen
tatives Burka said. They combined the
interviews with the staffs own observa
tions to compile the list, he said.
“We had someone covering the session
from beginning to end Burka said. “I
can’t imagine that anybody could think he
could do it more thoroughly than this story
was done.
Burka added that most of the magazine’s
staff writer’s who worked on the story had
previous experience with the legislature.
Burka said he had served for eight years as
a lawyer at the capital and co-writer
Richard West had been on the staffs of
both the Speaker of the House and the
Lieutenant Governor.
“It’s not like we re going over to the
legislature as novices, Burka said. “We
(See PRESNAL, Page 6)
Shuttle bus service for Texas A&M Uni
versity summer school students will be
reduced and rescheduled beginning June
27.
The change comes because fewer than
expected signed up for the bus service.
“This being the first year we have oper
ated in the summertime, all we could do is
take the long semester numbers and mas
sage them around and come up with the
best estimate or guestimate,” said Col. E.
C. Oates Jr., chairman of the shuttle bus
committee.
A shuttle bus subcommittee suggested
nine buses run to accommodate 2500 stu
dents this summer, he said. Oates said
only 567 students are signed up for the
service now.
Oates said students find it easier to park
close to class in the summer and therefore
do not wish to ride the shuttle bus.
He said six buses have been in use this
session running all five routes. Most of the
day hardly anyone is on the buses, he said.
The biggest load a bus may carry during
any time of the day is 20 people, half of the
seating capacity of the bus, Oates said.
“The cost of the buses from the first
semester of summer school, to have con
tinued on as we were operating, would
have cost us $15,390,” he said. “And we
took in a total of $3,400. So the first Mon
day after classes started we were broke.”
Measures begin Monday, June 27 to
remedy this situation, Oates said.
“Routes One and Two should have been
combined all along,” Oates said. “We
were thinking in terms of Plantation Oaks
and Briarwood and their bigness because
during the regular session there are about
1350 students at those two locations.”
Routes one and two run east of the Uni
versity.
Routes three, four and five will run as
before. Route three runs north into Bryan
and routes four and five run south.
“At the balance of the second session
there will be routes covering what is now
called five routes,” he said. “And the time
of day will be reduced. ”
On the revised schedule the last bus
will leave campus at 4:45 p.m. On the
previous schedule the last bus left at 6:45.
“This is going to save us 20 hours of bus
operation per day which at $9.50 an hour
is $190 a day,” Oates said. “It reduces our
loss.”
For the second summer session all
routes will be served with a total of 30
hours per day, Oates said. This means
using less equipment and serving the
same territory.
There should be better shuttle bus ser
vice this fall because there will be more
buses, Oates said. Last spring 17 buses
ran. This fall 22 buses will run.
Oates said there are some plans to ex
pand routes to encompass newly con
structed apartment complexes.
There is an expected increase of 1000
riders this fall over last fall because of the
construction and the subsequent demand
for more service, he said. The buses
should be serving 8000 persons this fall,
Oates estimated.
— Sarah E. White
Married student housing: hazardous but cheap
By GLENN A WHITLEY
Battalion Campus Editor
The College View Apartments are a
| blessing in disguise for some married stu
dents at Texas A&M University.
Dilapidated, some say dangerous, the
two bedroom apartments cost $65 per
month unfurnished, and $78 per month
furnished.
“If you ask anyone who lives here, it’s
I not that they like it, or they want to stay
here, but they appreciate them because
they’re so cheap,” said Steve Labuda, who
was graduated in May with a Masters de
gree in Wildlife and Fisheries. “If we
didn’t have these places we couldn’t have
afforded to live here without dipping into
our savings.”
Labuda’s brother Joe also lives in the
married student apartments.
“They’re not much to live in, but that’s
about all a student can afford,” Joe said.
He added that his fire, theft, and storm
insurance was cancelled after he wrote the
insurance company describing the apart
ment.
Four of these apartment buildings were
destroyed this summer. Four have been
destroyed per year for the last several
years, said F.K. Nicolas, the manager of
married student housing.
“The reason they’re being taken down is
that they’re hazardous. They have dry rot
and are totally inadequate for housing any
longer. All of these old College View
Apartments should be taken down,”
, Nicolas said.
One resident said the apartments were
an eyesore and an embarrassment to the
University.
They are ugly. Shingles are falling off
the roof. The siding has aged to a fungus
like green and gray color and is chipping
off in many places.
Inside, the walls are dingy and cracking
in many apartments. The wiring and
plumbing is old. Roaches flourish.
However, maintenance is surprisingly
good, resident Susan Hogge said. “If it’s
an emergency, they’ll come real fast.” She
and her husband have lived in the College
View Apartments for five years.
She laughed and said, “I think it’s funny
that anyone would have lived here five
years. The price is good. That’s why we
stay, I suppose.”
Almost everyone agrees that the apart
ments should be torn down. But many
worry what will replace them as low rent
housing.
“If they were going to replace them
with something comparable, it’d be al
right,” Steve Labuda said.
There are no plans right now to build
more married student housing, said Ed
Davis, director of management services.
But the idea is being considered.
“It’s really impossible to build anything
these days and price them as cheap as
those built in the past,” Davis said. He
added that if anything were built, the rent
would be very competitive with local
rates.
“Sixty-five dollars a month is an un
realistic figure anyway,” Roger Polston
said. “You couldn’t rent a slum for that.”
Renters moved out, emptied, stripped of furnishings, utilities turned off
and roofs removed, these venerable frame structures were literal
pushovers for a bulldozer. Private contractors knocked down and hauled
off more eight-family apartment units in the College View section of
Married Student Housing. The university is planning to eventually tear
down all of the old wooden buildings but has no project underway to
replace them.
Battalion photos by Steve Goble