Temple students get a reprieve?
Temple University students living in off-campus houses in a North Philadelphia district zoned for single-family housing may not have to move immediately.
Temple University students living in off-campus houses in a North Philadelphia district zoned for single-family housing may not have to move immediately.
That's the word from William Carter, a lawyer who works for City Councilman Darrell L. Clarke.
"It's our understanding that the kids aren't going to be asked to leave until the end of the semester," Carter said yesterday.
He said that was the agreement reached last week at a meeting between Clarke and Fran Burns, who heads the Department of Licenses & Inspections.
Meanwhile, Kathy Casper, who has a daughter living in one of the 40 to 60 houses in violation of the zoning code, said she hasn't heard from Temple about what it will do to help the students.
But Casper said she was upset mainly with landlords who knowingly put students in this position.
"The landlords are the ones that need to be punished," she said. "They're laughing all the way to the bank. They're making tons of money for something they shouldn't be doing."
She said her daughter and her two roommates are paying a combined $1,800 a month, plus utilities, to rent a house in the Jefferson Manor neighborhood near 10th and Jefferson.
Eileen Bradley, a Temple official who has been appointed as a special advocate for the students, referred all questions yesterday to Temple spokesman Ray Betzner. He said that Temple intends to help any displaced students find new housing.
Councilman Frank Rizzo, who said Wednesday that he was surprised that the special zoning ordinance bans student housing except at owner-occupied properties, acknowledged yesterday that he was among the 17 Council members who approved the bill.
"I voted for it because I was giving support to my colleague," Rizzo said yesterday. "But I said then that the ordinance would probably wind up in a challenge." *
