Conscience and construction
UA should give evictees fair deal
Issue date: 1/29/08 Section: Opinions
Freshmen camped in study rooms across campus are a common sight during the first week of every fall semester. Enrollment at the UA is growing faster than new student housing can be built, leaving a perennial shortage of dorm rooms and a perennial flock of freshmen without homes.
Three new residence halls are in the works to help ease that shortage. Last Friday, the Arizona Board of Regents approved a $178 million dorm construction project, which will make room for 1,188 students by the time it's completed in 2011.
Unfortunately, unless the UA can compromise with a pair of elderly Tucsonans, they'll leave another two people without a home.
One of the residence halls is slated for construction on the northeast corner of East Sixth Street and North Euclid Avenue - currently a swath of student parking behind Coronado and Arizona-Sonora residence halls. Using those lots for student housing is essential to make room for more students. But there are more than student cars parked in that stretch of asphalt: Midway along the south side of the lot is the home of William and Barbara Kennedy.
Students walking along East Sixth Street will notice the Kennedy's home: The small, whitewashed brick building looks out of place surrounded by patches of asphalt. William Kennedy, the 78-year-old man who lives in the home with his wife Barbara, was born in the house, built by his father in 1919.
In 1996, when the UA was in the process of constructing the lots, the university bought the home - along with two others on either side - for $380,000. They planned to evict the Kennedys and bulldoze the home, but before they finalized the deal, the UA offered the Kennedys a "life estate" on the property - a legal move giving the UA title to the land, but William Kennedy (his wife wasn't included in the estate) the right to live in the home until his death. Now that new construction is being planned, the UA is offering the couple $100,000 to move out early.
That's not enough, William Kennedy said. At last week's meeting of the regents, he implored the university to offer a little more to buy them out of house and home. "The amount offered by the UA is not enough to purchase a home of comparable value. The university is taking more than it's willing to give in compensation," he said. Instead, the Kennedys want about $244,000 - enough to live comfortably until they die, as promised in the original agreement.
Three new residence halls are in the works to help ease that shortage. Last Friday, the Arizona Board of Regents approved a $178 million dorm construction project, which will make room for 1,188 students by the time it's completed in 2011.
Unfortunately, unless the UA can compromise with a pair of elderly Tucsonans, they'll leave another two people without a home.
One of the residence halls is slated for construction on the northeast corner of East Sixth Street and North Euclid Avenue - currently a swath of student parking behind Coronado and Arizona-Sonora residence halls. Using those lots for student housing is essential to make room for more students. But there are more than student cars parked in that stretch of asphalt: Midway along the south side of the lot is the home of William and Barbara Kennedy.
Students walking along East Sixth Street will notice the Kennedy's home: The small, whitewashed brick building looks out of place surrounded by patches of asphalt. William Kennedy, the 78-year-old man who lives in the home with his wife Barbara, was born in the house, built by his father in 1919.
In 1996, when the UA was in the process of constructing the lots, the university bought the home - along with two others on either side - for $380,000. They planned to evict the Kennedys and bulldoze the home, but before they finalized the deal, the UA offered the Kennedys a "life estate" on the property - a legal move giving the UA title to the land, but William Kennedy (his wife wasn't included in the estate) the right to live in the home until his death. Now that new construction is being planned, the UA is offering the couple $100,000 to move out early.
That's not enough, William Kennedy said. At last week's meeting of the regents, he implored the university to offer a little more to buy them out of house and home. "The amount offered by the UA is not enough to purchase a home of comparable value. The university is taking more than it's willing to give in compensation," he said. Instead, the Kennedys want about $244,000 - enough to live comfortably until they die, as promised in the original agreement.
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Kevin Francom
posted 1/31/08 @ 10:42 AM MST
The U of A made an agreement with the Kennedys which it is trying to break. I also hope the U of A has the decency to do the right thing here and offer the Kennedys whatever it takes for them to live out the rest of their lives since this is what the previous life estate agreement was for. (Continued…)
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