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Accommodation outlook from bleak to dismal F',1lt, ., " . " 'llll ' " f J; V g; A ‘ ; I 2 ' iN ., Milk, irltlk, "N, , . Itll 1iiilil', "XTR" I , li , (')iire? _ t E " Cy" E ie, i a "t Tu . vt' v _irsi,., \ - "r _ A _ - A, .3 Finding a place to live for students is no easy task. The University ot Waterloo ‘~ off-campus housing office has been busy trying to find accommodations for incoming students and the same situation applies at Wilfrid Laurier. Chronicle photo A way of life Catherine Miehm Chronicle start “The feedback we've gotten from people looking for accommodation is terrible. They (ti: us that apartments are beginning to took more like linen closets, People are just packing the students in and there is nothing that anyone ran do about it," said McGoey. “I guess there shouidn't have been two universities in Water loo," Another problem is the coop programs that are becoming more popular. Students only needing four months accommodation are being forced into year long leases or are being faced with the consequence; living in the cold With Waterloo currently "boasting" a .7 per cent vacancy rate or seven units per thousand, the struggle for students attending the two universities this fall is indeed a tough one. University of Waterloo ofrCampus Housing Supervisor Helga McGoey says the low vacancy rate tbonly a portion of the problem. Leases and landlords who exploit the desperate students compound the situation. Mark Bryson Chronicle Staff The prospect of finding suitable accommoda» tion in Waterloo these days is comparable to finding a needle in a haystack. It's there, but almost impossible to find. Waterloo planning director Tom Slomke admits the area is a growing pain, but doesn't know of a solution, Slomke says the .7 figure is inaccurate. Ho contcnds the figure for students is actually .2 because of the number of luxury buildings which are out of reach for a student who is trying to scrape by. “I don't know that [985 is any different from any other year, Nothing has happened over the past few years to change the situation," he said. McGoey says there are currently enough accommodations tor 220 students, many of them Bevy of impressive topics, speakers at LaLeche conference Now that breastfeeding is the option the majority of new mothers choose. those who aid women in adjusting to this process find it necessary to continually up date the information they pass along Marian Poyner and Debbie Farwell. two group leadars from Waterloo's La Leche League (LLL). will be a ending the organization) 10th annual conference being held in Washington D C this weekend, "We go to gain information for our own parenting. to get information for other members and to go to leadership upgrading seminars," Poyner said. "So the purpose is'thm-fold," "ha, conference. which is held biannually. offers a multitude of seminars to LLL members. This year there will be I75 sessions to choose trom "We had a lot of problems choosing the ones we wanted to tee." Poyney said. “T‘VOften there are no going on at the same time." Farwell added. "That's what impressed me. I've never Feedback 'terrible' One proposal. which it enacted. will see the creation of so townhouses on the northwest corner of Columbia and Westmount. It is an attempt to remedy the problem, but is far from a solution. being on the other side of Kitchener, and there is a definite need for the community to open up and help. "For the September to December term we could sure use some community help because we are really short," she said. “if you could find me 400 or 500 quality two-bedroom apartments, things would be all right. There seems to be enough apartments for rent hut they are either not good enough, too far or too expensive. As everyone knows Waterloo has a low percentage of apartments available to start with. When you add this many students to the market it gets frustrating," he said. Belanger said he has received a few com- plaints from students about the condition of dwellings, but say leases are the major problem. and not something likely to change. " a student' does complain, an investigation ls done to see if it is legitimate. If it is. the dwelling is simply removed from the housing list. The situation at Wilfrid Laurier University is not much different. "A rustle to one person is a pig sty to the next." he said, Is there anything that can be done? "We could build more residence space but that is very costly and universities are tied down financially right now," said Belattger, Until the situation is remedied. students looking for accommodation for the fall semester are being encouraged to start at the beginning of June, It's not a guarantee, just good preventive medicine, Mike Belanger, Director of Housing at WLU. says the shortage remains a headache. seen so many internationally welrknown speakers at one conference." "The basic thrust of the LLL is breastfeeding but it really gives you a whole perspective into parenting." Poyner said. "My oldest child is ll so I signed up for a seminar called 'Years of Change: Ages 11 to 13.' I've never had experience in that type of parenting." Speakers this year include psychiatrist Dr Mary Giffin, pediatric allergist Dr, William Crook and such authors as Dr. David Elkind, Jim Trelease and Karen Pryor. The major theme of the conference will be 'Breast feeding: The Lifelong Giff, but the topics for seminars range everywhere from nutritious cooking to how to talk to your kids, "When most people think of a conference, they think of a business meeting," Farwell said. "There are just thousands of children at the LLL conferences. They come in the sessions with us and if they get rambunctious there's a play room or a rock and rest room for the babies.“ . Another attraction of the LLL caterences is that parents are encouraged, to_trripe their children. alon_g_. _ Mark Bryson Chronicle Staff During the last three months Don Roughley has logged many miles trying to familiarize himself with Waterloo and get a better understanding of what is going on in the core. While he still may not be able to tell a stranded motorist how to find the corner of Hemlock and Hickory, he has picked up quickly on how the city runs. Acting as Waterloo's chief ad- ministrative officer since April s, Roughley has already made some changes at city hall. "Coming from the outside, Phe first job was to get to know the department heads and I've done that. Since then I've shaken as many hands as possible, met with the unions and discussed my ap- proach to management, have done an evaluation of how things operate and have affected changes." said Roughley. When he took over the 365.000 a year job, Roughley only knew that he was coming to an established community. What he has seen since he left his position as the commissioner operations in Fort MacMurray, Alta. pleases him a lot. "This city, to say the least, is very well organized with very little red tape. I've been in a few communities that were quite a mess, but such is not the case in Waterloo. Council is very good compared to what I've seen in the past," he said. Responsible for managing the city's 250 employees, as well as making recommendations to coun cil and acting upon their decisions, Roughley feels he has streamlined the communication between de partment heads and council. His first change was the ev tablishment of a technical coor- dinating committee. with himself at the helm, which is a meeting of department heads that reports to council with recommendations. Me has also put into place what he calls a management team, Meeting every two weeks for about three hours. the team looks at problems and tries to remedy them. It works by the process of management by objective, work, ing towards goals via the team approach, One major area of concern was the communication with council, but since the team has been intact. letters and memo randums have been sent to council to keep them up to date with things that are going on at city hall. Another goal was to improve communications among staff, He CAO Roughley has smoothed communications WATERLOO CHRONICLE. WEDNESDAY. JULY 24, 18tMV--, PAGE 3 Also. fathers are welcome to attend. "We get a fair number of fathers." Poyner said. "they even plan sessions especially for them like 'Supporting Your Wife Through Childbirth.' " This years' conference will have special significance for Poyner because she has been invited to attend the physicians' seminar being held two days prior to the main event. "ree been working to build bridges between Lu. and the medical community so I've been invited to attend," she said. "I want to pick up on the latest medical research and bring it back to the doctors in the area. Another selfish reason is rm interested in a new profession v lactation consultant. These people are para-professionals who help breastfeeding mothers That's something I hope to get into. I'm not ready to tackle it at the moment but I'd like to get more information on it." One of the highlights of this years' conference is that a portion of it will be filmed for ABC's Good Morning America. Joan Lunden. the show's co-host, will be a special guest at the conference banquet. has tackled this by having depart- ment heads meet with members of their staff to discuss objectives. Staff are now made aware of developments at the administra- tive level through letters of infor- mation. "I believe the three keys to success are hard work, timing and the ablllt"x to work well with others. I ave to say l "re hc been a lot accomplished in the last three months," he said. Along with the other changes. Roughley has tried to establish policies. procedures and programs tor greater efririerwy at tho statt level, City council seems to appreciate the changes. Mayor Marjorie Carroll com mented that Roughiey's perfor mance to date has been "ex cellent." Aid. Btiar: Turnbull said he cannot say enough good things about Roughley's debut. _ “I'm very pleased with the way he is working with senior staff and has reduced the workload for council." said Carroll. "He is good at organizing de partment heads and organizing things for council and seems to be very interested in an organized relationship between staff and council. Don has fairly new ap proaches and as far as I can determine, he is right on top of improving the capabilities of man agers. He's just been excellent," said Turnbull. Don Roughley