Recently in Monica Young Category

After renewing their lease at Park 25 located 2401 W 25^th Street, roommates Kenit'a Jarrett and Whitney Jones walk away from the leasing office with a smile on their face.  The two roommates will receive a lease-renewal renovation award of either new ceiling fans in their bedrooms or vinyl flooring in front of their patio doors for agreeing to remain in the same apartment one more year.

"We wanted to move to a brand new apartment but we knew the vinyl flooring would change it up, so we decided to stay," Jarrett said.

Apartment complexes in Lawrence are offering discounts, renovating, putting on events and other incentives to attract new tenants and keep current tenants.  With the grand opening of three new apartment complexes in three months, existing complexes do whatever is necessary to guarantee no lose in business.

The new complexes are The Exchange located at 3100 Ousdahl Road, the Grove and Remington Square both located at Clinton & Crossgate. 

The Exchange, which will be the largest complex in Lawrence, is 70 percent leaded.  It will house 888 people within 324 bedrooms.

Student Apartments are compared by what type of units supplied and
total number of each.

"People tend to want a place that's new where they can say they were the first person to sleep in their room," Cody Quintero, the Leasing Manager of The Exchange, said.

Receiving the most pressure from the new complexes is Legends Place Apartments located at 4100 W 24th Place, which is across the way from the site of The Grove and Remington Square.  Legends Place Apartments is another complex that targets mostly college students and it has been in business for five years.

 

Cody Quintero, Leasing Manager of The Exchange,
packages water bottle gifts for future tenants.

"Our biggest competition will be The Exchange because we offer a lot of the same products with similar prices.  So it's up to us to be just a little more aggressive," Megan Sweeney, the Leasing Manager of Legends Place Apartments, said.

Legends place apartments retained 20 percent of its tenants for the fall semester and is also offering promotions of one month free to new tenants.

Sweeney said she hopes Legends Place Apartments and Remington Square could work together in the future because her complex does not offer one-bedroom apartments

Remington Square will only have one bedroom apartments, fulfilling the rising market.  The complex began construction last month.  It will have 224 one-bedroom apartments and it is currently 10 percent leaded.

"We could send people seeking one-bedrooms to them, and they could send those looking for multi-bedrooms to us.  It would be very beneficial to the both of us," Sweeney said.

Shannon Myers, the Leasing Manager of Remington Square, said her team will reach out to many who do not want roommates.

 

The Grove is in the process of construction.

Park 25 is also offering a promotion that will charge a new tenant a prorated move-in fee for the amount of the day in which they signed the lease.   For example if someone signed the lease on May 2, 2009, they only need to pay a prorated fee of two dollars.

"We like new tenants, but we don't want to lose our currents ones after their leases are up.  The small renovations are a 'thank you' for living with us again,"  Courtney Stillings, Leasing Consultant for Park 25, said..

Current complexes are offering what some said they have never seen.

"The Reserve did not offer me free rent when I moved in last summer and I don't think they ever have before.  They are probably nervous of their new competition," senior Gary Taylor, a tenant at The Reserve, said.

The Reserve is pushing its marketing team to advertise in different places such as daily in the University Daily Kansan and other places on campus.  Also, The Reserve is waiving application fees and offering the first month free of rent to tenants upon applying to attract as many new people as possible.

"Right now we are more concerned on attracting new tenants than maintaining our current ones," Laurie Monroe, the Leasing and Marketing Manager of The Reserve, said.

Monroe also said The Reserve will keep things "nice and new" by renovating the club-house this summer.

 

Renovation of the club house of The Reserve will be complete
this summer.

While complexes scramble to attract new tenants and keep their current tenants, other complexes sit back and watch.

Todd Foster, the Leasing Manager of Village Square located at 850 Avalon Road, said he thinks only the apartment complexes that are further away from campus have to go through such drastic measures. 

"We have more of supply than demand at all of our locations: Village Square, Stone Crest and Hanover Place.  We are guaranteed tenants because we're so close to campus," Foster said.

The three new apartment complexes are scheduled to open in August.

 

 Row by row and stitch by stitch Marie Carter, 55, sews another prayer quilt sitting in the calmness of her home while reflecting upon her tiresome day.  It is close to bedtime so she will put it away and begin again tomorrow.  

"Sewing quilts is one my favorite activities.  I take my time to finish them because I want them to come from the heart," Carter said. 

Carter has enjoyed this hobby for three years.  After sewing the quilt, it is taken to a Priest at her church where they are prayed over.  Carter then takes the quilts to hospitals and gives them away to patients as a sign of hope and faith.

Prayer quilt making is just one of many different activities in which Carter participates. She is an active member of Teachers of Tomorrow, Girls in Charge and the Vice President of SERTOMA (Service to Man) which, are three organizations that focus on providing constructive activities and helping to build positive imaging of self to low-income students.  The one thing that they all have in common is giving back to the community.

Carter lives by the motto, "What is given to you is not given to you to keep but to share with others." 

"I was taught by my parents that you don't judge people by wealth or color of skin.  My home is open to anyone who needs it," Carter said.

In July of 2008 while working attentively at her desk at the Topeka Board of Education, Carter was approached by a man who seemed stressed.  Merle Young Jr., 60, is a single father and a new teacher to the district who had trouble finding a place to live because of his credit score. 

"I was out of choices and was afraid I would not be able to take the position in Topeka after I lost everything back home in Kansas City," Young said.

After repeatedly being denied, Young went to the Board of Education and told the Human Resource Assistant, Carter, that he needed help.  Carter then personally took Young to look for houses and apartments but there was still no luck.

"It was a blessing when Marie told me that I, my son and my dog could stay at her house until I got on my feet.  I don't know where we would be if it weren't for Marie.  Marie is my guardian angel," Young said.

Carter stayed with one of her three children, Nikki Ramirez-Jennings, 31, and her family for one month until Young found a home.

In 1884, Carter divorced her husband after seven years of marriage.  She continued to raise her children alone as a single-mother.

"Our mom still volunteered herself and made sure we gave back to the community regardless if we had a father or not," Ramirez-Jennings said. 

Being a single mother brought many financial struggles to Carter and her family.

"So many things were given to us when we struggled.  There were times when our power went out.  My mom had to swallow her pride and except the hand-outs," Ramirez-Jennings said.

"If you decide to bless me, instead of denying it, I will pass that blessing to someone else.  Anything I have, if it's something you can use, it's yours," Carter said.

Years later Carter is now in the position to help others.

Carter is an active member and a coordinator for many functions at her church, St. Matthews Catholic Church of Topeka, KS.  She has a bible study group and taught Sunday school for 11 years.

"My bible is always opened, never closed and at my right at all times," Carter said.

For the past nine years, Carter has been a hostess for foreign exchange students.  As of February 2009, she has hosted 16 exchange students.

"I try to show the students a great time while they are here.  They always leave calling me mom," Carter said.

When Carter is not helping someone in need or getting a workout during Jazzercise, she and her sorority sisters of Sigma Gamma Rho take the time out to help the undergraduate chapter at her alma mater, the University of Kansas.

 

Quinetta Bibbs spends a few more dollars of her food stamps at
Lawrence Dollar General

Quinetta Bibbs, 29-year old single mother of three, walks through the aisles of Dillons grocery store located at 1740 Massachusetts St. shopping with only $56 remaining on her Vision card. Uneasy of  prices, Bibbs places in her shopping cart one half gallon of milk, one pack of chicken breast tenderloins, 2 packs of assorted frozen vegetables, a bag of rice and two bottles of juice. It is the third week of February and Bibbs does not have enough food stamps to last her for the rest of the month.

           "My two sons are growing and eating more.  I am a full-time student so finding work is extremely difficult, especially with having three kids," Bibbs said.

           Bibbs and other low-income households will now receive more money for food through the Kansas Food Assistant Program.  According to the recently passed stimulus package and under the American Recovery Investment Act of 2009, the amount of benefits for food assistants will be increased by 13.6 percent to those who qualify beginning April 1. 

 

       Previously, low-income households who do not have dependents were limited to three months of food assistants.  However, with this new act that time limit will be lifted, and this group of households can remain on food assistance for as long as needed.

 

This chart shows the maximum
amount of net income that a family
up to 5 members can receive to be
for food assistance in the state
of Kansas.
Source: Kansas SRS

 

Households that are at or below 130 percent of the poverty line qualify for food assistance and will be able to take advantage of the new benefits.  The amount of food stamps received depends on a household's income and expenses for mortgage or rent, utilities and child care.

           Bibbs who currently receives $400 in food assistance will receive $454.40 in April.

"It is so awesome they are giving us more stamps.  This is really going to take a lot of stress off of me," Bibbs said.

Amiel Kitrelle, a 28-year-old Navy veteran recently left the military and finds it hard to find a job. 

"After I came back to Lawrence, I had to start all over and it is still hard for me to adjust to civilian life."

Kitrelle has no children, but receives food assistance to help him get back on track.

"It is going to be awhile for my veteran benefits to kick-in, so receiving food stamps was a great idea.  Now I can go back to school and because the government is giving us more food stamps is even better," Kitrelle said.

While the public happily anticipates the arrival of their food benefits, workers at The Kansas Department Social and Rehabilitation Services (SRS) begin to adjust their working environment for the change.

"This act is expected to bring in many applications but there is no way of knowing the exact number.  Our office will not be creating more jobs to help with the new work load because Kansas currently has a tight budget.   However, we will be reallocating the work between the people who already work at our office," Michelle Poncé, the Kansas Director of Communications of SRS, said.

There is a 10.4 percent increase of household applications for food assistance from January 2008 to January 2009 and they are still rolling in.  Statistics for the month of February will not be available until the end of March.

 

This graph shows the monthly average of Kansas households that
received food stamps from 2005 to 2008.
Source: Kansas SRS

"There is a coorelation between unemployment and food assistance, so we can only guess the amount the new applicants based on unemployment," Poncé said.

KU junior, Vanessa Cunningham, who was recently informed of the increase in food stamps, is expecting her first child in April.

"I never thought in my wildest dream that I would apply for food stamps, but when I saw they're increasing the amounts, I gave in," Cunningham said.

 

 

To take advantage of Kansas' new food assistance benefits, apply online at,

http://www.srskansas.org/onlineapp/index.html

 

.

 

 

    Waving teenagers in Statue of Liberty costumes on the streets of Lawrence are not enough to attract costumers to Liberty Tax Service.  Still trying to overcome a bad reputation caused by a previous owner three years ago, Liberty Tax Service located at 810 W 23rd St. now suffers from a lack of business due to e-filing.  As of February 2009, Liberty Tax Service's sales decreased by 12 percent with only 177 income tax returns and net fees of $41,525.  However, the Liberty Tax Service located at 3010 Iowa St. has had only 97 tax returns with $23,111 in net fees.
    "Taxes are different these days.  The IRS is pushing the public to file electronically," manager Julie Thorton, Olathe, said.
    Thorton said e-filers are young adults who have simpler returns with little or no property.      
    "I have filed my taxes electronically for three years.  I feel good knowing I do not have to rely on a professional tax preparer to get my things done," said Corrie Maness, Olathe senior.
    The IRS promotes e-filing not only because it is free to American citizens but because it is easy and the returns tend to be error-free.      
    "I never thought I could prepare my own taxes until now.  It always looked difficult to me," Benjamin Henderson, Lawrence junior, said.


    According to the Internal Revenue Service, 89.8 million Americans filed their taxes electronically in 2008.  This is an increase from 76.7 million e-filers in 2007.
    Thorton said that Liberty Tax Service does not target the group that e-files, which may be its problem.  
    "We target people who need bank products, people who have trouble e-filing and people who have complicated returns.  Fees vary among the different types of returns," Thorton said.
    Advertising to it's target market is another factor to the recent decline in business of Liberty Tax Service.