By
Mindy Jones
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Res Life says maintenance requests should be taken care of, property management company says they don't have unfulfilled requests
Sky View apartment residents yesterday said they are upset because emergency maintenance problems at the UA-leased complex are being ignored.
During the last month, many students living in the three-story building have incurred a loss of air conditioning, power and working appliances.
Chris Horne, an undeclared freshman and Sky View resident, said his living conditions are unacceptable.
"Our room sits at a hot 80 degrees all day long," Horne said. "It takes the maintenance people at least a week to get back to us."
Horne and his roommates have not had properly working air conditioning since they arrived in August and said the heat is, by far, not the extent of their problems.
The carpeting in their second-floor apartment is torn, and the nails connecting the tile to the carpet are poking through.
"Our apartment is pretty bad," Horne said. "But it is definitely not the worst."
Leslie Vincent, a Sky View resident, said she has filed multiple maintenance requests to fix the problems in her apartment.
"We had no power for four days last week," said Vincent, an undeclared freshman. "Everything from the kitchen clocks to the bathroom lights were out."
Vincent followed residence hall policy and filled out a request form to have a maintenance staff member check out her apartment.
"Our power got fixed, but we still have no air conditioning and it has been more than a week," Vincent said. "Even the hallways are falling apart, and our neighbors have no doorknob."
Both Vincent and Horne have spoken to their resident assistants and have been instructed to fill out maintenance request forms.
Jim Van Arsdel, director of Residence Life, said the student residents seem to be following the correct procedures.
"There are a number of maintenance requests that date back for some time that haven't been fixed yet," Van Arsdel said. "We rewrite the students' requests and give them to Eastern Way, the managing company. Their maintenance staff is responsible for completing the jobs."
Meetings held between the managing company and UA Residence Life have produced a standard form for requesting maintenance assistance, Van Arsdel said.
"There shouldn't be a problem with fulfilling the students' requests," Van Arsdel said. "We have submitted all of the forms in the same fashion that Eastern Way gets them from all of their other properties."
Glenda Lamere, an area supervisor for Eastern Way, contends that their company has not been notified of any problems at the Sky View apartments.
"I have no work orders to date that haven't been taken care of," said Lamere. "We can't fix something if the students don't tell us about it."
Sky View resident Stephanie Faust said that she has turned in several requests to fix her garbage disposal which continues to back up into her bathtub.
"We have turned in requests for our stove, air, and disposal," said Faust, journalism freshman. "Nothing works for very long around here."
Van Arsdel said that Lamere's statements were inaccurate and at this point he feels the issue cannot be solved by Residence Life.
"We are looking into ways to alleviate some of the stress on the students," said Van Arsdel. "We may be willing to use some of our own finances to let these students know that we are desperately working to improve the situation."
Until then, students will continue to place request forms in the maintenance request box labeled "one form per apartment," Faust said.
"All I know is that we are paying just as much rent as anyone else around here," said Horne. "The difference is that we are definitely not getting the same type of quality of living."
