Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 16, 1948)
Vet Families Battle High Costs W _ A “ T*- ^ 'T' Design For Modem Living , Pameia Young, 15 months old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joe Young, admires the work of her student parents in their modernistic living room at Amazon Flats. Thrift, Efficient Housekeeping Found Vital to Amazon Existence Ingenuity and careful economizing have helped Mr. and Mrs. Joseph H. Young decorated a small four-room unit at Amazon Flats into a striking, modernistic home. The Youngs, -with the help of 15-month-old Pamela, designed, constructed and finished most of the furniture in their comfortable front _ room. Young, a graduating senior in architecture, spent, four years in the navy and has been carrying about 24 hours a term since returning to get his degree from Oregon. Pie met Pat at Indiana State college, where she was a senior; Fat is now gathering ' credit hours to graduate by attending night classes. • The Youngs supplement th£ir meager $90 a month by out - side work. Joe does drafting jobs and Pat, who also grades psy chology papers and types theses, works out two nights a week. This family bases its buying on the theory that you should never buy unless you have the money . Pat loves to cook and says "food is our one luxury." Like "most veterans’ wives she can make $15 pay for one week’s tneals; the low rent at the project, based on income, aids in - keeping within the limits of the budget. busy ramifies An evening with friends is the couple’s idea of a good time, and they often have dinner guests and listen to their favorite _ classical records. Campus concerts are never missed. Pat and Joe have capitalized on the “old-fashioned” atmosphere of home and transferred it into new and modern surroundings. Another family making the most of every opportunity is Mr. and Mrs. Harry Williams and their son Danny. Harry is - student manager of the housing project. - A BA major graduating in June, Harry spent four years in 'the navy, returning two years ago to finish his education. While Harry is in school all day, Mary is busy answering phones and "attending to the business of managing the Plats. - During her spare time, Mary has papered all four rooms of -their apartment, artistically dividin'; the continuous kitchen and living rooms with a change of pattern. The furniture prob -lem was helped considerably by the | eces furnished with each apartment: a wood cook stove, ice box. twin beds in each bed , foom, dresser, table ami four chairs and two additional living room chairs. Por variation in their busy schedule, the Williams spend their free evenings playing bridge, pot-lucking at different -houses and seeing an occasional show. On such occasions, two and-one-half-vear-olcl Danny is left with friends; the Williams ..also do their share in a turn-about system of baby-sitting. tvenmg trstenamment A new baby boy keeps the Ralph L. Wood family occupied these days. What with little Ralph Edward, two-year-old Sally Anne .the puppy Rowdy, the goldfish Wu and the parakeet ‘ fade, Anne has her hands full during the day. Wood is a senior majoring in social science and hoping to * graduate at the end of the first summer session. He is now -practice teaching at University high school. Before the war -Wood was a freshman in college and then served as a pilot with the armv air corps. Mrs. Wood is from New Jersey and met _ her husband while serving with the Wacs in Texas. A rigid schedule, with each hour in the day planned, keeps the Wood household functioning smoothly. Menus are planned by the week and strictly enforced in preparation and all market ing is done at the first of the week. In addition to the government check. Mrs. Wood has a (Please turn lo page seven) + Amazon Flats Area Serves Vet Families By HERB LAZENBY Moving day for 148 University of Oregon student veterans and their families came in January 1947 when the Amazon Flats hous ing project opened its doors. This member of the University’s hous ing program has since expanded Interested in finding out liow rising costs have affected cam pus living, the Emerald is begin ning a survey to see how stu dents are maintaining their bud gets. This article on Amazon Flats is the first in a series of articles on the subject “The Higher Cost of Living.” Today’s stories were written by Herb Lazenby, Donna Kletzing, and Susan McCarrel. its facilities to care for 176 fami lies, and present plans call for the completion of 72 more apartments by spring term. The Amazon project located at Twenty-second and Patterson drive, a 15-minute walk from the cam pus, is made up of four and eight unit dwellings that were moved to the site from the McCloughlin Heights bousing project in Van couver, Washington. Responsibil ity for obtaining and preparing a site was given the University, with ,Jhe financing of the project left to the Federal Public Housing author ity agency of the federal govern ment. Each apartment has a living room, kitchen, bathroom and two bedrooms. Every apartment is fur nished with a Coolerator, kitchen table and four chairs, two occa sional chairs, four single beds equipped with mattresses and springs, a wood or coal cook stove, and a wood or coal heating stove. The rent for the apartment de pends upon the ability of the vet eran to pay. A schedule has been set up by the FPHA whereby vet erans with net family incomes of $109.00 or less pay $18.50 a month, those earning $110.00 to 129.99 pay $21.50; the $130.00 to $149.99 bracket pays $24.50 and a veteran with a net family income of over $150.00 pays $31.50 per month. The rent of the unit takes care of gar bage and water services. The vet must pay for electricity and fuel. Plans call for the installation by spring term of a laundry equipped with Bendix washing machines on a “pay as you use” plan. Four conventional type washing ma cines will also be placed in the laundry for the convenience of the tenants. A grocery store is already located in the project. Play Areas Ed Martin, director of Veterans family housing, a part of the Uni versity business office, said plans are being made to erect a play ground area for the children of stu dent vets. The majority of veter ans living in the project have chil dren. In order to obtain an Amazon apartment a student must be a vet (Please turn to page six) Just Temporary Homes- /Maybe? Amazon Flats is pictured in its drier state. Recently bothered by the flood, tiie Fiats residents are now back to normal living. These ope story homes are maintained for student veterans and their families. * - rii7ii.i^ - . ir' ~^r~r,-"T" * + Canines Abound at Amazon Here's How Some Ex-GI's Live While In Quest of Knowledge After putting in hours on their respective studies at the Univer sity, veteran students travel the long way to their homes on the edge of Eugene. They are greeted there by puppies of all sizes, de scriptions and temperaments, a few blades of grass trying to survive in the wake of construction and floods and the ever-present look of Camp Adair: this is Amazon Flats, the University’s housing project to provide homes for young married students and their families getting' by on $90 a month. Up Wooded Hills On the flatlands at Twenty-sec ond and Hilyard, Amazon flats looks up to the wooded hills south west of Eugene across the flooded lowlands. The scene, with lights from College Crest reflected on the water, is visualized by the more romantic couples in the project as “San Francisco Bay.” The flats are serviced by the city bus lines, a public telephone and a privately-owned grocery store. Mr. and Mrs. Roy S. Ferris are the proprietors of the store, which serves as information center, mes sage delivery post and central sup ply center. Something From Nothing In the row on row of one- and two-story frame units, the families of veteran students spend their “college days” while the man of the house prepares himself for his place in the world; here many have made their first homes, making something out of nothing until the time they can settle more perma nently. The government allotment of $90 a month, which has to stretch to cover food, rent, clothing and what little recreation there is time for, doesn’t go far in these times of ever-rising prices. Amazingly enough, the monotony of identical apartments is more than often converted into pleasant, individual ized homes, even on the restricted budget allowed by Public Law 16. is such healthful fun; such clean sport! Play regularly. Dorsey's U - BOWL 29 West 11th Phone 4716 The XYZ’s of having a good time at a good place. X TEA GOOD FOOD ! ! I You ’LL LIKE IT ! ! 4top in for a cup of coffee and plenty of collegiate atmosphere ... THE FALCON Across from John Straub Open 3 to 8 p.m. / .... / r i