thinklafayette

This is a Public Service Announcement: Know Your Rights (as a tenant)

Posted by Lauren Bruce

This month, Homestead CS, a non-profit housing counseling agency, is putting on a series tenants’ rights workshop. The first session is tomorrow, July 14, 2015.

In HomesteadCS’ Tenants Know Your Rights Workshops, tenants will learn about their rights and responsibilities, such as:

  • what their landlords can and can’t do to them,
  • what protections they have according to the Fair Housing Act,
  • how to file official complaints with the city,
  • how the eviction process works,
  • how to protect their security deposit,
  • and more.

Six of these workshops will be held in the last three weeks of July in various communities in GLA to hopefully provide tenants with a date and location that is easily accessible.

TUESDAY, JULY 14th // 5:30pm // West Lafayette Public Library // 208 W Columbia St.
Co-hosted with Purdue Student Legal Services. This will be the ONLY workshop with an attorney present but she WILL NOT be giving legal advice about specific legal questions. None of the workshops are for legal counseling, rather they are general education about tenants’ rights and responsibilities

SATURDAY, JULY 18th // Noon // Tippecanoe County Public Library // 627 South St

THURSDAY, JULY 23 // 5:30pm // historic Jefferson senior apartments // 619 N. 9th St.

SATURDAY, JULY 25th // NOON //Chatham Square Apartment // 3619 Champlain St

WEDNESDAY, JULY 29th // 5:30pm // Bauer Family Resources // 330 Fountain St.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 1st // Noon // Hanna Community Center // 1201 N 18th St

HomesteadCS is dedicated to decreasing foreclosure, increasing homeownership, and ensuring that families have safe, affordable homes in Tippecanoe and 9 area counties in Indiana.

tenantrights

CityBus offers free rides Thursday, June 18

Posted by Lauren Bruce

This week, CityBus invites the community to “Dump the Pump” and try public transportation with free rides all day on Thursday, June 18. “Dump the Pump Day is all about the positive benefits of leaving your car at home and using CityBus instead,” said Tonya Agnew, CityBus manager of development.

Sponsored by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), the national Dump the Pump Day is a day that encourages people to ride public transportation and to take them where they need to go. Started in June 2006, the day emphasizes public transportation as a convenient and money-saving travel option. “By giving free rides, we’re highlighting the economic positives of using CityBus, especially the savings riders will realize,” Agnew said. “The national average savings of using public transit instead of owning a car is $9,394 a year. That’s $782.83 per month in savings for those who choose to ride CityBus instead of driving a car.”

In addition to offering free rides to everyone on Thursday, June 18, CityBus will host a Bike Resource Fair 4:00-5:30 p.m. at CityBus Center, 316 N. 3rd St. in downtown Lafayette. Participating organizations include Bicycle Lafayette, the City of West Lafayette Department of Parks and Recreation and Virtuous Cycles. The visitors’ center, Visit Lafayette/West Lafayette, will have community and trail maps as well as recreation guides. The Lafayette Police Department will be on hand to register bikes.

“If your destination is a bit far from a bus stop, ride your bike to the stop. Our regular route buses include a bike rack that holds up to two bikes at a time,” Agnew said. “We encourage people to ride the bus to work and school and also to consider utilizing the service to get out and enjoy the community.”

In 2014, Dump the Pump Day resulted in 10,447 rides—a 28% increase over the average weekday ridership in June.

“If you’re already a daily rider, this free day is a thank-you,” Agnew said. “If you usually drive a car for your daily commute, we invite you to take ride free on Dump the Pump Day to experience the full benefits of using CityBus.”

Lions, Tigers, and Bears!: A Walking Tour

Posted by Lauren Bruce

Greater Lafayette will be home to a menagerie of whimsical art this summer.

The first batch — 40 “Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!” painted by local artists — will be brought to the community by the Art Museum, the Bob Rohrman Auto Group and many local sponsors. They will be stationed in time for the ‘Round the Fountain Art Fair, Saturday, May 23. The second group, called The Zoo —30 award-winning life-size critters created from recycled materials —are sponsored by the City of Lafayette and Regions Bank. They will join the herd on June 5.

unnamed (4)Although the bears will be introduced formally to the community at the ‘Round the Fountain Art Fair, all of the animals will be installed in advance of the May 15 Gallery Walk in Downtown Lafayette. That evening, the Art Museum will operate a welcome center 6-9 p.m. in the Bison Financial Building, 9th and Main Streets, to provide information and family activities.

In the past, the museum-sponsored event has produced frogs, hogs and dogs.

This year, a new feature will include an interactive iPhone app (Art Museum of Greater Lafayette-Events), developed by Cellaflora, a software development company in West Lafayette. The app will provide a walking map to help users locate each of the art pieces and provide information about the artists and business sponsors.

The bears’ territory will run from the 9th Street entrance to the Art Museum through the Downtown to the top of State Street hill in West Lafayette. The walking bears stand 4 feet tall and more than 5 feet long. The seated bears are the same height and 3 feet in diameter. The fiberglass animals were produced by Cowpainters LLC, of Chicago, which has assisted with more than 500 public art projects.

The Zoo art is the work of artist Dale Teachout, of Royal Oak, Mich., a top finalist for the Grand Rapids Art Prize 2014. The sculptor made the life-size animals using reused plastic, metal, rubber and other materials rescued from landfills. His art will be on display until Sept. 8.

At the end of the summer, the bears and zoo animals will be ready for adoption by their sponsors. Those not sponsored will be auctioned at the “Zoo-bilee Celebration”, which is open to the public, Oct. 3 at the Rohrman Toyota showroom.