NEWS
Brittaney Skavla, a senior double-majoring in psychology and cinema
“In August, I go down to the basement to do laundry for the first time in my new house. I see something in the washing machine, but couldn’t tell what it was because it was dark, so I reach in to get it out, assuming it’s a sock. Turns out it’s a bat and I throw it back in the tub and run upstairs. I really needed to do laundry, though, so I go back down an hour later and check with a flashlight for the bat, and I don’t see it in the tub, so I throw my towels in to get washed. I come back later to put my stuff in the dryer, and when I empty the tub, I see the bat at the bottom of the tub again, but this time dead. They somehow made their way back into the machine and got sent through a warm/cold cycle. My landlord took over a week to take the bat carcass out of the washing machine. That was the last time I did laundry at my house.”
Eric Hetzke, a junior majoring in accounting
“One night, my roommates and I found what we believed to be a cricket crawling up the stairs inside our house. One of our fellow housemates saw us talking about it and informed us that it was indeed a cockroach. While I was not convinced it was a cockroach, it certainly spooked my other housemates enough to buy several dozen roach glue traps. The morning after we put out the traps we actually caught a mouse in one of the traps. So we thought we may have roaches, and definitely had mice. So I looked up online how to get a mouse out of a glue trap and found out there is actually only one humane way to take care of a rodent trapped in a glue trap: I was instructed by Wikipedia to be swift and find something heavy.”
Seth Price, a junior double-majoring in environmental studies and geography
“I don’t know if I would exactly call it a horror story, but when we moved in, a couple of my housemates bought about $100 to $200 worth of groceries each, just to find out that our fridge was absolutely shot. Since we didn’t want to waste our money and our food, we had to distribute all of our food up among the operating refrigerators of our friends’ houses. We then had to shuttle our food back and forth until our landlord got us a new fridge.”
- Newly-enacted law aims to give tenants more power in rental agreements
- West Side sees out-of-state property owners
ARTS & CULTURE - Must haves for moving off campus
- Tips for making the most of outdoor space
OPINIONS
Jo Myers/Pipe Dream Illustrator The leaves are falling, the air’s getting chilly and renting season is on the horizon. But for Binghamton’s 7,000 student renters, it’s important to know the underlying mechanisms that drive the area’s rental economy — particularly, the fact that many of the landlords juggling dozens of student rentals are situated hundreds of miles away from Broome County.Read more
- Reading your lease is the best way to protect yourself from a housing nightmare
Whether you’re new to Binghamton’s West Side or a long-time resident, it can be difficult to keep track of where all of its amenities are. Luckily, we’ve put together a map of the places to know throughout the area. If you’re looking for a laundromat, a place to grab food or a museum where you can spend a Saturday afternoon, we’ve got you covered.