#Gaslight village cracked
#Gaslight village full

“Milt Newton was my favorite,” Wales said. She said many players used the gym during the offseason. Wales said that during her time at the university she became attached to students and faculty, especially the basketball players. She worked security at KU’s Robinson Gymnasium for 37 years.

“If it wasn’t for KU, students I wouldn’t have had a job,” Wales said. Martin’s Gaslight neighbor Frances Wales said she doesn’t blame Kansas University students for being forced to move from her home of 20 years.

Martin, who works in the kitchen at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, said the additional rent is a significant burden. Martin said the owners told her the park can’t buy out her trailer until June, so she’s paying $285 a month in rent at the park in addition to the $434 per month at Edgewood. Martin chose to relocate to Edgewood Apartments on Haskell Avenue. The company, Aspen Heights, plans to replace the park with townhomes for about 1,000 students. Park residents were told in November that Mid-America Manufactured Housing Communities, the company that owns Gaslight Village, was planning to sell Gaslight to an Austin, Texas-based developer.

#Gaslight village full

Gaslight Mobile Home Village on 31st Street, a few blocks east of Iowa Street, once was a full community of about 150 trailers, but now with construction of a student apartment complex looming, residents are emptying the park. “The kids need a place they can settle down at,” she said. When Martin returned to Lawrence, she thought the constant moving would be over. Martin, who is originally from Lawrence, said her ex-husband was a Marine, so the family was used to moving to wherever he was stationed. “We’ve never had a community this close.” “We loved everybody in the park,” she said.

#Gaslight village cracked

A month later, as she stood in her empty singlewide trailer, her voice cracked when she spoke of leaving the community. She said she frequently watched and fed neighborhood kids. In March, Martin stood on her porch as six middle school-aged children filed past her, collecting forks. Martin said her children quickly made friends. When Toni Martin and her three children moved to Gaslight Village in September 2010, they formed a bond with the other families in the small neighborhood.