While landlords were unhappy with the outcome of the housing bazaar, one landlord tried to help before it started.

Susan Cassens, property manager with the Bromley Companies, said she was angered at the way the bazaar was handled.

“After talking to other landlords, it seems Steve Sliga (SA community affairs adviser) just opened up the phone book and started calling apartments,” Cassens said. “I talked to him on the fourth of February and he gave me the sales pitch.”

Cassens said problems with Sliga began when there was a discrepancy about how many people had attended last year.

“He (Sliga) told me there were over 800 people there last year, and I said, ‘Don’t lie to me,’ because I was there and I knew there were nowhere near that many,” Cassens said.

Sliga apparently talked to other landlords and lowered the number to 137, she said.

When asked to comment on the situation, Sliga said there was a woman running the bazaar last year who had left incorrect information in the files.

“I was told it was successful last year, but the (apartment) managers told me it actually wasn’t,” he said.

Cassens also said she offered to help him on Feb. 4 by having a door prize like a stereo or microwave, but the SA never got back to her.

“I checked back on the 11th or 12th because I hadn’t seen any ads,” she said. “That was the last I heard from them before the bazaar.

“I knew the turnout at the bazaar was going to be bad, and I offered to help, but the SA wasn’t interested,” Cassens said.

Cassens said Sliga also told her that on the 11th, fliers were distributed around campus as a promotion for the bazaar, and he said, “If you had been on campus, you would’ve known about it.” But neither her rental agents or students viewing apartments knew anything about it.

“We do need a lot of improvements,” Sliga said. “But we did do quite a lot of ads, and the budgets only allow so much.”