Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Columnist Jeff German: All’s well at senior apartments

Once in a while, a column will have an impact before it's even written.

It happened this week as the writer of this space looked into the plight of Judith Lance, an 87-year-old Army veteran and former entertainer who faced eviction from her Carefree Spring Valley apartment.

There is good news to report here, but first some background.

Developer Ken Templeton, who owns Carefree Spring Valley, has become a hero of sorts to the Las Vegas senior citizen community. In the last decade, he has built eight Carefree apartment complexes that cater to seniors. Along the way he has earned a reputation as a landlord who takes a personal interest in the well-being of his aging tenants.

That reputation was threatened this week amid Templeton's plans to initiate legal proceedings to evict Lance, who has no family in Las Vegas. Lance allegedly was disrupting life at the tranquil complex near Jones Boulevard and Flamingo Road. Lance countered by accusing Templeton's managers of making life stressful for her.

Lance, who has lived in her one-bedroom apartment for five years, appears sharp as a tack and has a charming personality. But unlike her mind, her body is feeling the effects of age. She suffers from osteoporosis, a disease that has left her bones brittle. As a result, she can't lift anything heavier than five pounds without risking fractures. Any move, naturally, would be difficult.

Long before moving to Las Vegas, Lance enjoyed a successful entertainment career. The native New Yorker had her own vaudeville act in the 1930s, where she befriended the likes of Bob Hope, Milton Berle and Martha Raye. After World War II broke out, Lance joined the Women's Army Corps to entertain the troops, and since then she has been active in veterans affairs.

Lance had no problems her first four years at Carefree Spring Valley. But in November she began to complain about loud noises coming from the apartment above her. She even called police on at least one occasion.

Management wasn't able to substantiate her complaints and offered to move her to another apartment. Seeing such an option as traumatic in this stage of her life, Lance declined the offer -- but kept complaining.

She insisted that her concerns were never thoroughly investigated. But management saw her as a nuisance and, with Templeton's approval, started threatening to evict her, an action that terrified Lance and weighed on Templeton's conscience. In the last 10 years, Templeton said, he has evicted only two of some 12,000 senior residents.

Templeton nevertheless was prepared this week to begin the process of going to court to remove Lance from her apartment. But after inquiries from a columnist and after Lance said the noise was gone and she was done complaining, Templeton changed his mind.

He worked out an agreement that allows Lance to remain at her apartment on a month-to-month lease.

"I feel like I'm humbling myself, but it's worth it to be happy," Lance said. "They gave me my life back."

Templeton is happy, too.

"I'm just glad we didn't have to move somebody," he said. "I never want to see that happen."

Fortunately, it didn't happen in Lance's case.

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