KENT: The residents being evicted from the Silver Oaks Place retirement community are quick to remind those who will listen that their generation fought World War II.So while their canes and wheelchairs suggest fragile bones, their spirit was robust as nearly 50 tenants and supporters assembled Wednesday to share their plight with Kent City Council, along with petitions signed by 94 Silver Oaks tenants and 1,067 community supporters.While City Council cannot stop the evictions, council members passed symbolic resolutions in support of the tenants. Oct. 1 is the deadline for more than 250 residents to leave the 13-acre wooded complex, which is being sold to a developer who wants to convert it into housing that would be marketed to Kent State University students. Some of the tenants have called the place home for nearly 30 years.“What’s being surrendered here is a community, not just a bunch of apartments,” said Maj Ragain, whose 91-year-old mother, Bea Summers, has lived there for several years. “These people cared for each other and shared dinner together and looked out for each other and gave each other rides.”The Silver Oaks folks originally planned to hold a pre-council rally in the City Hall parking lot, but Law Director Jim Silver warned them off, saying they didn’t have a permit to gather on public property and he hoped “police will not have to be called.”Silver said he was merely stating city law and it’s not up to him to choose which laws to enforce.A couple of dozen residents and supporters arrived early anyway to mingle on the City Hall grounds and chat with several media representatives, although they were careful to add that they were not there to rally.Brad Prather attended the event on behalf of his mom, Lorena. Prather said his mom, who is 78, has lost 20 pounds since she got her eviction notice last month.“She’s been there for 16 years,” he said. He wants to see her settled into a community, not just an apartment building, but the ones he approves of have waiting lists.Moving vans at the complex are a daily sight now.The residents were given a 60-day notice instead of the traditional 30 days, but with so many older tenants being displaced at the same time, options are limited, tenants say.Prather said he’s holding out hope for more than just a few extra days. He said he hopes property buyer Capstone Development Corp. of Birmingham, Ala., which is purchasing the complex from Tell Real Estate Trust, will have a change of heart and allow those who are struggling to relocate the option of staying in their homes until they find a new place or die.“I think the seniors would be a good influence on the college students, and the students would be good for them,” Prather said.Wah-Chiu Lai, 61, said that in losing his residence, “I have lost everything.”Lai said as a Ph.D. music student at KSU, he hoped to work on his dissertation this year but has been sidetracked trying to find a new home. He has no car, and so far has been unable to find comparable living arrangements within walking distance of the school.Kent City Council member Robin Turner said he was “extremely disappointed” that city officials didn’t work with the residents to let them have their rally. He said he also took exception to the law director instructing council members to be careful on how they voice their support.“I was shocked,” Turner said, noting he figured it was his constitutional right to support the tenants.In an email to council members, Silver told council that while he felt bad for the residents being evicted, “if council people wish to dictate what happens at the Silver Oaks complex, they should own it. The owner has vested property rights that cannot be ignored.”He also warned the council that any action that could be construed as interfering with a business relationship could open the city to a lawsuit.Meanwhile, tenants are pursuing their own legal recourse. With the help of Cleveland attorney Avery Friedman and the Community Action Council of Portage County, residents with mobility problems are seeking time to find alternative housing through anti-disability discrimination statutes.Tenants are also complaining to the Ohio Civil Rights Commission that the landlord retaliated against their efforts to mobilize by barring a meeting room to which their lease gives them 24-hour access.Paula Schleis can be reached at 330-996-3741 or pschleis@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/paulaschleis.