The Heights of Fear

So in lies the confusion. How can one type of well being for their student body be so important to a school that they have a system in place to ensure it? but when asked about how they are going to address clear safety problems that inflict those same students their response is "we are not in the protection business" I find the combative attitude of that statement and the absence of concern, frightening.
I would also go further say to those same school officials that maybe their automatic healthcare assignment policy may not be the best argument to back that statement up.

Parents and students need to know the calculated risk they are taking when they move in to the Heights. The school has a civic responsibility to keep would be students and the like aware of what they are signing up for. Perhaps then when they do chose to live there they will do so with a clear understanding of the risks.

Perhaps UB can take all of those overlooked monies that the school willingly accepts for services not needed and start a security fund.

As for you Lisa - congratulations again! from what I can see all of the negative responses are baseless digs at you. I commend you for bringing light onto these serious issues and hope you continue to do so. My guess from people who care little about the issues and more about their need to comment.

For those interested in the seeing the comparison between UB South Campus, Buffalo State, UPenn, and OSU please take a look at this: http://imgur.com/ZxeOjsL

While I agree with the ultimate aim of this article (encouraging the University to take a more proactive role in the University Heights), I do not agree with how the information was presented in such a biased and obtuse manner. If you want to start a dialogue, please do so on rational, well-researched grounds.

For those of you looking to get more involved in the community please visit the University Heights Tool Library. With some of the projects coming out of the Tool Library, I think we're demonstrating students abilities to become researchers, instigators, entrepreneurs, etc. in collaboration with a diverse array of individuals and organizations to deal with real world issues, none of which would be possible in a sanitized environment like North Campus.

Instead of asking "What is UB/the city doing to improve THIS neighborhood?" hopefully students will begin to think "How can I apply the skills I have to improve MY neighborhood?" In the past, maybe the appropriate vehicle necessary for meaningful community engagement wasn't there for students to access, yet the projects initiated by the Tool Library and the community provide just such a vehicle.

The Heights has all the makings of an incredible urban neighborhood: Architecturally significant housing stock, density, a walkable mixed-use commercial corridor, green space, some of the best access to transit in the city, and the University as an anchor institution. Let's leverage these assets and work together towards real positive change.

Don't get me wrong, I find no fault in the information found in the article. I do not advocate for glossing over the gritty crime statistics and landlord issues. What makes me cringe is the generic, alarmist, doom and gloom reporting style adopted by the author. It isn't what you say, its how you say it. There is nothing but negativity in this article and it ironically destroys its message. Read it for yourself, but allow me to give a one line summation. (This is, I'm afraid, quite easy to do.) The University at Buffalo has to increase its involvement in the Heights neighborhood to crack down on crime and landlord negligence. The article then proceeds to shoot itself in the foot.

"I feel scared," Lin said. "I never walk on the streets when the sky is dark. In the evening, I'm afraid to go on the street." This vox pop quote sets the tone for the whole piece. "Living in the Heights has affected my experience at UB negatively," said *Taylor Brundage, a senior English major. "While living there, I struggled to get my work and life, in general, under control." Tell me, where is the other side of the issue? Where can I read about the students who enjoy the neighborhood? I know some of these individuals personally, and they really love the location. I get that you are trying to prove a point, but where is the rest of the story? The lack of balance in the reporting takes a great deal of the legitimacy away from this article, regardless of the truths it contains.

Now, I don't want to bash the article too thoroughly, as I feel the underlying message is well intentioned. To me it feels like a call to action, a direct message to the UB administration to get their act together and start funding improvements in the Heights. However the article leaves out one key group of people, the student body.

According to this article, the students living in the University Heights are weak, vulnerable, naive, and defenseless. Unless the University steps in, we the students have no choice but to run away in fear. In fact, fear is a general theme in this article; so much so that it is part of the title.

There is a way to present the University Heights without implementing fear as a way of invoking a cheap emotional reaction. Fear is crippling and does not allow for positive change. The "Height of Fear" does not incite a rational logical thinking process that would allow a student to respond positively to this article. The whole tone is one of foreboding, doom, beyond the control of the student body. There is no reason to stick our necks out to help a neighborhood as violent as this one. Our last hope is heavy police enforcement.

"The first thing to understand is that the public peace-the sidewalk and street peace-of cities is not kept primarily by the police, necessary as police are. It is kept primarily by an intricate, almost unconscious, network of voluntary controls and standards among the people themselves, and enforced by the people themselves. In some city areas-older public housing projects and streets with very high population turnover are often conspicuous examples-the keeping of public sidewalk law orderis left almost entirely to the police and special guards. Such places are jungles. No amount of police can enforce civilization where he normal, casual enforcement of it has broken down." This is a quote out of "The Death and Life of Great American Cities. A few chapters of this book are dedicated to safety and the reduction of crime rates. Police patrols are not the answer. The mere fact there is a high volume of law enforcement in the area will drive people away.
What we need is a community. A community of students and permanent residents that look out for each other. Slowly but surely it will begin to push the crime out of the neighborhood. It isn't going to happen over night, but it begins with rebuilding the Heights. Its time to strengthen whats already there and develop new bonds. New stores, restaurants, and housing projects will increase the value of this neighborhood to the student body. What saddens me, is that I saw the author of this article at the University Heights Collaborative Meeting. Not one of the positive aspects of the meeting were ever brought up. The garden walks, the new parks, the farmers market...nothing. That isn't balanced reporting.

Just showing the dark side of the neighborhood isn't going to spur anybody into action. Relying on just the UB administration isn't going to work either. I feel like this article was an honest attempt to create a spark. Unfortunately the mismatched arguments, the maniacal doomsday themes, and the irrational dependency on UB proves to be its downfall. This article failed to show the good, the bad, and the ugly. This shrouds the Heights in a cloud of hopelessness, worthlessness, and danger. My only hope is that the reader goes beyond the story and experiences Buffalo and the Heights first hand.