Parties and college students are killing University Heights.
At least that is what Friday's Buffalo News seemed to imply.
Somehow the fall of University Heights, once a vibrant neighborhood, is being blamed on UB students, the very people who are the reason it's not completely dead and may even be its salvation.
True, college kids and their antics have become part of the problem, but it's more a symptom of a larger problem: a city and university failing its community than the very people who make up the community causing the problem.
The story cites various sources, from Heights residents to Buffalo Police saying college students are the source of all that ails the area, from gang fights to robbery, to the very condition of the homes themselves. About the only thing college students weren't blamed for was the horrible condition of the roads in the area.
Buffalo Police Chief Mark Antonio even blamed UB transportation, saying that because UB provides transportation between the campuses until 2 a.m., it causes more students to party in University Heights.
It's not to say they're not right. UB students do make their fair share of mistakes, and college parties can get out of hand, but to say that students partying in the Heights are the reason the area has fallen onto hard times like to saying "2 Fast 2 Furious" tanked because it lacked Vin Diesel; it was already a sinking ship.
University Heights has been the home to thousands of UB students for over 70 years, ever since UB first built its campus there. I'd bet college students partied back then too.
No, the downfall of University Heights has is a symptom of the fall of the city of Buffalo and, even more acutely, a problem of UB's flight from Main Street.
The Heights are situated almost exactly at the edge of both geographic and socioeconomic borders that divide the city from the suburbs, the well-off and the poor, black and white.
Just north of South Campus is Amherst, the most stereotypical of American suburbs, with its shopping malls and far-flung sprawl.
Just southeast, down Bailey Avenue, is the start of Buffalo's east side, the rundown area of town where many of the crimes reported in the Buffalo News take place, and where a large number of them get overlooked.
In other words, University Heights is almost exactly at the dividing line for every form of segregation that has defined the city and it's decline into Rust Belt obscurity.
Just like all contested borders, this situation invites conflict. Creeping poverty and the crime it breeds brushes up against incoming suburban college kids. They are only looking for a good time that they don't have to have a car to get to, the side effect of UB's flight into Amherst. These forces in turn bump into the permanent residents of the area who have every right to complain, but are almost powerless to stop it.
It's too late to complain in earnest about UB's move, but by all but abandoning South Campus, UB has contributed to the neighborhood's fall.
Buffalo Police have also contributed by a marked inconsistency in treating the area. In Friday's article, Antonio admitted the department traditionally issued only warnings to problem parties, a leniency that only compounded the problem. Police may be cracking down on these parties, but what about potentially violent University Heights crime that has popped up almost weekly in both the News and The Spectrum in recent weeks? Crime has hurt the area's livability just as much as college parties.
College students are not the problem. College towns and neighborhoods are supposed to thrive. Boston stakes its reputation on its myriad colleges, and Ithaca owes its continued existence to Cornell. Even the Elmwood area of Buffalo depends on Buffalo State and Canisius students filling its bars, stores, restaurants and, yes, even house parties for its vibrancy.
That isn't to say the recent crackdown is unwarranted. Hopefully it will tame the wildest of parties. An elevated police presence in the area can only help keep the Heights safer.
To blame college students, however, is shortsighted. A better effort would be to create a community that welcomes students.
As it stands now, with the intrusive street construction, limited entertainment options and poor condition of many rental properties in the Heights, the area is serviceable at best. The UB community needs an off-campus, walkable community for students to live and play in, and the Heights is UB's best - and only -- option. Businesses could thrive there with a student-minded approach. The community could too.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
