Candidates to UB: no comment

In what is supposed to be the biggest city election in years, candidates have been touting education plans, revitalization plans, repopulation plans and economic plans.

In all of their plans, however, one significant portion of the Buffalo population has been conspicuously low on the radar: Buffalo's college communities.

Specifics for improving the college communities-both aesthetically and ideologically-around city-located schools like Buffalo State, Canisius College and UB are nearly non-existent. There doesn't even seem to be much candidate interest in the younger crowd that makes up attendees of those schools, with only Byron Brown's campaign presenting a youth plan at a rally.

Brown's campaign highlights the fact that Brown lives in the neighborhood near Canisius College and has several economic plans.

"No other candidate lives in the college neighborhood environment," said Steve Casey, campaign manager for Brown.

Kevin Helfer's campaign cited its own economic plan, but otherwise declined to comment.

Both mainstream campaigns, along Judy Einach of the Green Party, said the best way to retain college graduates in the area is through their various economic ideas.

Casey said plans that encourage home ownership and neighborhood business improvement plans would help attract young business owners and residents.

"Our goal is not cherry picking. We want to work with neighborhoods, promote home ownership," he said. "The Buffalo Works program should also help neighborhood communities."

He also mentioned Brown's "NoRedTape" commission that he said would make it easier for businesses to expand.

Einach said her plan of simplifying business ownership would appeal to young entrepreneurs.

"I'd like to have an entrepreneurial environment similar to Hong Kong, where it's only one form to start up a business, and if it fails, it's one form to close it," she said. "Right now it's a fight in New York State to start a business and stay here."

Helfer's campaign Web site describes a plan called Project Homegrown, a plan to create a business community for small businesses that "create a locally funded and managed small business venture capital pool to meet the short-term capital needs of growing businesses."

Einach and Helfer also cite cheap housing as imperative to attracting and keeping young people in the city.

"Housing is so darn cheap here," said Einach. "We should advertise that to businesses more."

Issues that affect the under-30 set are not limited to economic conditions, and only one candidate mentions any plans to improve quality of life for younger voters.

"In all honesty, Buffalo is a boring city in a lot of ways," said Einach. "I'd like to allow for things like street performers-just more entertainment options for young people."

Most UB students are aware of a lack of entertainment options in the University Heights neighborhood near South Campus, the only significant part of the city populated by students. No candidate specified plans for the area or interfacing the city with UB.

Einach and Casey both said the construction that has plagued the University Heights needs to be cleared up.

"That project has gone on far too long," Casey said. "We need to move that project along and get it to move quicker. It has choked many of the businesses down there."

Einach also addressed the crackdown on college partying in the neighborhood.

"The problem you have is student housing mixes with stable neighborhood housing-it leads to an inevitable clash," she said. "What we need to figure out is how to work with the university so those two don't interfere with each other."

Helfer was the former Buffalo Common Council representative from the University District and owned a landscaping business based in the Heights.

A decided lack of attention has some UB students hoping for more focus on UB's role in the community.

"I'd be glad if they had a better relationship," said Greg Wolfe, a junior urban planning major. "I think low-income housing around South Campus is the best thing for the local economy."

Wolfe was pessimistic about results from the mayoral race.

"It makes me happy they're not focusing on students too much, really. As far as I'm concerned, the Buffalo mayoral system is too nepotistic," he said.