When Margaret Murray first came to UB, she saw the University Heights as a neighborhood from which to stay away. It was merely a place one goes "on the weekends" - a convenient hangout for partygoers.
Two years later, Murray's perception of the troubled South Campus neighborhood changed. The sophomore business administration major no longer views it with wariness and indifference. Instead, she embraces the neighborhood like her own and is enthusiastic about bettering the community.
"[The Heights] is the UB community's neighborhood," Murray said. "And UB is my home, so I'd like to be as involved in the [Heights] as I am in my own hometown."
Some students in the Undergraduate Academies share Murray's passion for improving South Campus' surrounding streets. Together, they commit themselves to a brand new initiative: Pop-Up Living Laboratory (PULL), a series of projects that range from writing a business plan for local entrepreneurs to cleaning up graffiti.
The goal of the projects is to transform the Heights into a vibrant neighborhood that supports local entrepreneurship and community engagement.
PULL is the brainchild of Darren Cotton, the founder of the University Heights Tool Library, and Aaron Krolikowski, who helps to oversee the PULL projects. Both are UB alumni. They recognized the problem of vacant storefronts on Main Street in the Heights and came up with PULL as a way to fill these storefronts. From then on, PULL grew into an ambitious effort that engages both the Heights community and UB students.
"I live in the community and everybody who lives in the community loves that these projects are happening," said Krolikowski, who is currently a doctoral student at the University of Oxford and lives in the Heights to complete his thesis. "They love even more that UB students are getting involved in a really positive way."
Henry Taylor, director of the Center for Urban Studies at UB and a well-known urban planner in Buffalo, applauds the idea of getting UB students to contribute toward community development.
"What I really like about [PULL] is that it creates a pipeline that would make it possible for students to continually be involved in the neighborhood," Taylor said.
However, as much as Taylor appreciates UB students bringing their skills into helping foster a progressive neighborhood, he cautions against treating PULL as a standalone effort.
PULL members need to have a thorough understanding of community needs and make sure their projects work with existing ones so they could "create a synergy" based on these different initiatives, Taylor said.
Krolikowski has been interacting with three PULL project teams regularly. The first, which Murray is a part of, is a grant-writing program headed by Barbara Bono, an associate professor of English and director of the Civic Engagement Academy. The team will collect data from the Heights community and write a grant proposal based on the data analysis. Ultimately, the team hopes to procure a $500,000 grant from the New York State Homes and Community Renewal Agency (NYSHCR) for building renovations and streetscape enhancement.
The second project team consists of members of Buffalo Undergraduate Consulting Club. These students will use skills they have learned in the classroom to create a business plan for local businesses.
The last project aims to convert a non-operational railway line into a group of public spaces that could be used for various recreational purposes.
PULL works closely with the University Heights Collaborative (UHC), an organization that directs community-based activities in the Heights, like Neighborhood Watch and Landlord Outreach.
Mickey Vertino, president of UHC, believes PULL projects will inspire more UB students to take a proactive role in the Heights and become invested members of the community.
"We recognize that [UB students] are a valuable aspect of the community," Vertino said. "We want to hear their voices. We want to see them participate. We want them to know their neighbors, face-to-face."
Mario Ayoub, a freshman media study major in the grant-writing program, said that one of the challenges of carrying out the project is changing students' perception of the Heights. He said the negative connotation to the Heights is so deeply entrenched that it is hard to persuade his UB peers to think otherwise.
"[The Heights] is viewed as a lost cause," Ayoub said. "But when you look closely, you see the opposite. You see many willing residents, willing to work with the school and students. People are open for change and for projects to be started in the community."
Wang Yan, a UB graduate and former University Heights resident, pointed out the conditions in the Heights are difficult to improve.
While living in the Heights, Wang was harassed for money several times and had to put up with raucous parties on Friday nights, he said. He believes these unpleasant experiences arise due to "complex socioeconomic problems" within the neighborhood, making it hard to eliminate blights within the area.
Meanwhile, PULL members like Krolikowski and Murray have advice for students who live in the Heights but are dissatisfied with their current residence: Speak up.
It is imperative that UB residents recognize themselves as part of the Heights and voice out any concerns to the community, said Krolikowski, who is also working with PULL members to design ways to better facilitate communication between UB and the Heights community.
Krolikowski and Murray hope the projects encourage students to look beyond the Heights' infamy and view it as a community they could be a part of and learn from.
Ultimately, PULL is about creating a positive impact in both the Heights and UB.
"We have no problem turning University Heights into a big laboratory for students to test out ideas that they learn in the classroom while simultaneously making the Heights a better place to live," Krolikowski said.
Grassroots activism has been flourishing in Buffalo, according to Krolikowski. Many young people in their 20s and 30s have been helping to revive a city that "had just been under the decline for a long time," he said. He believes, like many other neighborhoods in Buffalo such as Cobblestone and Black Rock, the Heights will make progress and turn into a better community.
"There's tons of new investments going in and the University Heights five years from now is still going to look very different from the University Heights of today," Krolikowski said.
By then, many UB students hope they can proudly proclaim they had a part in building the community.
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