So I signed on tonight to catch up on blog posts, not quite sure what I was going to write about other than attending to the ones I keep letting sit in drafts (soon you will all be blessed with those beautiful posts, don’t worry).
As for full disclosure: I work at The Spectrum as the managing editor. I’ve previously held news editor and news staff writer positions over the past three years.
And as I hope many of you noticed, it’s been a pretty big week for the paper. On Monday, we published “The Heights of Fear,” a comprehensive look at the University Heights area, the crime and poor living conditions, and UB’s overall hands-off response to problems in the area.
Our publication has been criticized and accused of fear-mongering, sensationalism, yellow journalism, bias, what-have-you. My question to you is: why do you think that? Our reporter laid out the facts and told the stories of students who are living in fear.
This isn’t a new problem. I’ve been a student at UB for four years and I’ve worked at The Spectrum for three of those years. I’ve seen countless stories about the Heights and it never seems to get better, no matter how much students do step up and try to change things. We’ve shown the problems countless times in our paper, along with the good, and it hasn’t changed. What we need is the help of the administration. Students are scared, whether you like to admit it or not. You might not be, but countless others outweigh you.
In 2011, then-Editor in Chief Andrew Wiktor wrote an article similar to the one published Monday, entitled “Reaching New Heights.” Because of this article, Dan Ryan — who is singularly awesome, by the way — started doing inspections of students’ homes in the Heights. Or what he calls “housing blitzes.” Basically, he and a group of Buffalo City inspectors spend Saturday mornings/afternoons going door to door to help students know if their houses are up to code. And he’s really helped some kids out. Last year, I followed him around on one blitz and toured a house that was condemned. It was amazing to see what can happen with negligent landlords.
Even before Wiktor’s article, you can do a search on The Spectrum‘s website and see what has been published on the Heights. While not as in depth, almost all is negative. This isn’t a new problem that popped up while this staff (full of mostly seniors and juniors) has been at the university.
In Oct. 2011, we followed the housing blitz for one of the first times and a house was condemned (full disclosure: I wrote the article). Our senior life editor at the time followed up with a feature on said house.
In case “The Heights of Fear” is the first time you’ve tuned into The Spectrum‘s Heights coverage, here is a selected list of articles with similar stories published within the last three years (I apologize for the lack of time order. The website’s search option leaves much to be desired):
Oct. 27, 2010: Violence Drives Students Out of University Heights
Nov. 1, 2010: University Heights Meeting Becomes Heated Over Police Presence
Nov. 10, 2010: Greek Life Demands Safety in University Heights
Dec. 1, 2011: Arrest Made in South Campus Robbery
Sept. 25, 2012: Four UB students arrested for alleged drug ring in University Heights
Nov. 11, 2012: Six attacked in separate incidents in the Heights
Nov. 13, 2012: Witness recounts one of weekend assaults in University Heights
Feb. 9, 2012: As Housing Blitz Continues, Problems Remain in Heights
Feb. 19, 2013: Two UB wrestlers arrested for South Campus assault
Sept. 27, 2012: SA treasurer holds meeting to address South Campus crime
Nov. 19, 2011: UB Housing Blitz Continues
Oct. 21, 2012: Landlord responds to negative publicity
Oct. 7, 2012: UPDATE: Five students from 86 W. Northrup arrested
Nov. 20, 2012: Former students plead guilty to March robbery
Nov. 17, 2010: Merrimac Fire Destroys Students’ Home
Oct. 14, 2012: Student homeless due to bed bug infestation
Nov. 18, 2012: Students contribute to unsafe housing conditions in the Heights
Sept. 18, 2012: The high cost of cheap housing
Sept. 30, 2012: Life in the Heights
And despite the crux of many arguments against our reporting that we’ve heard (“Why don’t you show the good things happening in the Heights? Why not feature that instead of just pandering to what is wrong?”). Well, we do cover the good things in Heights. I personally think the Heights could become a very vibrant neighborhood, much like other ones in Buffalo have — think of the redevelopment of the West Side and the Allen/Elmwood area. Amazing strides have been made there and I think the same could be said for the Heights. I’ll expand more, but first check these out:
Nov. 4, 2012: Tools for change (full disclosure: I wrote this article about Darren Cotton because I was frustrated by all the negative press we were giving the Heights. I sought out what students were doing to make their neighborhoods better. And what Darren is doing is amazing.)
Sept. 9, 2012: There is hope for The Heights
Nov. 10, 2010: Bettering the Environment, One Door at a Time
Oct. 28, 2012: Unique, diverse, affordable
Feb. 28, 2013: SA Assembly calls on need to address Heights, fills vacancy on rules committee
The Spectrum has also continuously covered UB-sponsored events in the Heights, such as UB Gettin’ Dirty and other community movements. But the bad clearly outweighs the good in the Heights right now, and we would report more good if we could find it. It just seems like right now we’ve reached a point where something needs to change and it’s not just the students who can do it alone. We need the help of the city and the university.
Think of the West Side and Elmowood/Allen. These communities are on the upswing because of the permanent residents there. The Heights, in contrast, is made up of mostly students who live there for maybe a year or two before a new crop of students comes in. The area lacks the permanency other parts of the city sees. It needs some help. Students can’t do it alone. The typical student who comes to Buffalo from another area just doesn’t feel that strong community connection in Buffalo. To them, this isn’t their home. Why should they invest in the area? Why should they stay past graduation?
We commend those dedicated students and community members who are trying to unite the area, and their efforts are very admirable, but I still haven’t seen the crime numbers or the number of decrepit houses go down.
As an editorial board, we’ve made several calls to university administration for help. We’ve gotten silence. We took extreme measures to ask Tripathi to finally pay attention to us this week. We were sick of being ignored.
In the past year alone:
Sept. 27, 2012: Breaking Buffalo
Feb. 12, 2012: Take You Higher
Oct. 17, 2012: Strife in the Heights
And we finally got our answer from Tripathi. Can you honestly say you’re satisfied? As a UB student who pays tuition and pays into his pockets, can you say you’re OK with his answer? Is it enough?
How many kids need to die before we recognize the problems? Shouldn’t we face it now, before it comes to such dire circumstances, and take off our rose-colored glasses? Are you OK with Dennis Black saying he’s not in the protection business? Are you OK with Stephen Dunnett saying he thinks violence and crime are not at all a problem in the Heights? These are real answers from the people who control your education, which is more or less your life for four years.
Are security cameras and community gardens the answer? Will this stop someone from holding up a student at gunpoint? Will this stop someone from bashing a kid’s head into the ground? Will this clear the raw sewage from your pipes?
The students’ stories are real and not fabricated. Every fact was meticulously checked and double checked and triple checked.
As I said before, I want a strong community to save the Heights. It can happen. But that strong community can’t be built unless we face the problems head-on and realize they’re there. We can’t be scared anymore. If students don’t know what is outside their doors, how can they begin to fight it? Why should they care when they’ll be gone by the end of the year?
What comes now is follow-up reporting. We want to hear from community groups about what they’re doing and what they think we can all do save the Heights. Our pages are more than open for that and always will be. Give The Spectrum good things to report; we’re students, too, with many staff members residing in the Heights. We want our community to prosper. We want our UB community to care more about the whole picture rather than North situated within the walls of Amherst, the third-safest community in the country.
If you have anything to say about the Heights, our reporting, or really anything else on your mind, shoot me an email at rebecca.bratek@ubspectrum.com. We need to keep this conversation going.