Bob has done more for this city than he ever would take credit for or anyone outside of the university circle would realize.

He pushed to start the discussion about downtown housing years ago laying the foundation of policy working with the Masiello admin to make all of what we see happening downtown possible. The Queen City Hub plan put hope and inspiration in many professional level planning minds that Buffalo can become a great city again. the UDP was critical in working with the Cityview people in their planning for the Larkin District, they have engaged the waterfront, Olmsted parks and now the University all of which are starting to align and proser in ways that support and reinforce the city. I am finally glad to see some of his work and words coming directly to Buffalorising.

al-alo I couldn't agree with you more. The main reason so few UB students venture downtown now if they have to get off the bus, walk 100;' to the subway station, buy a ticket, and wait for the train. Not a big issue if you have to do it but it doesn't make it convenient enough. It needs to be a one seat ride if it wants to be as efficient as students at UB need it to be.

South Campus tunnel out and roll right up Millersport with it.

It would give the most direct connection between campuses and could even allow more distant park and ride lots out at the north campus.

I would have loved to have had direct rail access to DT (Sabres, Nightlife, Waterfront, etc) while I was at UB in the late 90's

or if amherst has enough "pull" it can have it tunneled under Millersport out to the North Campus.

Having underground rail from UB North thru South all the way downtown is essential. There also needs to be easy connectivity to the airport and stadium. We need to get UB students involved in the community if they are ever going to (dare I say it) stay here and/or help the region. It's not a hard concept, except Amherst/Williamsville/OP do not give a f*ck about Buffalo, obviously. Most suburbanites don't know we have a downtown, much less a city. Bringing thousands of Long Island kids with daddy's money could dramatically, easily, and quickly, help the city.

I would like to see more encouragement from UB for students to live in the city. We hear a lot about UB expanding to downtown, but at the same time they are devoting a large portion of their resources to securing a monopoly on student housing around North Campus. This can only hurt the Heights, and what about the Fruit Belt?

As far as the trepidation about "breaking up the academic spine" goes, nearly everyone I've talked to in the Humanities dept and the law school is positive about a move downtown. Most of them live in Elmwood Village or Allentown anyway. I suspect that the anxiety these guys are talking about in these departments comes more out of a general fear of Buffalo, or a fear of upheaval in their routines (commuting to the city if they're already homeowners) rather than worries about severing their academic relationships.

Al-Alo is right. If UB wants to be a meaningful part of life in Buffalo, then it should be front and center demanding that the light rail line to the North campus be finished. No one else around here has as much clout as they do. Or maybe they'd rather continue to pave over their whole campus for surface parking.

chiknlil - You're right. I'm trying to remember the cute name that Amherst residents have for the proposed light rail expansion, it's something like the "Thief Express". Idiots.

I have to echo agreement with the rest of the comments. There can be no discussion about UB without discussing the light rail connection to Amherst.

and yes UB is constrained in amherst ...they built stupid 2-3 story townhomes when they should have been building 10 story dorms ...they should have been building 8-10 story libraries and class rooms instead of building 2-3 story additions along the spine ...they should have created a north south spine connecting the ellicott dorm complex and the northern facilities buildings.....instead of townhomes and parking lots and expressways

they wasted a huge amount of land with that inner loop and outer-loop expressway combination...and now they are suffering.

it should also be mentioned that the fruit belt location is only one key to Buffalos future. the long term future is that Buffalo needs more centers for excellence and more research campuses. We can only hope that future centers of excellence will be scattered round Buffalos other communities like Riverside, like South Buffalo/Lackawanna, Central Terminal area....but there can be no more discussions of additional off campus centers of excellence until the Amherst Campus and is connected by light rail and the proposed off campus centers of excellence are also on light rail expansion routes.

Committing to 40% growth has earned my respect and admiration unlike do nothing patronage minority/gender appointment Howard over at Buffalo State....but the missing discussion is on light rail extensions and additional centers for excellence.

how can you discuss connectivity without discussing a light rail connection?