Buffalo Rising Online

Sep 23rd 2005, 8:00am By queenseyes

University Heights is uniting to take back our neighborhood by creating a mega-block University District Community Collaborative that encompasses Flower, Tyler, Bruce, Merrimack, Heath, and Englewood streets. Our collaborativeis goal will be to create a more even mix of homeowners and students in the neighborhood by beautifying our streets, holding landlords and students accountable for substandard housing, and marketing our neighborhood to potential homeowners.

Our first meeting will be held on Monday, September 26th at 7 p.m. on the second floor of the Gloria J. Parks Community Center at 3242 Main Street in Buffalo. Short term and long term fixes will be discussed and set into action. Harvey Garrett, director of the West Side Community Collaborative, will be the guest speaker. All are welcome. Contact Corrie Wachob at cfw44@hotmail.com (please make the subject iCommunity Collaborativei) for further information.

This is the first meeting of its kind in the area. If anything existed before, it was individual block clubs, that all seem to have petered out. So as of yet, there's no progress, no history, and not really any names. A neighbor recently told me that about forty years ago he used to live downtown on the lower West Side at a time when the houses on Richmond had sparkling green lawns and neighbors invited you in for lemonade (and now itis like that again thanks to local community activists). When people started moving out to the suburbs, my neighbor moved too, but not to the suburbs, to the University Heights area. He said it reminded him of the Richmond area, because the houses on streets like Englewood, Heath and Merrimack, all had the same care put into them, sparkling lawns and all and yet, the area had a distinctly suburban feel. It was a little community -- safe, affordable and clean. If you walk down Englewood, Heath or Merrimack today, you might think otherwise.

Despite a variety of local problems, small jewels of houses still persist, with creative front yard gardens that would rival anything you could find in the Elmwood area. Residents are hanging on and this is why I've decided to form the University District Community Collaborative, because the potential is still here for a great community to exist. Our streets butt right up against Main Street, which has any number of fantastic restaurants, shops and bookstores. During the summer when all the students leave, it gives the residents a breather, but it's killer on the businesses on Main. If we could have a more even mix of residents and students, not only would the shops on Main have an easier time, but new businesses might come in to invest. If more homeowners lived on our streets to keep an eye out for things and take care of their properties, maybe the students would take better care of our area too. A few of our streets, like Flower and Tyler hang in the balance. Houses are mostly owned by homeowners, but recently landlords have been buying up property whenever a house goes up for sale. How can they not when the selling prices on the houses are so inexpensive (ideal for first time homeowners and artists).

I want to see our area flourish, which is also why I'm trying to start the University District Community Collaborative. Hopefully, overtime, it will restore some balance (and yes peace and quiet) to our little gem of a neighborhood. Please consider joining this worthy cause. nCorrie Wachob