Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

After your September 25 issue was surreptitiously delivered into our hostile hands, we were actually pleased to read “The Waiting Game” and its even-handed approach to the issue. We did, however, want to note that in the first paragraph you mentioned all but one of the players in this saga. HELLO (think Homer here)…it’s us, the property owners on Rensch Road. We’ve been more or less ignored (save an editorial in the Buffalo Evening News) and deprived of one of the basic tenants of this country , the inherent “right” of its citizens to possess and dispose of property in their own best interests.

Back in the mid-1970’s, these properties were rezoned out from under the residents, from “Residential” to “Research Development.” The end result would have to be considered a robust failure, since the owners have not been approached even once in the last 30-odd years with anyone showing an interest in the property. This disinterest is compounded by all of the vacant structures in Amherst which may be utilized for the use of RD without having construction issues.

What we do have is a reasonably sudden interest by UB in the Rensch Road properties, but without the interest or ability to pony up the cash to purchase them. We liken it to a guy at a tailgate party who spots a five-dollar bill lying on the ground. He doesn’t have the enthusiasm or the wherewithal to actually pick it up, and leaves it lying there for 30 minutes. It’s only when someone else makes an effort to grab it that he suddenly wants it.

It’s painfully evident that they want the land for structures (such as the now infamous “barn”) which they do not want on campus. In other words, structures that would compromise the esthetic value of Leggoland (a little vitriol should have been expected!).

Along with the property owners, the chief beneficiaries of GMH’s program would be you, the students at UB. The school has no plans for building dormitories, so you are going to have to shift for yourselves. Certainly there are going to be kids (like my sons when they went to SUNY Fredonia) who will relish the chance to live independently in housing akin to some of the rat holes that are now occupied by the students in Vincent Clark’s University Heights, but we think that the vast majority of the student body would like to have some other options. Clark described GMH’s project as an…“outdated way to house students…” Could it be that the forking over of your wallet, I-pod and cell phone to the townies has become an update to collegiate housing.

You were there for the August sixth debacle so I don’t have to speak of that other than to say that UB’s usual smarmy carrot, followed by their stick-wielding legal shock troops, were obnoxious even by their own standards and virtually wiped out any chance that UB had to derail this project. Any town board members that were on the fence were eliminated due to UB’s childish Kamikaze efforts to beat up the board and its citizens.

Hopefully, you will be able to use the shuttle bus next year—Enjoy your new digs on Rensch Road!

Jeff and Barb Brooks

Fellow Students,

Recently it was announced that Buffalo is the second poorest city in the country. Hundreds of people within our community are living off minimum wage or less without benefits.

As Jon Davenport mentioned in last week’s editorial here and around the country, unions and workers are losing power to improve their working conditions as job instability increases.

What does this mean for us, as students?

Many of the members of our campus community are in this situation, both workers and

students. Often as students we feel we are powerless to enact change. We have no money, we have no prestige, we are young, but the University exists to teach us and without our tuition the institution could not stay alive. Within the University we have more leverage than anyone.

Workers and students teaming up has often created a force to be reckoned with. We have seen evidence of this on our own campus when UB students and custodial staff teamed up in the Justice for Janitors campaign to create dozens of new union custodial positions on campus.

We shouldn’t be satisfied just getting a degree and getting the hell out. If you are concerned, get involved in whatever way you can, in the community or on campus.

This a call to arms.

Katherine Riehlman
UB Students Against Sweatshops