Getting to know the neighborhood

How safe is my neighborhood? Who lives on my street, and who among them is a homeowner, a renter, a UB student? How can my block club reduce the crime on my street and connect with other block clubs?

These and other questions were answered at the sixth annual UB community forum, "Knowing Your Neighborhood: Using Information to Preserve Quality of Life," held March 29 in Harriman Hall, South Campus. The event focused on improving quality-of-life issues for the University Heights community; in particular, it gave local residents tips and instructions on creating neighborhood profiles, including information about properties, streets and blocks that they easily can access to help resolve emergency situations or other neighborhood issues.

The forum was presented by the Office of Community Relations in partnership with the Gloria J. Parks Community Center, University District Councilmember Bonnie Russell and the University Heights Collaborative, a volunteer neighborhood group serving several blocks west of Main Street. Representatives from the UB Center for Urban Studies, Office of Student Affairs and the UB Regional Institute also were on hand to answer questions and explain their services.

Pamela K. Beal, director of the UB Regional Community Policing Center (RCPC), and Danis J. Gehl, director of public service at UB, led the audience through a slide presentation on how UB recently organized a student-led team to canvas, assess and analyze three University Heights streets: Heath, Custer and Lisbon. Graduate student assistants in Beal and Gehl's offices in Allen Hall walked those streets to conduct informal field surveys, introduce themselves to homeowners, renters and students, and to survey the condition of properties and streetscapes. They turned their observations and research into databases of pertinent crime statistics, property types and other statistics. The audience was encouraged to do the same for their blocks.

"What you want to ask yourself is, how do you accentuate the positive—despite the problems you experience in your neighborhood?" Gehl said. "These are some powerful tools you can use to help block clubs near you talk to one another, and help residents communicate."

Ryan Cunningham, an undergraduate studying environmental design and architecture, and Dana Leo, an American Studies graduate student and project specialist for the RCPC, demonstrated how they used census data, property checklists and various city, county and regional Web sites to find information about property owners, and demographic and employment statistics. Rachel M. Teaman, director of communications for the UB Regional Institute, showed the audience how to use the institute's new Web site—rich with local and regional information—and also put in a plug for the brick-and-mortar office and its staff. "We're on South Campus in Beck Hall, and we're here to help you," she said.

Residents were given packets to take home containing the entire presentation and several forms and sample flyers for filing property complaints, tracking real estate transactions and requesting other types of residential and commercial information.

After the presentation, the audience broke into smaller groups to answer three questions: What information or resources have you used in the past to address problems in your neighborhood? What have you done to promote your neighborhood's assets? What new information or new ideas did you learn at this forum?

The groups' responses were varied and creative, suggesting everything from posting "neighborhood watch" signs and installing street-corner video cameras to curb crime, to organizing block parties, clean-up crews and after-school programs for local kids to foster community bonding and pride in ownership among "investor-owners."

The forum drew 45 local residents, including several UB faculty and staff who live in the Heights and a few individuals from such other city districts as Lovejoy and Masten.

Claire McDonough, an area resident and block club member, said she finds forums like this one "re-energizing," and was impressed with the preparation and effort that went into the meeting. "I can tell that UB is trying to be more interested in the community and I'm glad that the meeting wasn't allowed to turn into a complaint session," she says. McDonough also learned some new tips on looking up landlords online. Block clubs, she added, often are most concerned with problem properties, so it was helpful to receive the correct forms to fill out.

For more information about UB's community outreach, go to http://www.buffalo.edu/community.