University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: April 24, 2008

By CHARLES ANZALONE
Contributing Editor

In what residents and volunteers agreed was an important step toward improving neighborhood conditions and relations between the community and the university, a UB-organized collaboration of students, staff, alumni and community members last weekend performed a collective spring cleaning on 25 University Heights properties in need of attention and repair.

Volunteers tackle the porch of an Englewood Avenue house on Saturday as part of the "UB Paints" community outreach project that removed debris, painted porches and made light repairs to properties on several blocks of Englewood near the South Campus.
PHOTO: ENID BLOCH

When it was done, more than 120 volunteers in the “Neighbor to Neighbor—UB Paints” community outreach project had removed debris, painted porches, trimmed bushes and made light repairs to properties on several blocks of Englewood Avenue, many of which had become eyesores to long-time neighborhood residents.

“People were very eager to volunteer because when they drive down the street Sunday on the way to church, many of them don’t like the way it looks,” said Sister Jeremy Midura, who recruited volunteers from nearby St. Joseph University Church on Main Street and a member of the Problem Properties Task Force, one of several community groups participating in the project.

“A lot of people who came out were people who live here and live within these conditions,” she said.

Midura was joined by scores of other volunteers, most wearing “Neighbor-to-Neighbor UB Paints” T-shirts. By noon, the workers had filled countless garbage bags with weeds, hauled garbage, removed roofing material from backyards, scraped and repainted porches, and did more than their part toward the common goal of renewing a neighborhood that has been the scene of tension among city residents and UB students living in apartments.

“We need a ladder,” said Melissa T. MacLeod, calling to other volunteers working on a house at 99 Englewood Ave. A UB alumna who used to live on nearby Montrose Avenue and now works as a financial advisor for Smith Barney in downtown Buffalo, MacLeod and others in her work crew cleared garbage, trimmed bushes and scraped old paint from a front porch “to the best of our ability” before repainting the repaired areas.

“It actually looks pretty good, now that I can step back and take a look,” she said as she took a break from the work done in Saturday’s brilliant sunshine and unseasonably warm weather.

Organized by UB’s Students for Urban Renewal and the university’s Office of Community Relations, the project was intended to improve neighborhood conditions in the University Heights area “one street at a time.”

“This event is proof-positive the University at Buffalo is embracing its leadership role in the community,” said Vincent D. Clark, director of the Office of Community Relations.

“We are proud of this collaborative effort that includes block clubs and faith-based organizations, as well as students, faculty and alumni. All have come out in a strong way, rolled up their sleeves and dedicated their time to make this neighborhood a better place.”

The effort drew an enthusiastic response among the volunteers, as well as its share of outrage from workers shocked by some of the conditions they discovered.

“You’re not the landlord, are you?” one volunteer asked someone approaching one of the houses with large piles of debris in the backyard. “If you were, I’d give you an earful.”

The targeted blocks were among those identified to be the most in need of improvement. Several volunteers said they were there because they felt a sense of ownership and responsibility as part of the neighborhood.

“Our church is in the community, so we’re very much a partner,” said the Rev. William Clark, senior pastor at New Bethel Community Church, 175 Englewood Ave., which contributed about 20 volunteers to the cleanup, some from as far away as Orchard Park and Lockport. “We put the word out to our members. They wanted to do something to revitalize this neighborhood one house at a time.”

And while no one pitching in suggested one day’s work would solve all the neighborhood problems and concerns, most were proud of the progress they made and optimistic about the chance for lasting change.

“We want to send a message that anywhere, anyone, anytime can come out and make the neighborhood better,” said Mai La, a junior at UB majoring in biological sciences, who was painting part of a porch with fellow UB student Bich Vu.

The volunteer work crews piled trash, branches and other debris at the curb and near the intersection of Englewood and Main Street. By late Saturday afternoon, UB and City of Buffalo workers had cleared the piles from the street. For those who had seen what the blocks had looked like early that morning, it was a dramatic change.

“It looks extremely different than when we began,” said Farah Brunache, president of UB’s Urban Renewal Student Association, one of the organizers of the event. “It looks like a different street.”

Those who had spearheaded the effort promised to continue their “one street at a time” strategy and follow up Saturday’s effort with more community outreach involvement.

“It definitely is a project we can expand and improve on in the coming months and years,” according to Brunache.