UR Southwest Rochester - Who is more dangerous to who?

With the recent robbery at the pedestrian bridge and the media attention around it, we are left with the impression that Southwest Rochester is a threat to U of R students. Which raises the question of who is actually more dangerous - us or them. In all my years in the neighborhood I can not recall, and hopefully never will, a death related to a city resident murdering a U of R student or staff member. However, in the recent past there has unfortunately been one death on the campus, but this involved self defense between two U of R students. For those with short memories there has also been one 21 year old African American student killed by a U of R professor. Click this link to read of his sentencing. UR of professor sentenced in death of 21 year old African American .... Although it states he was a former U of R associate professor, he was a professor when this event happened, and then was subsequently fired by the U or R following the event. Given the legitimate uproar over Trayvon Martin, here is a case were a 21 year old is killed and the killer only gets one year in prison. My assumption is that if any of the those 4 young men who regrettably mugged the U of R student are caught, and hopefully they will be caught, they may well get more than one year in prison.

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Permalink Reply by Margy Meath on March 23, 2012 at 10:07am

Dan, this is going to be an interesting discussion but I'm not sure that thinking about these things in an US/THEM framework is particulalry helpful. That said, I believe that at least one of the murders on Thurston was of a UR student or employee - to my knowledge, no arrests made so the perpetrator is unknown.

In terms of the professor who killed the young man (Mr. Arnold) because of DWI, we have a number of local incidents where people have killed others (and/or severely injured) because of DWI. It's not at all unusual for DWI related events to get much LESS jail/prison time than those crimes that are committed in different contexts (i.e. robberies). In the case of the UR professor, I believe that the sentence would have been a LOT different if he had shot Mr. Arnold during a robbery. I am NOT at all excusing the behavior of the UR professor - it was a TERRIBLE tragedy and an innocent life was lost - but there are clearly differences in our legal system when it comes to DWI issues.

Re: the SW being a threat to UR students and the media attention.... I think the reality is that there are threats to SW CITIZENS on BOTH sides of the bridge and those will only diminish when we find ways to have less US/THEM and more collaboration re: issues that impact ALL of us.

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Permalink Reply by Dan DeMarle on March 23, 2012 at 11:23am

Yes Margy I was purposely being incidenary in my choice of headline and my post. In part because I am tired of having it being a U of R good and Southwest neighborhood bad plot line that gets played out in the local media. Those of us who live and work here and there hopefully know it is much more nuanced. However, I threw my cocktail on the rug for a reason, because I am tired of the U of R being able to play up all thier positives (they have a size-able PR department to do so), and to sweep under the rug all the negatives. Meanwhile we get painted with a very bad brush whenever things go badly. On a day to day basis, however, there are thousands of positive U of R and neighborhood positive interactions. So my attempt was to throw out that headlines and highlight a tragedy, a young man was killed by a U of R professor. What have they done about it? Should they be held accountable? I know that we as a neighborhood are held accountable in the media, through thier press releases etc.. whenever something happens over here.

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Permalink Reply by John Boutet on March 23, 2012 at 2:50pm

Hopefully what will come out of this discussion is to focus public attention on the joint responsibility the SW neighborhoods (the City) and the U of R have to ensure public safety as changes are made to housing and travel ways for pedestrian and bike traffic. If you consider this robbery on a well lit pedestrian bridge in plain view of hundreds of windows at Brooks Landing, shudder at the thought of the Pandora's box being opened with the of the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad Bridge conversion to a pedestrian and bike trail. It is going to big plus for the U of R and City by opening the PLEX neighborhood to easy pedestrian and bike commuting for students from the U of R. Unfortunately it is going to be dark and out of sight of anyone. The current lack of planning for security is disgraceful. The city is using money made available for trail development in past years when money was more plentiful to do the conversion. They were able to provide wire-ways in the bridge conversion plans for lighting but there is no money available in their budget install lighting. It is a lean year for the City and the state. The U of R is taking the "not our property, not our responsibility" attitude. Hopefully they can explain that with a straight face to the parents of mugging victims-to-be. This is not an us vs. them situation. If you took every current resident in PLEX out of the picture, this would still be a set-up for trouble. Create perfect mugging conditions and you will have muggers and victims.

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Permalink Reply by Judi Baker on March 24, 2012 at 8:07pm

Well covered! And when the prospect of opening up the Erie-Lackawanna Bridge was stated, I wondered what are the students going to come over too???? It's really DARK down there. If students are being mugged on a well lit bridge with call boxes and eyes all over 1400 S. Plymouth, what in the world are they gonna do on that bridge. Many news stories yet to be written about that bridge and I don't think it's gonna be anything nice! Not much more than skunks, raccoons, deer and crows to observe any crimes committed in that area.

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Permalink Reply by hellen davis on March 27, 2012 at 10:53am

Judi, as one pair of eyes at 1400 Plymouth, not to be confused with the skunks, deer, crows and raccoons you referred to, I have jumped out of bed many nights when I've heard loud voices on the bridge. One night, not so long ago, I called 911. After standing at the window for more than 20 mins., and no patrol car showed up, I went back to bed. We had a homicide inside this building last month and to date, no one knows the details. The police aren't talking and neither is the management!

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Permalink Reply by DeWain Feller on March 24, 2012 at 11:18pm

It is important that we neither downplay crime in our neighborhood nor exagerate it.

It is important that we neither downplay crime in our neighborhood nor exaggerate it. We do have serious public safety issues that need to be addressed, but we can’t afford to have the media (or anyone else) make it sound like the 19^th Ward is a war zone. We need to get our fair share of police resources; however, I would add that Chili, Thurston, and the northern half of Genesee are in much greater need of police presence than Brooks Landing.

What we ought to be discussing is whether the UR needs to step up security off campus. While it is a benefit to the community that the UR has already devoted their private security resources to the Brooks Landing area, it is also true that the increase in the number of students in the neighborhood has placed a burden on public resources. RPD resources are used to respond the student parties, and code enforcement resources are being used to deal with marginal landlords that are converting homes in student apartments.

We don’t need an “us vs. them” argument, but we do need to convince the UR to play a more active and positive role in the neighborhood.

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Permalink Reply by Kathleen Connelly on March 26, 2012 at 3:45pm

It's heartening to read the posts pointing out the drain on city and community resources when colleges fail to take adequate responsibility for their students. The number of student rentals has increased dramatically the past few years and the pace is picking up each year. Please consider looking at these links to articles in the Albany Times Union and the issues that community is currently dealing with. We are on the same road and without some thoughtful planning, that will be us in a few years. The city planner said to me that UR is expanding and we are just going to have to get used to it, openly stating what indeed seems to be the case thus far.

http://www.timesunion.com/opinion/article/Education-eludes-student-...

http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Albany-s-student-ghetto-Fro...

http://blog.timesunion.com/opinion/a-neighborhood-under-siege/10209/

http://www.timesunion.com/default/article/Pine-Hills-homeowners-try...

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Permalink Reply by Judi Baker on March 26, 2012 at 4:31pm

Looks like the handwriting is on the wall...............and why would our 'college town' be any different? My long timing saying of being 'carried away from my longtime home in a pine box' has also changed. Fight or Flight....................I'm OUT!

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Permalink Reply by Mark Sweetland on March 27, 2012 at 1:47am

Yes, the U of R is expanding, and we in Rochester should be extremely glad, as few other employers are growing. Of course there should be thoughtful planning. I expect that the City and the U of R will be doing some thoughtful planning. I do not understand one person's comments about moving out. This investment in our neighborhood is extremely important. It is needed. Let's not keep up with a "them against us" attitude, or "town vs. gown." We are all in this together. It will make your neighborhood more valuable in terms of housing prices, should you ever want to sell. And it can bring valuable businesses to our area. It already has. I don't get it. I am excited about growth to our neighborhood and welcome it.

The City is responsible for taking care of public safety off campus, and I am sure they are well aware and capable of addressing this issue in the future.

If anyone is interested in helping in their neighborhood, join PAC-TAC by calling 428-7496.

Or join your neighborhood block club, if you already have not. Most important --- know your neighbors!

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Permalink Reply by Judi Baker on March 27, 2012 at 2:01am

After being involved for many years and countless hours in PAC-TAC, CERT, Citizen's Police Academy, Court Watch, Neighborhood Watch, Block Club Prez, Neighborhood Association meetings, countless community charrettes, public safety meetings, National Night Out planning and participation, community ribbon cuttings I see very little headway in the area of Public Safety so 'moving out' seems to be a viable option. I have lived here in the Third Ward for over 50 years so I kind of can measure the barometer.