It’s
just a little way for the 19th Ward to say, “Hey, we’re not so scary.”
           Fourteen 19th Ward families invited
University of Rochester students to cross the Genesee River Footbridge and have
dinner with them in their homes. These springtime Bridge Dinners are meant to
“show students that the 19th Ward is a… neighborhood to be celebrated and not
feared,” says the event press release. At the following week’s Bridge Brunch,
the university invited 19th Ward residents over to their place.
           But just a little over a month
before the eighth annual Bridge meals, a parent wrote a letter to the UR’s Campus Times, demanding that the bridge
be removed before “an amateur gun slinger decides to kill a bright,
intelligent, and hard-working student for five dollars.” In the April Fools’
Day issue of the Campus Times, an
article joked about a plan to destroy “Mugger’s Bridge.”
           Is it time for a Bridge Lunch?
The Footbridge
links the university campus and the urban neighborhood of the 19th Ward. Although an
estimated 1,500 students, faculty, and staff make their home in the 19th Ward,
some students still express a general uneasiness about crossing the river.
           “You’ll hear ‘It’s the ghetto. Don’t
go over there. You’ll get robbed,'” says Laura Porterfield, a UR freshman. She
also says that when first-years arrived on campus, juniors and seniors warned
them against venturing into the 19th Ward.
           The university says that the fears
of some students do not mean the neighborhood has a bad reputation campus-wide.
“I’ve heard the campus lore,” says Robert Kraus, associate vice president for
public relations. “But there are a number of students who do live off campus,
and I’ve heard some of them respond to their fellow students.”
           Students mention subtle ways fears
about the 19th Ward are reinforced.
           Seth Baum, a UR senior and a student
organizer of the Bridge Dinners, says that the volume of safety bulletins,
posted and e-mailed by University Security Services after a crime involving a
UR member happens on or around campus, imply that the surrounding neighborhoods
are a threat. The bulletins report “every little crime that happens anywhere
near campus,” he says. Without any positive information from the university
about the 19th Ward neighborhood to balance them, the bulletins help “fuel the
notion that the 19th Ward is crime-infested,” he says.
           Employees at UR Security Services
say the bulletins are only distributed to keep the student body informed.
           “The security bulletins say ‘stay
aware of your surroundings,'” says Ed Schiedel, a senior manager at Security
Services. “None of them ever say ‘stay away from the bridge.'”
The UR has
earned praise from community leaders in recent years for its initiatives
to get students involved in the neighborhoods around campus, particularly the
19th Ward.
           “The Bridge Dinners and Brunch are…
thank-yous for all the community involvement,” says John Borek, president-elect
of the Sector 4 Common Council and former president of the 19th Ward Community
Association. He refers to the Community Learning Center, a residence hall for
about 30 UR students who devote time to community service projects, and the
Urban Fellows Summer Internship, where Rochester-area college students take
urban issues classes and work with community organizations in Sector 4, the
area that encompasses the 19th Ward and Rochester’s other Southwest
neighborhoods.
           Jody Asbury, dean of students and
director of community service programs, says that the university and the 19th
Ward have an “extraordinarily productive relationship” that has “been nothing
but good for our students.”
           But community leaders still cite
challenges to convincing the entire university community not to fear its
neighbors to the west.
           Dana Miller, chairperson of the
Sector 4 Community Development Corporation and a 19th Ward resident, has
positive things to say about the university’s relationship with the community.
But he mentions one problem: “One hand doesn’t necessarily know what the other
hand is doing,” he says. “Part of the organization is sending out notices
saying ‘Gee whiz, don’t go across the bridge’ and residence people are saying
‘Don’t rent in the 19th Ward.'” (Kraus says this is only a rumor the university
has been trying to shake.)
           The university and 19th Ward
community both say that the real turning point in their relationship will be
the Brooks Landing development, a plan by the city, the university, and several
neighborhood groups for a retail center at the intersection of Brooks Avenue
and Genesee Street. The development would bring office space, a hotel,
restaurants, shops — and, hopefully, students — to the area at the end of
the Genesee River Footbridge. On April 8, City Council voted to authorize funds
and approve the rezoning necessary for the project. Miller is hopeful that
construction will begin this summer.
The Bridge
meals were Norman Rockwellian studies in pleasantry. Students were plied with food.
They watched SpongeBob with host families’ children. They played card games. At
the Brunch there were pastries, juice, and jugglers.
           However, only 20 to 25 students
participated in the Bridge Dinners, and 30 or so students attended the Bridge
Brunch. Those numbers may not be enough for widespread change.
           “The Bridge Dinners don’t solve any
problems or change any perceptions,” says Adam McFadden, president of the 19th
Ward Community Association. “Most of the people who go… are already convinced.”
           UR student Seth Baum hopes that
students who attended the Bridge Dinners will tell other students on campus
that there is nothing to fear. “I’ve definitely had a number of conversations,”
he says. “But maybe I go out of my way more than other people.”
This article appears in Apr 16-22, 2003.
