The Spectrum Volume 62 Issue 52

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the Independent Student Publication of the University at Buffalo, Since 1950

The S pectrum ubspectrum.com

Volume 62 No. 52

Friday, February 15, 2013

After surprise ending to 2012, baseball starts again

Dancing in support of vaginas

Story on page 10

Story on page 7

Fight for your right to party: Student sues City of Buffalo

SA Assembly grows to 42 members

SAM FERNANDO Asst. News Editor

First Assembly meeting of the semester has record turnout

I

n October, 19-year-old Colin Miller presented a petition with over 8,000 signatures to the Buffalo Common Council. The UB student was protesting the new commingling law, which prohibits anyone under 21 from frequenting bars in the Chippewa Entertainment District. The council threw it out. But Miller wasn’t done yet. His next move? A lawsuit. Miller, a freshman digital media studies major, is suing the City of Buffalo for the commingling law. He joins UB alumnus Adam March, owner of Bayou Party Bar and The Lodge, and Daniel Valentine, owner of Lux nightclub, who are the other two plaintiffs in the lawsuit. “My freedom to move as I like in a public establishment – not seeking the sale of alcohol – for a lawful purpose is being infringed upon,” Miller said. March said he was told the reasons for the ordinance were safety concerns – the underage patrons were creating higher amounts of criminal activity on Chippewa. He was also told the police couldn’t handle the large crowds on college nights (Thursdays), the only night students under 21 were allowed at bars. The college night exception ended on Oct. 2. “There is no policy [the city] can pass disallowing a particular age group that is going to curb violence altogether because violence is going to occur no matter what,” March said. Darius G. Pridgen, Ellicott District Common Council member, was not available for comment by the time of press. Pridgen told The Spectrum in October, when College Night ended, the bar owners on Chippewa never renewed the provision for college night by the Oct. 2 deadline. “I don’t have a [say] on it,” Pridgen said in October. “We would need to create new legislation to bring College Night back, and it would really depend on how long it takes people to talk and get on one page.”

LISA KHOURY Senior News Editor

Alexa Strudler /// The Spectrum

Colin Miller, a freshman digital media studies major, is one of three plaintiffs suing the City of Buffalo for the “commingling” law, which prohibits anyone under 21 from frequenting bars in the Chippewa Entertainment District (pictured in front of Lux nightclub).

March feels the city was just trying to assign blame to 18- to 20-year-olds. He disagrees with the law and said the commingling is not the cause of violence, and none of the violence has come from patrons in one of his or Valentine’s establishments. “[The commingling law] was a knee-jerk reaction to their perceived increase of violence,” March said. The Chippewa Entertainment District is safer if those under and over 21 are not congregated in one strip of bars in a small section of the city, Pridgen said in October. He told The Spectrum there were “homicides, stabbings and underage drinking” during College Night and it was a “mess.” The lawsuit states March and Valentine experienced “debilitating drops in gross revenue directly correlating with the restriction and will be prevented from properly conducting their businesses, which include entertainment to any individual that enters for lawful purposes.”

Since the ordinance was implemented, Valentine has lost $15,000 to $25,000 weekly, according to the lawsuit. March said his revenue loss has been similar. “When a municipality infringes on our fundamental rights, then they have to do it with proper reasoning and with the least restrictive means possible,” said Elizabeth Holmes, paralegal for the lawyer representing the three plaintiffs, Paul J. Cambria, of the Lipsitz Green Scime Cambria law firm. Critics of the lawsuit call it “ambiguous.” Holmes said the way the ordinance is written doesn’t allow businesses to know what the penalty is for breaking the law. She said the Buffalo Police Department has the authority to do what it sees fit as a punishment – possibly ticketing a business or even shutting it down for a few days. Miller, a Buffalo native, feels the lawsuit is a way for him to give back to the city he loves. He feels it is his duty to try to lift the ban, and he hopes other students will get involved, too. Continued on page 2

For a good time, take a Buffalo taxi SHARON KAHN Staff Writer

Courtesy of Darien Johnson

Students recall their positive experiences with Buffalo taxi drivers from throwing snowballs at drunk pedestrians to listening to “cab driver problems.”

Alex Van Horn’s view of taxi drivers changed forever one afternoon. During her freshman year, Van Horn called Buffalo Transportation to take her to the airport for Thanksgiving break. With all the stress of packing, checking in and catching her flight, Van Horn, now a sophomore communication major, left her laptop on the seat in the cab, only realizing once she passed through security. After frantically calling her cab driver, Van Horn was assured that Gary, her driver whom she had just met, would hold onto her computer until she returned from break. UB students are able to experience oneof-a-kind cab rides through Buffalo Transportation. While many believe the drive within a cab is just a mere means of transportation, some students feel it is much more than that. “I didn’t expect a complete stranger to be so caring,” Van Horn said. “When I returned from break, he picked me up from the airport with my laptop waiting in the car.” Igor Muchnik, who goes by ‘Gary’ to his customers, held on to Van Horn’s computer

Inside

Opinion 3

over break, eager to return it to his new customer. Van Horn and her friends continue to go to Gary whenever they need a cab. “To me, customers are the same [whether that be] students or anybody else – as long as they are nice and respectable,” Gary said. Van Horn isn’t the only student at UB who puts great trust in cab drivers. Ethan Mirenberg, a sophomore accounting major, believes the cab drivers in Buffalo are incomparable to drivers anywhere else. When he called Jamal, his favorite cab driver, he knew he was in for an interesting experience. Drunken people were roaming around the streets and refusing to move out of the way, Mirenberg said. Jamal honked the horn, but no one moved out of the way. “After finally making it around the pedestrians, we could tell Jamal was pissed,” Mirenberg said. “I’m sure he had a long night dealing with stupid drunk kids, and the addition of the snowstorm definitely didn’t help. Jamal stopped the cab, we got out, made some snowballs, hopped back into the cab and launched snowballs at the drunk people through the open cab door as we drove past them.” Continued on page 2

News 4

This semester, there are 42 members of the Student Association Assembly – 30 more than last semester. “I’m shocked, in a good way,” Assembly Speaker Steven Jackson said after the Assembly’s first meeting of the semester on Wednesday. “I think a lot of it had to do with media and marketing, and SA really stepped up over the break and delivered some awesome posters, awesome flyers, definitely got the word out a lot better than I could’ve imagined.” There were 12 active members of Assembly at the end of the fall semester. Wednesday’s meeting was buzzing with member participation. The diverse group of students, many new to Assembly, were raising their hands in response to Jackson’s main question of the night: “What do you want to see done at UB?” Members brought up broad topics that involve working with administration and students to bring change to campus, but focused their attention on these few: revisiting the UB Breathe Free policy, engaging international students in SA and informing the general student population about what SA does. Jackson announced at the meeting he will not run for re-election after this semester and will leave the student government as a whole. The junior history and education major, who has been involved with student government since high school, is switching his major to computer science and wants to focus on his upcoming challenging curriculum. Jackson has been a member of the Assembly since his freshman year. He said the group’s biggest accomplishment in the past three years has been reducing student apathy. The 42 students who attended on Wednesday night, many of whom were active participants, are what make him feel like he’s leaving the Assembly having promoted change in the government body. Jackson said the most important matter brought up on Wednesday that he believes must be tackled is UB Breathe Free – a campus policy that prohibits smoking indoors and outdoors that he believes is habitually unenforced. “I’m not saying I disagree with it, and I’m not saying I agree with it,” Jackson said. “It’s one of those things that is great on paper, but there’s really no way of implementing it. And so I think it’s important to revisit the policy and see how we can tweak so it has the interests of students better in mind.” Jackson’s main goal for his last semester as speaker is to see “independence for the Assembly.” “I’m hoping what comes out of this Assembly is people who are confident to go up to administrators and ask them questions, and I’m hoping the administration is going to be receptive of that,” he said. The group of 42 seemed passionate and optimistic to begin the semester as active Assembly members, but only time will tell if they will put their enthusiasm into action. The next meeting will be on Feb. 27. Jackson plans to ask SA Treasurer Justin Neuwirt to attend and discuss safety on South Campus – a goal Neuwirt has been pursuing through community engagement and consulting administration during his tenure. Email: news@ubspectrum.com

Life, Arts & Entertainment 6,7

Classifieds & Daily Delights 9

baseball preview 10


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The Spectrum Volume 62 Issue 52 by The Spectrum Student Periodical - Issuu