Buffalo Common Council Passes Resolution on 7/9/2013 !!! Urges ECC To Explore City Locations!

Call for Construction of ECC Health Sciences Facility at City Campus – 
The Council approved a resolution calling for the construction of Erie Community College’s proposed health sciences facility at the City Campus and calling on Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz and ECC’s Board of Trustees to give strong consideration to locating the facility at 100 N. Division Street. Doing so will both maximize returns on investment to county taxpayers who paid for the site and take advantage of the most obvious expansion opportunity adjacent to the City Campus.

Whereas: County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz has endorsed a $30 million proposal to expand Erie Community College (ECC)’s North Campus in Amherst;

Whereas: In spite of the fact that 47% of ECC students live in the City of Buffalo, the City Campus is still the smallest of ECC’s three-campus system and, due to its limited programs, serves only 25% of ECC's students;

Whereas: ECC’s expansion is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to shift ECC’s health sciences programs to the City Campus, steps away from the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus;

Whereas: Such a shift which would allow Erie Community College to leverage SUNY’s investments in a new Medical School, boost the region’s fastest growing job sector, and better advance the college’s mission of “providing access to all”;

Whereas: The American Association of Community Colleges reports that more than 50% of health sciences workers in the United States are trained at community colleges, yet ECC is not yet playing any direct role in the development of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus;

Sarah and Bernice Talk To Allentown Residents About ECC.

Whereas: The majority of programs slated for ECC’s proposed expansion are in health-related fields that belong near the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, where access to jobs, internships, and public transit are abundant, not eight miles away on Youngs Rd.;

Whereas: The ECC Program Needs Analysis and Space Utilization Assessment (2013), recently released by the Poloncarz administration, incorrectly states that land acquisition would be necessary for expansion of the City Campus;

Whereas: 100 N. Division St., a 1.3-acre, 178-space surface parking lot, was purchased in 2002 by Erie County for $3.1 million to facilitate City Campus expansion, and is perfectly suited for ECC’s proposed health sciences facility;

Whereas: A crisis in Buffalo’s public school student achievement, as well as the disproportionate poverty and unemployment of youth in Buffalo compared to the region as a whole, highlight more than ever the need for the State of New York, Erie County, and the State University of New York’s community college system to focus resources and attention where the need is greatest;

Therefore, Be It Resolved: That the Common Council calls for the construction of ECC’s proposed health sciences facility at the City Campus.

Be It Further Resolved: That the Common Council calls on County Executive Poloncarz and ECC’s Board of Trustees to give strong consideration to locating such a facility at 100 N. Division St., to both maximize returns on investment to County taxpayers who paid for the site, and to take advantage of the most obvious expansion opportunity adjacent to the City Campus.

A 30 Minute Public Transit Ride Can Get You This Far.

Be It Further Resolved: That the Common Council invites the ECC Board of Trustees to consider other downtown sites, such as the City-owned parcel at 201 Ellicott St., for the kind of expansion that will ensure the City Campus becomes the flagship, rather than the smallest, of ECC’s three campuses.

Be It Further Resolved: That the Common Council calls upon Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the Western New York delegation of the New York State Senate and Assembly to shift the State’s $15 million share for ECC’s expansion to the City Campus, where both the need and the return on investment are greatest.

Be It Further Resolved: That the Common Council requests this resolution be forwarded to Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, every member of the New York State Senate and Assembly, Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz, every member of the Erie County Legislature, ECC President Jack Quinn, and the ECC Board of Trustees.