The UB Environmental Network (EN) hosted a public forum for local candidates to discuss their environmental platforms Thursday night at the Allen Hall Theater on South Campus.
"The goal of something like this is to start a dialogue between politicians," said Jordan Gerow, president of the EN and senior economics and English major.
Gerow and other EN members attempted to contact all of the candidates within the immediate area surrounding UB in order to get a well-rounded political discussion on the environment.
Several prominent Democrats were in attendance, including State Senate Candidate Joe Mesi, 144th Assembly District Incumbent Sam Hoyt and 148th Assembly District Candidate Jerry Schad. Alice Kryzan, the Democratic candidate for the 26th Assembly District of New York, was scheduled to attend but was unable to due to campaign obligations in Rochester. Kryzan's husband, Robert Berger, a law professor at UB, eventually took the stage and spoke on his wife's behalf.
Gerow addressed the lack of Republican candidates at the event.
"We contacted both sides but we regret the republicans were not here to share the forum," he said.
The forum began with EN club officials delegating questions to the respective candidates. In general, the questions asked focused around environmental development in and around Buffalo and the utilization of alternative energy sources.
"The issue becomes, 'Can you get results?' " Schad said, in reference to environmental progress in the business sector of Western New York.
Both Mesi and Schad spoke against the expensive incentives the state government dishes out to businesses that give nothing back to the state.
"We give away millions of dollars every year to incentives, business incentives, that do not get results," Schad said. "You can spend more but you put that money in solar energy."
Mesi, limited on time due to another campaign event, answered as many questions as possible, both reiterating Scahd's opinion on incentives and talking about some of his own plans for UB.
The candidate elaborated on his plan to help start an environmental council at UB, made up of teachers, students and experts on environmental issues.
Hoyt boasted his near-100 percent pro-environmental voting record, talking about his support of Smart Growth, an organization determined to prevent, and correct, urban sprawl, which is an expansion of a city to its rural suburbs, forcing commuters to drive to their inner-city jobs. This sprawling of population pushes projects from the city out into the suburbs, hurting the environment and urban development.
Hoyt cited Buffalo as a premier example of urban sprawl, calling the construction of UB on the outskirts of the city of Buffalo, rather than within the city, one of the worst development plans in an area known for bad planning.
"We can extend the subway system to North Campus," Hoyt said.
Hoyt also reminded the audience of the existing infrastructure in Buffalo, a city that once housed nearly 600,000 people and now houses less than 300,000.
Schad addressed the lack of funding that the state congress sometimes plagues some environmental laws with and the need for a change to be made.
"Congress did, last year, pass the Green Jobs Act," Schad said. "Unfortunately, the way Congress works, they passed it, but there was no funding."
Berger, on behalf of Kryzan, made sure to mention, as did the other three candidates, the importance of investing in "green jobs" and environmentally-based businesses.
"It is possible to have small businesses to provide jobs and deal with important environmental issues," Berger said.
Following the line of questions from the EN panel, the audience asked several questions. One man asked the group of candidates how he would go about getting his business, a non-toxic house painting company, off of the ground.
Hoyt told the young man to "contact Alice [Kryzan]," proceeding to casually endorse the candidate and applaud her environmental policies. He then invited the man to his next "green economy get-together," scheduled to go off on Nov. 22.
"Overall, it's nice to see they have the environment in mind and they're to take an active approach to Buffalo and the surrounding areas," said Kyle Eudene, a junior civil engineering major.
Eudene was also happy to see the non-partisan policy discussion taking place.
"It was kind of nice that there was no back and forth. It was just a constructive conversation," Eudene said.
However, the lack of a Republican presence was disconcerting for some in attendance.
"It's disappointing that the Republican candidates didn't show up. Why wouldn't they want a representative?" said Ryan Schaub, a junior electrical engineering major. "...There's definitely [Republican] candidates that support it."
Although the talks were one-sided in terms of party politics, the issues being discussed were given full attention as the candidates never once got off the environmental topic.
Michael Mason, treasurer of the EN was pleased with both the turnout and the environmental activism displayed by the academic community.
"I think it's great that the students on campus are getting involved with politics, but more specifically with environmentalism because it's the issue of our generation," Mason said.
Additional reporting by Managing Editor Matthew Zajac.
