October Issue Available on Campus

Click to Download: October 2009

September Issue on Campus Today!

Click September 2009 for the online version.

Interested in Getting Involved?

Binghamton Review is Binghamton University’s only conservative student newspaper and its oldest conservative activist organization.

We’re always looking for new writers, members, and fans! Check back soon for more information about our Fall Semester general interest meetings, but in the meantime, check out our print archives, look for us on facebook (here and here), or email adam.shamah@binghamtonreview.com for more information about getting involved.

See you in the fall!

May Issue Available Now!!!

Click to Download May 2009

HOUSING COMMISSION REPORT RELEASED

The City of Binghamton’s Commission on Housing and Home Ownership has released its final reccomendations. Binghamton Review covered this commission’s work extensively in our October issue. The Commission’s report and executive summary can be found here. I’ve begun reading through it, and it looks like many of its recommendations are student-friendly.

Unfortunately, the commission has recommended that a presumptive limit of three unrelated renters should be set in the R-1 (low, density) district.

There should be a ―rebuttable presumption‖ that landlords can lease rental units in the R-1 (low-density, single-family residential) residential district to no more than three unrelated renters. More than three unrelated renters would be allowed in a rental unit, if (i) the landlord demonstrates that the renters sufficiently display functional family characteristics, or (ii) the larger number of renters was previously allowed under prior zoning (and is, therefore, ―grandfathered‖ as a legal ―non-conforming‖ use), or (iii) the landlord obtains an appropriate ―use variance‖ from the Zoning Board of Appeals, or (iv) for a superseding overlay district of the sort proposed in Appendix F, the property is in the overlay district.

The commission, however, has also recommended that there be no presumptive limit set in the R2 and R3 districts. Occupancy limits there will be based off of square footage and NYS Code, not off of biological relation or functional family equivalence:

Students (and other unrelated tenants) who wish to live in groups larger than 3 who are unable to do so under tighter R-1 occupancy limits, should feel welcome in R-2 and R-3 neighborhoods where occupancy limits are more flexible. The Planning Commission should be given the authority to issue special use permits to rental units that exceed otherwise applicable occupancy limits, without regard to general Zoning Code definitions of ―family‖ or ―functional family equivalent.

The commission recommends that the complaint-driven enforcement process be continued in R2 and R3. It has also recommended the creation of a small “overlay district,” specifically for student housing, between Oak Street and Court Street. Much more on that later after I’ve had a chance to finish reading the report.

Check back constantly for updates and full analysis in this month’s print edition of Binghamton Review!

April Issue Available on Campus

April 2009

MARCH ISSUE OUT TODAY

March 2009

WHRW: Students’, Parents’ SSNs EXPOSED

WHRW News claims to have an exclusive story; Binghamton University has left unprotected hundreds of thousands of Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, passports, and paychecks containing information about all current students and parents/relatives for the LAST TEN YEARS!

The story will be featured on WHRW 90.5fm at 5:00pm, or can be listened to online at the same time.

Stay tuned for updates.

***UPDATE*** Full story posted at WHRW News.

BREAKING: SA Financial Council Cuts NYPIRG Budget to $200

In what is a huge victory for the conservative movement on campus, the SA financial council voted to cut NYPIRG’s budget to $200 at today’s budget meeting. Remember, NYPIRG’s budget sat at $120,000 just three years ago.

Updates as we get ‘em.

WSNA Boss: Zoning Protects Students???

WSNA Director Amy Shapiro penned this editorial last week in the Press and Sun Bulletin. In it she argues that the zoning laws that have been discussed are not anti-student. In fact, they are there to help protect students. Yeah, right.

Larger groups of four or more unrelated people would need to show that they meet the standard of the current law – that they have joined their lives with one another, for instance, by owning furniture, raising children, sharing car payments, holding joint bank account and vacationing together.

Landlords like owning property in low-density neighborhoods, and students like living there for the same reason the longtime family residents do – these neighborhoods are safe, quiet, pretty, stable and well maintained.

However, these very qualities are destroyed by landlords who illegally rent homes to large groups of unrelated people, especially if the homes and yards are not maintained with care. Some renters also throw large parties, play loud music, litter, and do other things inconsistent with the very way of life they have come to enjoy.

What she discusses in the first quoted paragraph, is what the Housing Commission members call “rebuttable presumption,” which is a proposed new method of enforcement. Under it, any group of 3 or more biologically unrelated people would automatically be assumed by the City as being in violation of the zoning laws. The eviction process could begin immediately, and it would be up to the renters–students–to prove that they are indeed the functional equivalent of a family. It totally strips us of our due process rights and throws the whole idea of “innocent until proven guilty,” out the window.