September 18, 2007

Place: Bradford Area High School
Project: City of Bradford Master Plan
Client: City of Bradford
Time: 10:30 am-12:00 pm
MCF No.: 44506002

Attendees:
A group of 16 Bradford Area High School Students from all 4 classes
Simon Tripp, Impact Economics
Roberta Sarraf, Zoning Consultant
Albert Filoni, MacLachlan, Cornelius & Filoni, Inc.
Amy Maceyko, MacLachlan, Cornelius & Filoni, Inc.

Purpose: To discuss reactions of local students to the Bradford Area.

Items Discussed:

1. Mr. Filoni began by describing the master plan process and the experience of the planning team. As a group, the goal is to get input from many different parts of the Bradford population and try to make changes and improvements for everyone’s benefit. The interests and opinions of students are important since many young people don’t choose to stay in Bradford.
2. To understand the group, Mr. Filoni asked each student to introduce him or herself by stating their name, their class and where they live in the area. Some students were unsure about where the boundaries are and what municipality they live in. A few had a specific reason to know what township they live in, but all of them seemed to feel that they live in "Bradford" and the boundaries don’t seem to matter much to them. 7 students live in Bradford Township, 1 lives in Foster Township, 7 live in the City of Bradford and 1 lives is Lewis Run. 3 students were born somewhere else and the rest are originally from Bradford.
3. A few students walk to school, but most drive themselves or are driven. Quite a few of the students went to private K-5 or K-8 schools. There are about 1000 students at the high school. These students don’t know exactly why they were chosen for this focus group. They think it might be because they tend to speak up in class. One student is considering 2-year college and the rest plan to go to a 4-year college or university. A lot of local students end up going to UPB but only 2 are currently planning to go there. All of the students have computers. Most have desktop computers at home.
4. Students were asked about the best and worst things in Bradford. Responses varied, but this is a summary of what was heard.

1. Some said that Wal-Mart is one of the best things in Bradford, but other students hate it. Others said that Wal-Mart and Perkins are good places to go when one is bored.
2. The worst thing about Bradford is that there is nothing to do. The only options are to go shopping or to go to the woods to hang out.
3. East Main Street in East Bradford has nice parts mixed in with bad areas, just like downtown.
4. Drugs are a problem downtown and in the schools.
5. The nice houses are up the hill from the high school and down interstate parkway, further from the center of town.
6. Reasons to go downtown are to eat (they like the Mexican restaurant), to get manicures and to get groceries. The movies at the theater are either too late or not interesting to this crowd. They don’t think that the crowd at the theater is great either.
7. The ‘problem’ people (including kids) hang out at the parks. The skate park was nice, but now there is a drug issue there.
8. The students go to Olean for the mall, the movies, a dance club, taco bell and more nice restaurants. They also go to Erie, Jamestown and Buffalo for even better shopping than Olean.
9. They think a negative is that they see lots of people on welfare here. They don’t go to the grocery store on food stamp days.
10. There are too many dollar stores in Bradford.
11. They think that there are too many people that don't take care of the nice things that the town has. There is a population that doesn't teach their children to respect property and others. Spray paint, tobacco spit and broken items are all issues. There is some pride in the community, especially for the sports teams, but that is just a segment of the population.
12. They think that the University campus is the nicest part of Bradford. They use the trails and some have been in the dining facilities. They can’t use the fields, but have used the pool and exercise facilities. It would be nice if there were nice houses around it instead of public housing.
13. The downtown stores are full of old stuff, like the owner’s are all living in the past. And the proprietors are not friendly to young people either. "Older people expect all kids are going to do bad things."

5.  Other comments about issues and things to do in the Bradford area.

1. There are some students who go see shows at the University with family members since there are a variety of local groups that perform in Blaisdell.
2. Young people say that they don't want to come back but quite a few do to be near family. One student commented that he would come back if there were a good job opportunity here.
3. They think that the hospital here has a lack of equipment compared to Buffalo and Pittsburgh. It seems like all serious injuries get flown out of town and both the ER and doctor’s appointments involve a long wait.
4. They don’t think that parking is a problem downtown, although there isn’t enough parking at the YMCA. They go there to swim and exercise. It used to be a really popular place to hang out when they were middle school age, but now it is primarily for smaller kids and someone new took over.
5. Some churches have concerts with local bands, but not a lot of other activities that they are aware of. There are a lot of churches and they all have Sunday school. No one here belongs to any church youth groups, but they probably exist.
6. There is ice skating at Callahan Park in the winter.
7. At $20/person, bowling is too expensive for a Friday night and the roller skating rink was flooded and closed.
8. They go to the coffee shop, but you can only hang out upstairs if you buy something.
9. "Behind the 8’s" is a pool hall, but there is a drug issue there.
10. There are good hunting and recreational options in there area. About half of the students go to Holiday Valley to ski.
11. They look forward to Italian Festival, though they think it is more for the older crowd.
12. A big activity after school is going out to eat. Subway, Sports Café, the Chinese Restaurant and the Mexican restaurant are the most popular, but the Mexican is the only "good" food option.
13. Some of the students estimate that they spend $15-20 per day on food, coffee, etc.

6.  The planning team asked about what things the students would like to see in Bradford.

1. A dance club or a teen club would be nice. The school dances are very popular, but they always have to be at the school in the cafeteria.
2. A few students mentioned that they like Warren, PA. It has a mall (indoor mall, food court, popular stores, etc)
3. Several others mentioned downtown Ellicottville, NY. There are neat little shops, more festivals, clean streets, nice decorations, and it seems like there is always something to do.
4. They would also like to see more jobs available for kids. There aren’t a lot of choices other than McDonalds and food service. There are some jobs at the golf course and a few jobs available through vo-tech classes.

7.  The students had several comments about Bradford’s identity and the police.

1. The students see the police as being ineffective and unaware, although there was recently a big drug bust with the FBI and swat team.
2. There are no more beat cops downtown and it seems like the police are only interested in catching speeders and breaking up parties.
3. Stolen bikes, egged cars and mini-marts being robbed are all issues that they see in town.
4. Some students expressed that they feel safer on W. Washington Street than downtown.
5. Most of the students have friends who live in other towns and it seems to them that the smaller towns have people that care more because the towns are smaller. How do you get people to care more about what happens in town?
6. The students also think that there are fewer cliques in the smaller towns. They also think that other people make fun of Bradford. They think that it is called a "hick town" and that "everyone hates Bradford".
7. The students said that the sports teams are so good because there isn't enough else to do.

8.  When asked what they think of when they think of Bradford’s past, they respond with the following:

1. Oil
2. "Little Italy" and the mafia
3. Zippo
4. They have heard stories from families about how nice the town used to be
5. They think that things are run down that used to be nice, especially houses and buildings
6. Lots of big, nice houses have been turned into apartments
7. Mr. Filoni commented that he is surprised that some of these comments are as negative as the adults we’ve been talking to. A few students replied that they think it is kind of a knee jerk reaction to say negative things about Bradford.

9.  From the students point of view, the biggest job segments and employers:

1. Teaching, Nursing, Business, Contracting, small business
2. Zippo, Case, Dresser, ARG
3. For those on the nursing track in high school, they take more nursing classes each year and do clinicals in their senior year. There are also tracks in auto shop, construction (grounds and maintenance), tv production, journalism, and machine shop. There is lots of help available for choosing careers and finding tracks and it is nice that they don't have to go anywhere for vo-tech training.

10.  Mr. Tripp brought up the fact that the planning team is looking at economic strategies and realities during the planning process to try to ensure that we don’t suggest ideas with no basis in reality. In all likelihood, the local population isn’t really sufficient to support a large mall, and there definitely aren’t enough people to support a mall and an active downtown business district.

1. The students expressed that a nice downtown like Ellicottville, NY that is active year round would be something to aim for.
2. They also wouldn’t trade downtown for a mall, especially since there is a mall only an hour away.
3. In response, Mr. Filoni asked what one or two blocks in town would the students start with? They said that Main Street is most important. It is more than two blocks, but from Tops to Emery Towers is what they would call the primary area of focus.
4. It would be nice if Miss Maggies was downtown instead of being in East Bradford.
5. They think that The Mercantile is primarily for older customers.
6. They do shop online, and there are some things they would buy in person if they could. The students would prefer to buy clothes and shoes in person instead of online. They would love a bookstore like Borders. A place for bands (music/hang out space) would be nice. Small bands use church gyms now. They can get CDs and DVDs at Wal-Mart. The students view the bars as being run down and dirty. They are mostly where college students go.
7. The students all wish that the University and the town would interact more. They seem like separate entities.

11.  The planning team will come back in 4-6 months to show the students what has been done and to get some more feedback.

With no further items for discussion, the meeting was adjourned. The foregoing constitutes the major items expressed by the attendees. If there are any additions or corrections to these minutes, please notify the Architect.

Respectfully submitted,

MacLachlan, Cornelius & Filoni, Inc.

Amy P. Maceyko, AIA, LEED AP