Channel 12 has this story on “Why Mercyhurst Helps Erie” by giving the city money in lieu of taxes.  As a non-profit, the school is not required to pay taxes, but they have given the city $500,000 over three years.  Gannon hasn’t given anything, and seems like it is being attacked for not doing so, and Mercyhurst people are patting themselves on the back:

Dr. Thomas Gamble, President of Mercyhurst College, says although the college is not obligated to pay, they believe they’re being good neighbors.

“We have this symbiotic relationship with the city. Clearly we use police and fire, the sewers, everything. And so we do have a symbiotic relationship. When the city does well, Mercyhurst does better. When Mercyhurst does well, the city does better. And because of that relationship, that mutuality of that relationship, we thought that it was a good thing to do.”

Yip, yip-yahoo.

The fact of the matter is, at almost $12,ooo a semester per student, Mercyhurst is making money hand-over fist.  So what do they do?  Stop having the 4th of July Celebration, and give the City that$500,000.  In reality, it is only about $167,000 each year.  As often as the fire department runs alarms up there, or drunken students tear up the local neighborhood - this isn’t nearly enough money to cover the usage of city services.

Then, since they don’t have enough on-campus student housing, “property investors” buy houses in the local neighborhood and rent them to the students, who are more than willing to get drunk and literally run rampant.  Try driving down East 38th Street on a Friday or Saturday night from around 11 pm to 2 or 3 in the morning and you will see what I’m talking about.

On top of that, the City is not even listening to the concerns of the citizens already living in these neighborhoods.  As far as the City is concerned, the problems that Mercyhurst students cause are easily ignored because the college gives them a measily $167,000 a year.  And Mercyhurst could really care less as well, they can easily say that anything that happens off-campus is not their problem.  And this is the truth, as far as it goes.

But if they really wanted to “be a good neighbor”, maybe they need to start listening to their neighbors.