It isn’t exactly news that the Union College and Schenectady communities are not very closely linked. Schenectady is a great city, but the area immediately surrounding the College is sort of rough – I would say that Schenectady is on its way up, but Union College is pretty isolated in many aspects from its immediate surroundings.

This is pretty unfortunate, because there are a lot of great places really close to Union that are popular among the students.

Fortunately, Union College is in a unique position to bridge this gap, especially with President Harris at the helm.

I heard from a friend that he has expressed interest in trying to link together the Schenectady and Union College communities and I think a great way to do this would be by offering students the option to use declining balance at surrounding restaurants.

It’s an idea that I got when I visited a friend at SUNY Oneonta. The city and the school are very closely linked, because you can use your “Dragon Dollars,” as Oneonta calls their declining, to buy food from local pizza places and other restaurants.

There is an abundance of great and cheap restaurants around Schenectady – some just a short walk from campus.

Take for instance Peter Pause. It’s located off Nott Street, right next to the dry cleaning place, across from the Fero House and Nott Street parking lot behind Richmond.

It’s a breakfast place that opens at 7:00 a.m. and closes around 1:00 p.m. or 2:00 p.m. depending on the day. They sell pancakes, omelets, corned beef hash and plenty other classic breakfast foods.

Just a few doors down on that street is Luca’s Grill, a bar and grill that sells burgers, wings and other pub fare. Converse to Peter Pause, they open around 11:00 a.m. everyday and close around 10:00 p.m. or 11:00 p.m., depending on the day.

To walk to Peter Pause or Luca’s from the Nott Memorial would actually be quicker than to walk to CPH, to give you an idea of just how close they are to campus.

If you’re looking for lunch, Newest Lunch (which I think is the best lunch joint in Schenectady) and Mike’s Hot Dogs are little restaurants that serve good, cheap, hots dogs and hamburgers.

Mike’s is just a short walk away from CPH, going under the bridge and walking down Erie Boulevard, while Newest Lunch is a short drive (or a maybe 10-15 minute walk) down Nott Terrace and just around the corner on Albany Street. Jay Street and State Street also offer a wide range of eating places, from Bomber’s Burrito Bar to Ambition Coffee and Eatery.

Many of these places enjoy and take pride in Union College – you can see Union College sports jerseys in many of the restaurants that I mentioned, as well as dishes served named after the Dutchmen.

Allowing Union students to use declining balance at these restaurants would not only link our communities together, but would help these restaurants out financially and give students more variety in the food we have access to.

I think if we want to link our communities together, this is the first step we should take. To further the link between the Union and Schenectady communities, Union College could offer more shuttle services to places near and far.

The further shuttle service, which is pretty popular, is the Crossgates Mall service, but there is also a Walmart Shuttle and over the summer they offered shuttle services to local stores that sell imported local goods.

I think a Jay Street Shuttle would be wildly popular if implemented, and would serve only to strengthen the bond between Schenectady and Union College.