'Skateboards don't destroy concrete'

Manuel, 31, is a Daily regular, with the coffee-driven opinions to prove it. What he doesn't understand is how Yale helps town-gown relations by forcing the town away.

"Yale dicks around too many people, especially with real estate.... [Yale officials] make prices on rental spaces way too high for the average person to actually have their own downtown business," he says. "And then when a big-business chain comes along and says, `We're looking forward to opening up a business in the downown area,' [Yale] puts those people before anybody else who actually grew up here, lived here, worked here, and then wanted to start a small business."

Manuel feels that local favorites are not exempt from the University's "stay away" mentality. "Yale wants to get rid of the Daily--they've been trying to close it down for years. Hey, it's local kids, having local fun, without meat or animal by-products, without alcohol or drugs--that's unwholesome. Can you believe that?" (Daily owner Steve Shapiro says that Yale officials have been vocal in their support of the coffee shop, and that he and the University are in "ongoing negotiations" about its future.)

Business isn't the only city element that Manuel feels is forced away from the campus. "Yale cracks down on skateboarders too. I've gotten a ticket or two myself, just for coasting and gliding. They say it causes noise, but there's always noise in downtown New Haven. And skateboards don't destroy concrete, erosion does! If a Yale student is roller-blading, of course, [Yale doesn't] try to stop them."

Yale students are, of course, a favorite topic for many New Haven residents, and Manuel and his friend Jesse are no exceptions. "One time when I was at a frat party last year, this girl started talking and said I was dumber than her because she went to Yale," Jesse says. "But it turned out that I really beat her on the SATs."

Manuel thinks it takes Yale students time to integrate into city life. "As far as downtown New Haven goes, Yale students become more uncluttered in the mind [about it] as they progress in their years here," he says. "When you're a freshman or a sophomore you're more encloistered because [Yale] provides you with parties and dances and place to go on campus. Although even those opportunities seem pretty limited--this is one of the first campuses I've been to that doesn't have a student union large enough that even the public can go to it, and spend money at night. I'm surprised because the leading minds in architecture are supposed to be here."

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