The YDN reports on yesterday's Fair Share Coalition postcard action:

In five hours yesterday on Cross Campus, the coalition gathered around 500 postcards -- two each from 250 Yale students -- in support of further negotiations between the University and the city government. Formed in the spring of this year, the coalition is a joint effort of 16 Yale student groups to convince the University to pay taxes the coalition believes Yale owes to the community of New Haven. The postcards contained a three-point message, asking the University to make up for revenue lost due to Yale's tax-exempt status, to annually contribute an amount of money tied to Yale's growth, and to ensure the contribution is accompanied by a commitment to benefit the New Haven community. At the end of the day, the postcards were delivered to Yale Vice President for New Haven and State Affairs Bruce Alexander and the office of New Haven Mayor John DeStefano Jr. Although DeStefano was not present at the time of delivery, Alexander was and met with representatives of the coalition. Phoebe Rounds '07, a member of the group, said Alexander expressed interest in meeting with students to discuss their respective views for the future of the Yale-New Haven relationship. "We're all coming together to have this meeting about our collective concerns," Rounds said. "I think we all look at this as a really exciting opportunity to pursue partnership between the University and the city."...Joshua Eidelson '06, a member of the coalition, said although the University makes some payments in lieu of taxes to the city as well as taxes on its for-profit property, he feels that the University is still not fulfilling its responsibility to the community. "Since 1990, Yale has tripled in growth. The city, unfortunately, has not," he said. "At a time when property taxes have gone up and everybody else is shouldering the burden, we think that Yale should step up to the plate."