Does anyone out there ever get the feeling that the fair Triple Cities in which we live tend to treat us a bit like second-class citizens — or maybe even like that weird uncle who comes to visit unannounced and stays well beyond his welcome?

Strange relative references aside, it’s an issue BU students tend to face on a regular basis for better or worse — from the community, local law enforcement and, in many cases, their landlords.

The residents of Vestal’s University Plaza seem to be feeling like second-class citizens these days: right or wrong, they’re convinced that parking in their community is more easily said than done, and they’re unhappy about it.

Likewise, many student residents of Binghamton’s West Side are often left high and dry by their landlords, either gambling with their lives in firetraps, or — in the case of our embattled sports editor — sleeping on a mattress on the floor of a house that’s been robbed twice in a two-week period.

So what’s to be done?

Well, the UP residents started out on the right track — they formed a petition to Newman Development, the company that owns University Plaza, aimed at formally stating their complaints and displaying their solidarity.

Unfortunately, the petition seems to have largely degenerated into little more than lame whining and empty threats made against Marc A. Newman. But the initial spirit was a step in the right direction, and a step all off-campus residents should consider taking.

Tenants of the area … unite! (Please read preceding cheesy battle cry in a Russian accent … think V.I. Lenin).

As a transient group in the Triple Cities (not to mention a group with few residential options if we want to continue our BU education without the watchful eye of Res Life upon us), we’re often at the whim of landlords and city officials who realize the ease with which our needs can be marginalized. We imagine that students are usually the last group of citizens to be considered when Binghamton city decisions are made, and our landlords realize that regardless of the level of service we’re provided with, we usually have few options but to accept it (usually complaining, but accepting it none the less). That same unfortunate sports editor spent an entire weekend without power to parts of his house, including the laundry room.

We won’t reveal which landlord is responsible for the moldy, raunchy mess that certainly resulted, but if you’re curious, you can ask the sports desk yourself. But if tenants organized, that kind of information could go beyond word-of-mouth and be put to good use applying pressure where it’s necessary. The one thing we, as citizens of this city, can do (and should do) is take a lesson from history and realize that strength is in numbers.

As individuals, or even small groups, we aren’t much to be considered against the landlord associations and local governments — which is exactly why we should start forming tenant unions of our own and give ourselves a voice equal to that of our local counterparts.

Of course, there are institutions that already exist — in name, at least — to deal with these sorts of issues. Sure, the Off Campus College office has a list of available landlords, but it seems mainly interested in arranging area internships for BU students. And we’re not even really sure what the Off Campus College Community does, but many of us here at Pipe Dream live off campus and have no idea. (And we’re involved.)

So students of BU, if there’s something you don’t like about your residential situation — whether it’s a lack of parking or the failure of your landlord to provide the snow removal promised in your lease — odds are you’re not the only one facing the problem.

It’s time we all joined together and found out just how much we could accomplish as a united front, not just the easy targets landlords can abuse and the city council can ignore.