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Student Association has scheduled a virtual meeting with Mayor Ben Walsh next week to discuss replacing a traffic light at the intersection of Waverly and Comstock avenues with a four-way stop.

The meeting will include SA President Justine Hastings, Pat Penfield, the undergraduate representative of SU’s Board of Trustees and Hannah Cotel-Altman, co-chair of SA’s Public Relations Committee. It will take place on Nov. 2.

Trevor Pierce, an SU freshman, died on Oct. 13 after colliding with an SU trolley at the intersection of Comstock and Waverly avenues while skateboarding. Cotel-Altman proposed replacing the traffic light at the intersection with a four-way stop at an assembly meeting on Oct. 19 in response to Pierce’s death. 

The trolley involved in the collision that killed Pierce had a green light at the time, according to the Syracuse Police Department.

Penfield said SA is hoping the meeting will allow them to begin working with the Syracuse Department of Public Works to discuss possible solutions to make the intersection safer.

“I don’t expect anything to happen overnight, but a step in the right direction is what I’m looking for,” Penfield said.

Other SA members have also raised concerns about other intersections near campus being dangerous pedestrians. Hastings said she will bring up these concerns at the meeting with Walsh.

SA hopes that Walsh will be open to changing the intersection to a four-way stop because of Pierce’s death, Penfield said.

“I am going into this meeting with an open mind,” Penfield said. “I’m not sure a four-way stop is best, but I want to hear the mayor’s opinion and get his support on getting the city of Syracuse DPW involved.”

Other business

• SA is scheduled to move its offices from the Women’s Building back to the Schine Student Center on Nov. 10, Hastings said. SA relocated to the Women’s Building in 2019 to allow for the university to renovate Schine.
• William Demarski, a resident adviser in Flint Hall, proposed that the Office of Student Living hand out battery-operated candles to students to place in their windows as a safe way to commemorate the four members of the SU community who have died in the past month, Hastings said.

Published on October 27, 2020 at 12:14 am

Contact Kailey: kmnorusi@syr.edu