SGA is increasing their efforts in the issue of a lack of lights on Harmony Road in Slippery Rock, with members going to township meetings to see the progress on the implementation of lights.
Logan Steigerwalt, SGA President, said that when SGA came back to school for the fall semester, members of the group went to the first township meeting where they were told that not a lot of progress had been made on the issue. Steigerwalt said that the township did say they would look into fronting the cost of the lights, which was something they did not want to do initially, but now they see a need for it.
“They said they were going to move forward with this and have them in by the end of the semester and have the complexes backpay what they [the township] put up,” Steigerwalt said.
He said that he will be attending the township’s meeting next week to see how much progress has been made.
SGA has plans to start a social media campaign about the issue. The group also plans to reach out to news organizations in the area and even Pittsburgh to get some coverage. Steigerwalt said one idea was to put a camera along the road on the weekends so people can see it in first person.
“If nothing else moves forward we will talk to our legal attorney,” Steigerwalt said. “We’re very serious about it.”
Steigerwalt said that the university has helped SGA by providing contact information but has been largely hands-off, saying there’s an awkward relationship because the township can’t tell the university what to do and the university can’t tell the township what to do.
“This is something we want to see down by the end of the semester because it’s dragged on for way too long than it should be,” Steigerwalt said.
He said that on the recent student life survey conducted by SGA, 92 percent of students said this is a somewhat to very important issue. Steigerwalt said SGA will use that data along with previous petitions to go to the township and show the amount of student concern.
An anonymous concerned parent of an SRU student emailed members of the administration and The Rocket in September about the issue, urging that the county and the township find a way to work with the complexes to install sidewalks and streetlights so students are visible and do not have to walk on the road.
“Please do this as a proactive measure, do this before one of these young students is hit and killed by a vehicle,” the concerned parent said.
The parent sent another email in October, saying that they received two responses that said the issue was that someone else needs to something. The parent urged SRU administration, SGA, local government and the student apartment complexes to work together.
