Slippery Rock Borough Council convened Tuesday at 7 p.m. for regular business, discussing speed mitigation efforts and fall leaf pickup, among other items.
Ongoing speed mitigation efforts
No additional motions were made towards speed mitigation and enforcement efforts, but conversation was sparked regarding the spike in traffic related citations following the start of the SRU Fall 2024 semester. Previous reporting from The Rocket details the changes made to speed limits on borough roads, such as limiting speed limits to 25 mph with the exception of Boller Drive at 15 mph.
Mayor Longo said traffic citations were “considerably more than [the borough] is used to seeing” at 19 citations in the Slippery Rock Police Department’s report.
“Hopefully this is a call to some folks to pay attention when they are moving through these school districts and paying attention to our youth who live here,” Longo said, referring to an incident he witnessed of a vehicle pulled over in a school zone.
“I am proud of that,” Longo said, referring to the enforcement of speeding. He noted he was not enthralled to see people getting in trouble, but rather by the idea of examples being set to show the speed is being enforced.
“I think they’re doing a great job,” he added.
Mitigation efforts were emphasized by the borough last year following an incident involving a university student’s vehicle striking an adolescent attempting to board a bus.
Upcoming events
The next three weeks will feature back-to-back events over the weekends.
Kicking off the series of events, Slippery Rock’s 2024 VillageFest is on September 28, starting at 9:55 a.m. with the opening ceremony. The event will bring vendors and performers together until 10:30 p.m. Events include over a dozen kid focused events such as “Jumbo Crazy Ball,” a Lego slide and obstacle course, and face painting. Around 10 games and contests featured for adults and kids alike such as a donut eating contest, hula hoop contest and a cook-off with prizes up to $250. Live performances include Seth Verba Band, Treebeard Brown, Kleemann Bros. Band and Hot Rod Willie.
Following Village Fest, Slippery Rock’s fifth annual Oktoberfest takes place on October 5.
For the final weekend, Slippery Rock University’s homecoming will take place on October 11 and 12. The parade begins at 10 a.m. at the intersection of Main Street and 108, following Main Street to Morrow Way and ending at Campus Drive.
Fall leaf pickup
Fall leak pickup will last from the first week of November until the third week. Service will rotate through different areas of the borough on a three-day rotation schedule.