When it was announced that Nance the Chance had a plan to make it easier for Syracuse University students to make their way to the downtown area there was reason for hope.

Would it be a monorail? A really long airport style people mover? A permanently heated pool filled with dolphins to taxi students back and forth?

The administration’s dream that students will actually walk to Irving Avenue, get on a pedestrian path and walk downtown is nearly as irrational as the ideas above. The project includes $3.5 million in federal funding and a $1 million donation from Niagara Mohawk. A design competition will be held to determine what the project will look like in its final form.

The proposal does also include a shuttle service, something that was tried two years ago by the Student Association on certain weekends, between SU and several points downtown. Ideas such as this, which students would use, are what money should be dedicated to. Shuttles and transportation are much more feasible in the Syracuse climate. I would like to invite some administrators who devised the plan to take a 3 mile walk with me on the next brisk day – and then we can talk.

While connecting SU to downtown, and making it easier to get there are noble pursuits, the path is the wrong way to do it.

The proposed route is by no means the fastest. It would require students to walk past Syracuse Stage and then head downtown. Students coming from campus would actually walk past the fastest route on their way to the proposed one.

Charles Merrihew, assistant vice president for leadership gifts and chancellor’s initiatives, said the route has not been finalized but was chosen so those using it would not have to worry about crossing Harrison Street at the I-81 overpass. This is a legitimate concern but, for a project with $4.5 million in funding already, it would seem working out the traffic issues on Harrison wouldn’t be a deal breaker.

And while we are on the topic of safety, let’s look at what it will take to monitor a 3 mile long walkway.

Merrihew said it would likely be a joint project for the Syracuse Police Department and the Department of Public Safety. Public Safety Chief Marlene Hall agreed and added it would likely be a similar to security on other properties in the city SU has acquired that Public Safety helps monitor.

The project is ambitious and has a noble aim but needs revisions. Or, for $4.5 million, at least we could get some dolphins.

RYAN GAINOR IS A JUNIOR PHILOSOPHY AND NEWSPAPER MAJOR. E-MAIL HIM AT RMGAINOR@SYR.EDU.

Published on March 23, 2005 at 12:00 pm