Members of SGA plan to request the City of Webster Groves to build a cross walk in front of the East Academic Building.
Student Governance Association (SGA) President Michael Grosch, expressed his desire for the crosswalk after an accident in Spring 2013.
“It’s something that we need. A student was hit by a car last semester trying to cross from the parking garage to the EAB,” Grosch said. “It wasn’t fatal but it happened, and it could possibly happen to someone else.”
Grosch said the idea to build a crosswalk came toward the end of last year before the incident occurred. The crosswalk project began with the resolution process of the Community Engagement Committee (CEC).
Grosch, along with SGA Vice President Katie Maxwell and SGA Senator Jacob Walker make up the CEC. The CEC attend city council meetings.
Grosch said he wanted a way for students to vocalize their needs and concerns to the City Council.
SGA will not submit a proposal without the approval of Grosch, Maxwell and Walker. The CEC began attending city council meetings to see how the city addressed resolutions. Grosch and his constituents regularly went to city council meetings during the summer. They had the opportunity to meet with Mayor Gerry Welch to speak about the crosswalk.
At one of the summer city council meetings the CEC proposed the idea of building a crosswalk in front of the EAB. Grosch said they received a lot of positive feedback from councilmembers.
The substantial amount of support the CEC received prompted them to draft a crosswalk proposal. Grosch said a contributing factor for the delay is that this was the first time the CEC had made a proposal.
“We felt like this project was hard enough to do, yet easy enough to get done for our first project,” Grosch said.
The CEC asked the community neighbors to write letters supporting the crosswalk. The CEC has so far sent out three letters, and they have so far only received one in return.
The timing of the proposal also hindered the CEC. Webster Groves City Council meetings are held twice a month, the amount of proposals made it a challenge for everyone to voice their opinions. Grosch said he understood that the city was busy and waited for the best time to make their proposal.
“We (The CEC) didn’t want to just throw our proposal in and have it overlooked or ignored, ” Grosch said.
The CEC plans to present the final proposal at the Sept. 19 Council meeting. Grosch said the CEC hope to get the crosswalk approved at that time, Grosch said. When asked about funding for the crosswalk, he said he was advised that Webster University would do anything to protect its students. Grosch plans to use this philosophy as the foundation for the crosswalk funding.
Grosch said the crosswalk project has been a valuable experience for himself and everyone affiliated with the CEC.
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