Elon aldermen at standstill over library

The Elon Board of Aldermen could make a decision Tuesday night about whether or not to move forward with the Elon Public Library Project.

In its first meeting of the year, the board was still at a standstill Monday on the issue.

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Elon Board gets a look at library plans

The Elon Board of Aldermen swore in its recently elected officials Monday and got a look at the designs for the new Elon public library.

“Our committee is very excited, and we are committed to the plans you will see tonight,” said Beth Schmidt, the Library Building Committee chairwoman and former Elon mayor.

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Schematic designs of the interior of the library. Courtesy of Jenkins Peer Architects and HMA2 Architects

Elon board awards improvement project bids

The Elon Board of Aldermen unanimously awarded contracts Nov. 10 for two improvement projects — the Oak Street Sidewalk Improvement Project and the project to install water pipes along University Drive.

The Oak Street Sidewalk Project will develop sidewalks “from Trollinger to Truitt on Oak Street, and that would tie back in when we do Trollinger later,” Town Manager Mike Dula said. The project will be funded with stimulus money, with the contract awarded to S.T. Wooten Corporation of Wilson for $61,543.50.

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Elon Aldermen discuss sidewalk projects

Darrell Gauthier complained to the Elon Board of Aldermen on Monday about the lack of sidewalk along East Haggard Avenue.

Gauthier, a local developer and town resident, expressed concern about the safety of pedestrians along the road, where sidewalk is scarcely found east of the entrance of Danieley Center at Lawrence Street.

Gauthier proposed to install sidewalks along the north side of East Haggard, running from the entrance of Danieley Center until Phoenix Arms apartment complex, across from where Gilliam Road meets East Haggard.

“This is a part of Elon’s sidewalk goals,” Gauthier said. “This represents one of the four areas of priority,” he added, speaking about the town’s sidewalk projects in its Elon Bicycle, Pedestrian and Lighting Plan.

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Building a safer Elon

A column printed in opinions section of The Pendulum on Nov. 4, 2009.

Here at Elon, hundreds of students live off campus. Out of those students, a large number reside in the area east of main campus in houses and apartment complexes such as The Crest, Provence, Partner’s Place and Phoenix Arms, to name a few.

For those students who cannot drive to class or don’t have the time, patience or faith to rely on Elon’s BioBus service, they have to bike or walk to class. This leads to an even larger problem: the lack of sidewalks on East Haggard Avenue.

The students who walk or bike to campus often have to make their way along the side of the road, putting themselves in danger of being sideswiped by unaware drivers.

It would also be ignorant to ignore the extensive increase in foot traffic this stretch of road sees on Friday and Saturday nights.

Anybody who has ever traveled along East Haggard after 10 p.m. on these days, whether on foot or in a car, would be witness to the packs of students making their way to and from the various parties scattered in houses and apartments along the road.

At this time of night, and especially on the weekends, the danger of a pedestrian being struck by passing vehicles is drastically increased.

Students walking in the road have no other option on East Haggard. There are no sidewalks, so they have to move in the road with cars passing them at 35-45 mph.

At Monday’s Town of Elon Board of Aldermen meeting, the board heard a proposal to finally construct a sidewalk along this stretch of E. Haggard.

Darrell Gauthier, a local developer and town resident, brought forth the proposal. Gauthier’s plan would construct sidewalks along the north side of East Haggard, starting at the entrance of Danieley Center and going along until it reaches Phoenix Arms apartments.

“This is part of Elon’s sidewalk goals,” Gauthier said. “This represents one of the four areas of priority,” he added, speaking about the town’s sidewalk projects in its Elon Bicycle, Pedestrian and Lighting Plan.

These kinds of projects are exactly what need to start coming forward if student safety is going to be seriously addressed. For many Elon students, a major part of college life is the experience of going to off-campus house parties. And many times these parties, shockingly enough, include drinking.

No number of PSAs or campaigns, like Blackout Elon, will eliminate student drinking. It is something that is engrained in the culture of college students. While promoting safe drinking is important, solely banking on smarter student choices would be a folly.

There needs to be smarter approaches to students’ weekend safety. It has already been addressed multiple times, but the idea for late-night BioBus service to the apartments east of campus is one that would be well-received by students.

Already the official Facebook group supporting the idea has more than 1,000 members. A service that operates only during the day, the BioBuses traffic off-campus students to campus and back.

During the day, though, the buses are mostly empty. Last year, only 300 students rode the buses during the day. East Haggard probably has 300 students walking along it at night, just during one weekend.

Regardless of whether a nighttime BioBus program comes to fruition or not, the need for sidewalks along East Haggard is undeniable. When student safety is the goal, sidewalks are a necessary requirement, and it’s shameful it has taken this long for a proposal to come along.