Two days ago, the local newspaper ran this article.
A couple of the points on here were complete bull, so today, I sent in this letter to the editor:
I am writing in response to Mr. Ron Leix's June 7th article concerning the rejection of the proposal to close a portion of College Street. Without discussing the relative merits of the proposal, I would like to point out some half-truths used by both sides in this argument.
Mr. Tim Dixon, a resident on Summit Street was quoted saying that "there has never been a pedestrian crossing on College Street." I was not present at the meeting, and so have no idea if he was speaking seriously or if he was purposely exaggerating. However, I can attest that there are dozens of students from the various fraternity houses and off-campus houses (myself included) who cross College Street at least twice daily. There is a legitimate reason to be concerned for the safety of these students, because many of them do not go out of their way to cross at one of the ends where the traffic has a stop sign. Whether or not this is a legitimate reason for closing a street is up for debate, but to say that there is no pedestrian traffic on College Street is completely false.
This having been said, however, I also have issue with Hillsdale College's reasons for requesting the road closure. They claim to have the safety of the students as the first and foremost concern. But looking a little more closely, it seems to me that the most important thing to the college is the beautification if its campus. This is a noble goal, to be sure, but not one that should be pursued under the guise of student safety while hundreds of students cross West Street and Hillsdale Street every day without so much as a "Slow - Pedestrians" sign. Perhaps the college should look into these more pressing issues of student safety before it seeks a solution that happens to improve the aesthetic of the campus far more than it increases the safety of its students.
The residents need to realize that there is a legitimate safety issue, and the college needs to acknowledge its ulterior motive. Both sides have arguments that are compelling and worthy of consideration, but I would be much more sympathetic to both if they would be more careful with the truth.
Carl Lucas
Hillsdale College Student
3 comments:
Bravo. Although Dixon's statement could be read as there is not a pedestrian crosswalk, perhaps. Either way it is incoherent or factually innaccurate. I hope they publish your article. I'd check the copy sitting around at Oakley's, kill two birds with one stone.
The version I posted here is actually quoted incorrectly. The quote goes, "there has never been a pedestrian crossing College Street." I fixed it when I revised it and re-sent it to them. (They require letters to the editor to be under 350 words, this was 390 or so.)
I was told that Dr. Arnn tried to threaten the committee, saying, "There are plenty of cities that would love to have a college like Hillsdale College a part of their community." As if he would actually pick up the college and move it someplace else!
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