Chances are you regularly travel on Providence Road, which serves as the western border of campus. Obviously, you’re not alone — it’s a main artery of the city, and it can be a nightmare, particularly just north of Stadium Road during rush hour. Traffic jams occur, confused drivers attempt ill-advised lane changes and pedestrians recklessly cross the road without any crosswalk or traffic signal. And on football Saturdays? Forget it.
For nearly a decade, City Council has considered fixes to relieve congestion and make the road safer. Last November, they finally approved Phase I of the “Providence Road Improvement Project,” which sounds positive but actually involves seizing eight homes via eminent domain and demolishing them to make way for a new residential road. The plan will also eliminate up to 150 parking spots near the Delta Gamma sorority house in Greektown.
The kicker? Delta Gamma was not considered a “stakeholder” and therefore was not notified of the plan — and the Columbia residents _whose houses will be demolished_ only found out about the plan after the decision was already made. In addition, some City Council members said they felt rushed by the vote on the plan, which would cost almost $7 million, and had been unaware other options to fix Providence existed. This demonstrated a bizarre, unacceptable lack of communication or cohesion, as well as blatant disregard for who truly is a “stakeholder.” That term, as well as the term “interested party,” is in fact very poorly defined by the city, both in ordinance and in precedent; that is to say, city officials are terrible at determining who is truly impacted by their decisions. A council only spurred by controversy, only governing by crisis, is a terribly unfair system.
But there’s good news: the council (now with three new members who weren’t part of the November vote) listened to complaints and protest, and it seems they will vote to rescind Phase I on Monday. What the eventual outcome of the Providence Road debacle will be remains to be determined — the City may just settle for a right-turn lane at Brandon Road. But it’s a good first step — the Council acknowledged making mistakes and showed willingness to follow through with solutions, thinking beyond the immediate stakeholders to come up with a plan that genuinely benefits Columbia as a whole.
That’s where we, the students, come in. Our presence in City Hall, especially following the re-election of Mayor Bob McDavid over challenger Sid Sullivan, is embarrassingly low. By and large, we’re comfortable with the idea that the city is “them” and the campus is “us” and that’s all good. It’s not. Much of what City Council does, plans to do and has the potential to do affects us, whether directly or indirectly. _We_ are the stakeholders, and what we can do with our stakes is critical and immediate — after all, it’s much easier to make a difference with City Council than with any higher level of government. How many students, for example, complain about Columbia Transit each day? How many of those same students even consider standing up to demand improvements? It’s possible and it’s impactful, yet for some reason, so many of us are content complaining to each other without making the ten-minute walk to City Hall and talking with those who have the power and the willingness to fix it.
The simple truth is that for City Council to listen, we must speak — even though we may only be here for four or five years, we deserve a city that works for our benefit, and we must have city officials hear us. The council, we’re sure, is working to ensure what happened with this Providence Road fiasco never happens again. We at this publication will continue to ensure you hear about what they’re doing and how it affects you. But it’s up to all of us — the student body of this university — to take meaningful action and ensure we have a presence in City Hall on the myriad of problems that affect students. We are the stakeholders. It’s time we acted like it.
