College Town Action Plan won’t bring more crime, police say
Wednesday, March 2, 2011 at 5:21PM By Jonathan McFadden
mcfaddenj@mytjnow.com
A more collegiate Rock Hill won’t bring any increases in crime, Winthrop Campus Police say.
As part of the College Town Action Plan, businesses and committee leaders are working together to implement action that would transform Rock Hill into a more urbanized core of retail, business and college culture.
The plan includes providing linkage from Winthrop to downtown by transforming the Bleachery site into a green corridor of retail and restaurants, redeveloping Cherry Road and putting in bike lanes and bike paths around the city.
As the campus and the area around it continue to grow, Campus Police will be just as committed to ensuring safety on and around campus, said Frank Zebedis, chief of Campus Police.
The cooperative partnership between Campus Police and the Rock Hill Police Department will only continue to grow in light of the College Town Action Plan, Zebedis said.
Safety has been a priority of the College Town Action Plan, but most of it has boiled down to concerns about students safely crossing roads and lighting in downtown Rock Hill, said Frank Keel, development manager for Old Town Rock Hill.
There were also safety concerns about the Bleachery site, which was recently demolished and lies behind campus, Keel said.
Improved lighting on White Street and around the Bleachery once it’s completely demolished has been discussed, Keel said.
“Now that the Bleachery is coming down and the city is looking at what we can do with that property, I’m sure lighting will be improved,” Keel said.
But any talks of working with the Rock Hill Police Department and campus police haven’t been given a lot of attention, Keel said. Instead, the city is more concerned about calming traffic on Cherry Road to make it safer for students to cross to McDonald’s and Groucho’s Deli.
