2008 Woodie Awards
The Walkpath Question: Pleasant Stroll or Eerie Road?
Qazim Doda
Issue date: 3/15/05 Section: News
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Is the path safe for travel? Well, that just depends on who you talk to.
The Impact discovered that students and administration seem to find themselves on different sides of this issue. Some students said that walking path is a very dangerous road to travel on, and that they don't like to walk from the train station and back, listing several reasons such as bad lighting, steepness and slipperiness of a climb and the passage of animals across the path.
Administration officials at Mercy College said that the walking path enable the student to have a peaceful and pleasurable walk while feeling secure.
Nicole Johns, a journalism and media student at Mercy College, commutes from
Manhattan to Dobbs Ferry four days a week. She told The Impact that she enjoys the walk during the summer. But during the winter, when it is freezing and it is snowing, she feels that it is very dangerous. "In the evenings it is scary; the lighting isn't great on the path. One night a deer ran at me. Even though a deer is a lovely animal, I was still scared."
She added, "One day while it was raining, my sister Taren (also a Mercy student)
slipped and fell down on that walking path."
Johns thinks that there should be a shuttle from the train station and back. "It would me a great help for us if there could be a shuttle every hour. All danger would be avoided," she said.
Another Mercy student, Samantha Giampati, commutes from Queens to Dobbs Ferry and is also unhappy with the path. She says that when she registered for classes in Manhattan, they told her that the train station was on campus, but when she came to the Dobbs Ferry campus she realized that they told her on the Manhattan campus was not true.
"In my opinion, the walking path has to have more lighting," she said. "It is not considered safe for any student; it's steep and narrow. Two people can't walk next to each other."
She also agreed that a shuttle would be helpful to the students.
Mercy College's administration reacted differently from the students. Assistant to the college president, Irene Buckley, considers walking on the path as a pleasure.
"There are animals such as red foxes, deer and skunks, but we live in Westchester County. They are part of our community's life. These animals are not a danger for anybody.
She added that she uses the path when she has meetings on the Manhattan Campus and commutes via the train, and views the short walk as peaceful.
"If students are not happy with the walking path and they need a shuttle from the train station, then they should make a request at the Dean's office and security office," she said.
Mary Horgan, the director of public relations at Mercy College, stated that there are no problems with the walking path at all. "I used to live in the city, but the last 15 years I've lived here in Dobbs Ferry. In the city we use to have rats, and here we have skunks. There is nothing to be considered dangerous; it is a cultural shock," said Horgan.
Dean Augusto Hacthoun also defended the path. "For almost 30 years there has been a path linking the Dobbs Ferry campus and the Metro North train station at the Ardsley stop. Prior to that, students had to walk up to Broadway, which is Route 9, and then walk back down to the station."
He added, "Since my arrival to the campus, we have upgraded the path. The lights have been rewired, the path has been widened and repaved, railings were installed, and fences were installed to keep vehicles out."
Hacthoun considers himself a commuter like everyone else on campus, and that he always uses Metro North trains to come to campus, whether by day or night. He finds the walk "pleasant and safe".
"The path is patrolled on regular rounds by the security department. And I often see police patrol at the train station and on the Hudson Road," says Hacthoun.
Head of security Peter DeCaro seemed to agree with campus officials. "The perception of the path by students is that it is dangerous and desolate. But we have had no incidents or confrontations on the path during my three years of employment here. We haven't had any safety issues whatsoever."
A Reporter's Stroll: Listening to the various opinions that I encountered, I decided to take a walk down the path to see for myself.
I saw some lights on the walking path, but I didn't feel that they were bright enough for the evenings. I also felt that the narrow walking path could be dangerous when icy. Yet I was not attacked or confronted by any "wild" animals.
I took me about eight minutes to travel down the path and 14 minutes to get back to Main Hall. A call to the nearest taxi cab company informed me that a ride from Ardsley train station to the Dobbs Ferry Campus would cost $5.
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