SG President talks beach shuttles, U.S. 1 overpass

As students enter the second semester of Pete Maki’s Student Government (SG) presidency, it is time to evaluate what campaign promises have been fulfilled and what is still to come.

At the top of his platform project list, Maki made it his goal to secure Hurry ‘Cane shuttles to the beach, wireless printing, extended library hours, free towel service at the Wellness Center and business cards through Toppel Career Center.

“We took [care of] most things we knew we could do to get started,” Maki said.

Along with SG Vice President Paula Georg, Treasurer Ciara Mohamed and other current SG officials, Maki has completed the several of his proposed projects including shuttles to Key Biscayne, free business cards for students, barbeque grills at Hecht and Stanford residential colleges and extended dining hall hours.

The “Biscayne Beach Bus” offers weekend shuttle service to Crandon Park Beach. The shuttle will begin service on Saturdays and Sundays starting Jan. 28.

“Not only does it save students money on gas and tolls, it also helps those that are part of the UM community and don’t have a car,” Nisett Alfonso, sophomore, said. “I know if I lived on campus I’d definitely use it.”

As for free business cards, students can obtain them after compleing in a series of Toppel career programs.

Maki and his SG officials plan to continue working on unfinished projects throughout the remainder of their term.

According to Maki, wireless printing will become a reality, but SG is still working out the details. The main idea is to keep printing free while safeguarding the library’s resources, he said. Maki added that there must be a record of who is printing what and how many pages are being printed.

“We need wireless printing,” Sergio Martinez, sophomore, said. “It would be really helpful to those people that use the wireless capabilities of our school.”

One platform goal that will not work out is free towel service at the Wellness Center. It would take major renovations of the towel room to accomplish, and is just impossible to complete in a semester. However, SG did hand out 3,500 free towels at the beginning of the semester.

Lobbying continues for the construction of a pedestrian overpass over U.S. 1 at the University MetroRail Station.

“The University continues to work with city, county and federal agencies to improve pedestrian safety along U.S. 1 and in areas surrounding the campus,” Christine Casas, assistant director of community relations, said. “This includes plans for a pedestrian walkway at the University MetroRail Station.”

A gate barrier has temporarily been set up at University Station, which forces pedestrians to use a designated pedestrian lane when crossing U.S. 1.

“The overpass wasn’t a platform idea, it was just something that had to be done,” Maki said.

Maki also said that what has been accomplished in the past six months regarding the overpass is impressive. He attributes the success to the massive amount of support from the student body.

As more projects are completed, Maki moves closer to fulfilling his campaign promises.

“We’ve gotten a lot done for students,” Maki said. “If they don’t see it they’ll definitely feel it in the next few years.”

Megan Ondrizek can be contacted at m.ondrizek@umiami.edu.