Walk only zones are here to stay

Walk-only zones were announced last Spring at ASU and have finally been put into effect. The new zone’s rules require students to dismount and carry any wheeled vehicle while within the boundaries of these zones. ASU has only designated a single zone at this point in time. It encompasses the area around the Memorial Union and Cady Mall. The zone is marked with signs which advise that you walk with your wheeled vehicle. The current walk-only zone has been in action for just a little over a week with a full student body present on campus, however you may have noticed student ambassadors in yellow shirts standing around throughout the zone encouraging students to walk. At this point in the walk-only zone project ambassadors can’t do anything more than encourage students. Student Ambassador Jason De Nise puts it this way, “we’re just in an introductory phase... it’s just ask nice and hope people help us in bringing this together.” ASU interviewed over 70 people for the Student Ambassador positions and according to De Nise they have hired around 20 employees, successfully creating a handful more work-study jobs for students at ASU. Officials planning the walk only zones are prepared to move to a phase beyond the introductory phase of encouragement where warnings and mandatory bicycle safety classes according to ASU’s Managing Director of Business and Finance Rudy Bellavia. There are also talks of creating other walk-only zones on other parts of Tempe campus once the concept behind the first one has taken hold. Walking your bicycle a few hundred yards through a crowd may be difficult for most pre-existing students to get used to but Bellavia says he knows that it’s a big change but with a population of over 70,000 students he knows its important to keep the growing student body as safe as possible.