The walkway between McGinley-Carney Center for Franciscan Ministry and the library
Morgan Kilger/The Bona Venture
BY: MORGAN KILGER, NEWS ASSIGNMENT EDITOR
Winters at St. Bonaventure can cause icy walkways and snowy streets. Bonaventure’s Facilities Operations department is responsible for ensuring the campus is safe for driving and walking.
On average, Bonaventure receives 42 inches of snow from October to April. This year, Western New York is predicted to have a harsher-than-average winter, which should contrast heavily with last year’s moderate winter weather, according to Channel 4 News Buffalo.
Facilities has specific protocols that ensure the safety of students and staff as they navigate campus, but some students see room for improvement
Jared Smith, director of Facilities, said that his department has readied Bonaventure for the possibly harsh weather.
Facilities starts its preparations in late October, placing plows on all of their trucks and having salt delivered to campus. Facilities salts the roads on and around Bonaventure’s campus, such as College St. and Clare Rd. It scatters ice melt for walkways in front of buildings.
Facilities has leftovers of salt from last year. Smith said Facilities has three large truckloads of salt and 400 bags of ice melt left over from last year.
“We [Facilities] prepare the same every year, but we do have some salt left over from last year, [more] than we usually do,” said Smith. “I am expecting more snow than last year.”
With unpredictable snowfall, Smith said that there are different procedures for making sure that different areas of campus are safe to walk or drive on.
Smith said the walkways are treated by Facilities workers with ice melt and salt as soon as snow starts to fall. If the snow is set to start falling in late afternoon or nighttime, the sidewalks are pre-treated with ice melt.
Facilities has a system to keep students and staff safe while staying out of the way during the morning commute, said Smith.
Facilities’ first priority is the main roads that surround campus and the docks for the post office in the Reilly Center and the Hickey Dining Hall.
The second priority is the west-side parking lots, like parking lot F by the tennis courts.
Facilities then will move to clear out the east side of campus while students are in classes.
“East-side townhouses are last as the people that park there are already on campus and the parking lots are full in the morning,” said Smith. “We have to make it so commuting students and faculty and staff can get in the parking lots on the west side.”
Lucas Ishman, a senior sports studies major at Bonaventure, agreed that the roads surrounding Bonaventure are safe while driving to class during the winter.
“The Facilities do well with getting on the roads early [in the morning] to try and make transportation available to students and staff,” said Ishman.
Some students said they disagree.
“I feel like the Facilities are not very good about making sure the roads are cleared, especially early in the morning,” said Ashley Snyder, a sophomore inclusive childhood and early education major at Bonaventure.
Ishman and Snyder agreed on the maintenance of parking lots in regards to cars being blocked in.
Snyder noticed the patterns that the plows take through the parking lots.
“The parking lots need to be maintained better, especially by the Shay and Loughlin parking lot,” said Ishman. “The snow that is plowed traps the cars in the spots.”
Amanda Ippolito, a sophomore educational studies major, said she noticed that walkways sometimes weren’t cleared thoroughly before her early morning classes.
“There have been times where there has been ice and snow on the ground, but no salt on the ground,” said Ippolito.
kilgermi22@bonaventure.edu
