The University of Colorado at Boulder and the City of Boulder will join several members of Susannah Chase's family Monday to announce CU-City safety improvements and to introduce posters and bookmarks featuring Susannah's name and a sunflower logo.
The death of Susannah Chase last December led to the revitalization of several existing CU and city safety programs, and the addition of new programs to raise safety awareness. In a planning meeting last spring, the Chase family suggested using a symbol to be identified with safety -- one that had come to be identified with Susannah.
Several individual references to Susannah and sunflowers caused family members to suggest the flower, according to Julie Chase, Susannah's mother. "Susannah loved sunflowers and we received several notes from friends comparing her to a sunflower because she had such a bright, sunny personality," Julie Chase said.
Several hundred posters and about 15,000 bookmarks with Susannah's sunflower logo have been printed to date to help spread the safety message, according to Ron Stump, associate vice chancellor for student affairs. "Bookmarks were distributed to freshmen and transfer students this summer during new-student orientation, and funds are being identified to print more materials," Stump said.
D & K Printing of Boulder, several CU-Boulder departments and the CU-Boulder Parents Association have contributed money to print posters and bookmarks with the "Think, Plan, Be Safe" message. The slogan emerged last January as the safety campaign's central theme.
Julie and Harold Chase, Susannah's parents of Stamford, Conn., Susannah's brother, Doug, and sister Christy, will attend Monday's news conference to introduce "Susannah's sunflower." The family also will have a private gathering on campus in memory of Susannah and is scheduled to meet with campus staff and administrators.
Stump and CU Police Chief Jim Fadenrecht reviewed an impressive list of safety improvements taking place on and off campus including 18 new emergency call boxes at CU, which will bring the total number of call boxes to 30, in addition to 16 call boxes in CU's two parking garages. The new callboxes will cost $263,000 to install and are scheduled to be in place by December.
Fadenrecht explained the significant role the call boxes have played in the past in helping CU Police identify and arrest suspects in assault cases. Most recently, a 14-year-old boy, who later confessed to several assaults on women on Boulder bike paths, was apprehended when a victim reported an assault from a call box near Boulder Creek and 30th Street. The suspect was caught in less than an hour of the assault, Fadenrecht said.
"CU Police have a good arrest rate in cases of crimes against persons and we know that, in some cases, we've been able to apprehend suspects quickly because we got immediate notification from a victim using a call box," Fadenrecht said.
The university has spent $99,095 since last spring on several major lighting improvements including adding new lighting to the Boulder Creek bike path between 17th Street and Folsom and adding lights to several campus buildings and parking lots. A more frequent schedule of light replacement also has been instituted and a Lighting Master Plan is being developed as part of the overall Campus Master Plan.
The city has increased street light wattage on several major thoroughfares including portions of Colorado Avenue between Folsom and 28th streets, Baseline Road between Broadway and 27th streets, and between Baseline Road and U.S. 36. The city also has worked with Public Service Co. to extend lighting to sites on the Hill including a parking lot at 13th street and Pennsylvania and lighting for a kiosk on the Hill.
Other Hill lighting improvements by the city include increasing wattage along College Avenue and adding pedestrian lighting along Broadway between University and College avenues.
Stump said the campus and the city are committed to the joint effort of continuing safety improvements "to make the campus and the city as safe as we can make them for students and for all Boulder residents in the future."
1998 SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS
o Eighteen new call boxes will be installed on the Boulder campus this fall. Twelve call boxes were in place previously, bringing the total to 30 emergency callboxes on the main CU-Boulder campus.
o The two campus parking structures also have two call boxes on each parking level for a total of 16 emergency call boxes in the structures -- the Euclid Autopark east of the University Memorial Center and the Regent Autopark east of the engineering college.
o Cost of the 18 new call boxes is $263,000. Installation is scheduled for completion by December 1998.
CU Lighting Improvements
o Lighting has been added to the Boulder Creek bike path between 17th Street and Folsom.
o Lighting has been installed on the north, or back side, of the Recreation Center, the Claire Small Gymnasium and Temporary Building 1.
o Lighting has been added to several campus parking lots: Lot 169 between Newton Court (near Arapahoe and Folsom streets) and Boulder Creek; Lot 151 and 162 (east of Marine and Athens courts several blocks east of Boulder High School).
o Cost for the above projects was $99,095.
o The following areas are planned for new lighting in the next year: Lot 402 south of Fleming Law Building; the bike path between Broadway and Baseline Road south of Fleming Law School; and access road crosswalks at Smiley Court near Colorado Avenue and 33rd Street.
o Initiated in spring 1998 a new campus Lighting Master Plan will be included in the overall Campus Master Plan. The lighting plan will inventory all campus exterior lighting including bike paths, streets, buildings and other safety lighting. It will include prescribed levels of lighting for all areas of campus. Clanton Engineering of Boulder is doing the plan, scheduled for completion in November 1998.
o More than 1,000 pole lights on the Boulder campus and building lights on all 202 campus buildings have been checked in recent months to make sure lights are working.
o Inspections are continuing twice each month for all campus pole lights and building lights. Inspections used to be done once a month.
o $29,250 was allocated this summer for group replacement of pole-mounted lights for the 1998-99 fiscal year and $23,750 was allocated for labor for the same time period.
o The few remaining mercury vapor lights will be replaced with a brighter metal halide light, which gives off a whiter light.
o Outdoor lights operate on photo cells turning on and off automatically. Most are on 11-12 hours a day (less in the summer months), turning on at dusk and going off at dawn.
o The campus Facilities Management department has committed itself to replacing burned out lights within 48 hours of reports.
City Lighting Improvements
o Wattage of the street lights on Colorado Avenue between Folsom and 28th streets has been increased from 150 to 250 watts.
o Wattage of the street lights on Baseline Road between Broadway and 27th streets has been increased from 200 to 250 watts.
o Additional 250-watt street lights will be installed by Public Service Company on Baseline between 27th street and U.S. 36. Construction has started on those lights, and is scheduled to be completed by Oct. 1, 1998.
o Additional pedestrian-scale lighting has been installed on Broadway adjacent to the Hill commercial area.
o An upgrade of the existing pedestrian-scale lighting on the Hill from 70 watts to 100 watts is in progress, but has not yet been completed.
o The installation of several new vehicular street lights at street and alley intersections in the Hill commercial area is underway. Completion is pending Public Service's acquisition of the required light poles.
o The City has provided conduit so CU can get Public Service power to the parking lot at 13th and Pennsylvania streets, and CU is working on the design for a lighted kiosk and parking lot lighting.