Miami Hurricane, February 21, 2013

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As students cross the intersec-tion
of U.S. 1 and Mariposa Court
to grab a sandwich from Bagel Em-porium
or meet friends at T.G.I.
Friday’s, they may not realize
something is missing — the pedes-trian
overpass that was promised
after UM student Ashley Kelly
was struck and killed by an SUV
that ran a red light in 2005.
Almost seven years later, the
project appears to have green
lights all around, from almost
$6 million in funding at the fed-eral
and state level to an approved
Mediterranean-style design.
But Miami-Dade County
(MDC) is facing a new hurdle —
the acquisition of the northwest
corner of the University Centre
parking lot, needed to create the
overpass landing.
“We are at an impasse with
the owner,” said Albert Hernan-dez,
assistant director of engineer-ing,
planning and development for
Miami Dade Transit (MDT).
On Jan. 29, the property own-er
rejected the county’s final offer
of $1,853,900 for the corner of the
lot, which includes approximately
five parking spots.
“We are very disappointed
that we have an unwilling seller,”
said Dr. Pat Whitely, vice presi-dent
for student affairs. “Every-one
is committed to seeing this
come to fruition.”
According to the owner’s at-torney,
Toby Brigham, the over-pass
would be detrimental to busi-ness,
blocking advertising and
disrupting access. A primary con-cern
is the obstruction of roadside
visibility to drivers who may be
potential customers.
As Student Government (SG) Elec-tions
Commissioner J. Alexander Barletto
ascended the Rock Wednesday evening,
students who were eagerly awaiting the re-sults
of SG’s new president, vice president
and treasurer were disappointed when the
announcement was delayed due to election
code violations.
Claims were filed against both the
Power of U and One of U tickets, Barletto
said.
The two trials, held Wednesday at 9:15
p.m. in UC 211, were closed to the public
due to the sensitivity of the issues and the
involvement of the Dean of Students Of-fice
(DOSO), according to SG Chief Justice
Sean Norris.
The first trial investigated allegations
against Power of U’s graphic campaigning
codes, Norris said.
“An individual student came to Elec-tions
Commission and said that they had
received ... a mass email from someone
supporting [Power of U],” he said.
According to Section 5-1.4 of the SG’s
Election Codes, all graphic campaigning
materials, including emails sent over list-servs,
must be approved by the Elections
Commission. The aforementioned email
was not.
After deliberation, the Trial Court can
allocate up to 20 points per violation based
on the severity of each infraction. The ac-cumulation
of 20 or more points will result
in the immediate disqualification of a tick-et.
Any points allocated to individual can-didates
within or associated with a ticket
will be charged to the ticket as a whole.
Vol. 91, Issue 36 | Feb. 21 - Feb. 24, 2013
SEE OVERPASS, PAGE 5 SEE ELECTIONS, PAGE 5
Candidates go to trial for
violating campaign rules
BY JORDAN COYNE
COPY EDITOR
Parties still in
negotiations
BY RIANNA HIDALGO
STAFF WRITER
COMMUNITY STUDENT GOVERNMENT
Election results
postponed
ILLUSTRATION BY CARLOS MELLA
Plans for overpass
not yet concrete