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A Resolution of the County of Allegheny, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, urging the Port Authority and local shopping mall management companies, specifically including but not limited to the Simon Property Group, to work cooperatively to establish bus stops in safe, well-lit and well-maintained areas.
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WHEREAS, public transportation fills a vital need for individuals throughout the County by allowing them to travel to and from their places of employment, medical appointments, grocery shopping, and to make other necessary trips; and
WHEREAS, many individuals also use public transportation to travel as a convenient means of traveling to and from more discretionary shopping destinations, such as shopping malls; and
WHEREAS, the Port Authority of Allegheny County has recognized that individuals who use their services do so for all of these reasons, and in many cases has structured its service such that buses on several different routes make regular stops at shopping malls in the area, such that individuals can both freely travel to shopping malls and, once there, can easily transfer between different routes operating in the area; and
WHEREAS, several shopping malls within the County, including at least two operated by the Simon Property Group, have moved bus stops away from the mall structure, sometimes by several hundred feet; and
WHEREAS, this degree of separation between the bus stops and mall structures creates a situation in which elderly, disabled, ill, and injured individuals who rely upon public transportation must traverse expansive parking lots and avoid both motor vehicle traffic and other hazards such as uneven pavement and tripping dangers simply to gain access to the shopping venues in question; and
WHEREAS, during the winter months, these dangers are exacerbated by cold weather, frozen precipitation, and the accumulation of snow and ice in all areas of mall parking lots, but most especially in the areas most distant from mall structures; and
WHEREAS, parking areas most distant from mall structures often tend to be the areas that are the least well-lit, least frequently patrolled by security, and most likely to lay adjacent to bordering undeveloped properties, and therefore are often the areas most prone to criminal activity; and
WHEREAS, the practice moving bus stops away from mall structures thus creates a fundamental inequity insofar as it forces individuals who are least able to traverse hazardous conditions in parking lots to do so for the greatest distance, based purely upon their reliance upon public transportation; and
WHEREAS, the practice of moving bus stops away from mall structures may also have the potential to expose the County, Port Authority and/or mall management companies to liability, in the event that an individual should be injured while attempting to reach a bus stop;
The Council of the County of Allegheny hereby resolves as follows:
Section 1.
The Allegheny County Council hereby urges the Port Authority and local shopping mall management companies, specifically including but not limited to the Simon Property Group, to work cooperatively to establish bus stops in safe, well-lit and well-maintained areas near shopping malls within Allegheny County.
Section 2. Severability. If any provision of this Resolution shall be determined to be unlawful, invalid, void or unenforceable, then that provision shall be considered severable from the remaining provisions of this Resolution which shall be in full force and effect.
Section 3. Repealer. Any Resolution or Ordinance or part thereof conflicting with the provisions of this Ordinance is hereby repealed so far as the same affects this Resolution.