From The Tribune staff reports
SPRINGVILLE — A new addition to the city of Springville will help people safely exchange items that they buy or sell online.
Two “Safe Zone” parking spaces have been put into place at City Hall, next to the Springville Police Department. City Councilor Sherry Reaves said a resident approached her about establishing a safe zone so that people could feel comfortable when meeting strangers for commerce.
“He came to me about it and I, in turn, told him, ‘let me get with the chief and see what he says,” Reaves said. “So, I got with him and then the chief just started researching it and had 24-hour surveillance put up.”
Springville installs new Safe Zone. From left: Springville resident Wade Lowman, Councilor Sherry Reaves and Police Chief Wayne Walton.
The system was put into place within a couple of months of the resident’s request. The surveillance includes two cameras that are pointed at the Safe Zone. The parking spots are brightly painted in order to make the location obvious. The spots are not to be used for any other purpose.
The resident that approached the city about the Safe Zone, was Wade Lowman. Lowman said he doesn’t feel comfortable allowing people to his home, so a Safe Zone sounded like the best idea for the city of Springville.
“There’s a lot of people that do sell stuff online,” said Lowman. “I’ve had people meet me right here and I figure, if they’re honest people, they will meet you right here at the police station.”
Lowman said the spot can also be used for custody exchanges between parents or guardians of children. He said it is nice to see the city respond to his idea.
“I think it’s huge,” said Lowman. “There are about 5,000 people in Springville and a lot of them probably have ideas and maybe they are hesitant about reaching out but this is great.”
Reaves said she is always open to input from residents.
“We [the City Council] don’t have all the ideas,” said Reaves. So, if somebody approaches me, I really do try to go to the council or research it or talk to supervisors of each department that we can use advice from.”
Police Chief Wayne Walton said most of the project was free. The city had to buy the sign in front of the spaces, but that was only about $60. The painting was donated by Trey Massey, of Massey’s Asphalt Paving.
