State College Mayor Bill Welch's suggested installation of surveillance cameras on Calder Way has caused anticipation of increased safety and privacy concerns among Penn State students and local businesses.

The mayor's comments were in response to an Undergraduate Student Government (USG) presentation on downtown lighting at Monday night's State College Borough Council meeting.

Elissa Mills (senior-English), who is a sexual assault survivor, said she was excited by the mayor's interest in implementing cameras and would like to see both lighting and cameras by the end of the semester on Calder Way.

"Just seeing [the mayor's comments] on the front page is really exciting ... It's what I was talking about last semester," she said, referring to her plea at the USG-sponsored sexual assault forum for safety measures in the alley last November.

USG President Ian Rosenberger said while the presentation to the council was a major victory, more surveillance cameras are not the answer to deterring crime on Calder Way.

"It is a people problem. Cameras, no matter how effective, will not fix a people problem. People fix a people problem," he said.

Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar said implementing cameras in Calder Way might have helped to pinpoint the sequence of events that occurred during the morning of Salvador Peter Serrano's death there on Oct. 26.

"Well, certainly if there had been cameras in place to record the incident ... if the tapes had been recovered, that would be very, very helpful in understanding what happened, for both sides," Gricar said.

Gricar said that not everyone would be deterred from committing crime, whether or not they are aware of extra surveillance.

"We see videotapes of people committing crimes with no disguises in convenience stores and banks, where generally people know there are cameras," he said.

Paul Jensen, employee of the family-owned Chocolate Madness, 224 E. Calder Way, said that lighting would have more of an effect than cameras. He added that cameras would be only useful in terms of identifying vandals.

"I don't think cameras are necessary if there's more lighting and if there's more police patrolling the area," he said.

Sarah Kretser (senior-advertising) said cameras wouldn't make her feel safer walking through Calder Way at night and would offer only the possibility that police could see people's criminal actions.

"There's got to be a line drawn somewhere. I don't understand ... what's next? I'd feel partly safe and partly violated at the same time," she said.

Melanie Monroe (graduate-English), who tries to avoid Calder Way at night, said cameras would increase the probability of criminal apprehension, but feels additional lighting would be a more effective course of action.

Julie Nau, owner of Euphoria, 213 E. Calder Way, said she and her employees often stay late at night, and they would feel safer if both cameras and lighting were installed.

"Cameras might help if someone is trying to break into a business ... it's a double-edged sword. Some people might think it's against their rights."

Euphoria employee Pam DeHass said protecting the privacy of those who walk along the alley isn't an issue.

"What's so private about walking down the street?" she said.