TAMPA, Florida — At the top of the University of South Florida’s eight-story Beard Drive Parking Garage, there’s a slight change. A metal fence now extends several feet higher than the wall and it’s a sight many students have spent years pushing to see.
USF students and other community members have been pushing for more safety protections to be added to parking garages after multiple people died by suicide. Now the university is in the process of installing fencing and other safety measures at five on-campus garages.
“It’s really tragic…thoughts and prayers going out to all the families that have been involved over the years with these incidents. Hopefully, now that fences will go up there that will keep that from happening, but we can only hope so,” says USF Graduate Frank Cirillo.
Back in 2019 as a graduate student, Cirillo first petitioned for more protections at USF parking garages, after a death there shook the campus.
“I was very surprised by how much traction we got, then it didn't really seem to go anywhere. But then there were the continued problems at the parking garage so other students kept up the efforts,” Cirillo said in an interview with 10 Tampa Bay Wednesday.
Another petition then came in September of last year and the university announced changes were coming too.
“Adding protective fencing materials and awnings to existing garages requires architectural/engineering design to ensure that the integrity of the pre-existing structure is maintained and that the retrofit materials are effective and safely installed,” said USF Media Relations Manager Kevin Watler in a statement.
Over the past couple of months, the school added suicide prevention signage with resources for those struggling on garages, they've also added large trees and shrubbery along the perimeters of garages.
Now Phase 2 of the project is underway, with crews putting metal fences around the top floors of garages. The fencing should be fully up on the Beard Garage by the end of the month.
We first spoke with Bethany Mistretta nearly a year ago, it was months after her husband took his own life, at the same garage.
"I don't want others to have to suffer the same, the same grief, face the same issues that I have,” she told 10 Tampa Bay in September.
In a statement Wednesday she says she’s grateful to USF for taking measures to save lives and hopefully the barriers are the sign someone needs to get help they deserve. Adding, “No matter how bad things are, ending your life is not the answer. Stay, tomorrow needs you.”
The top floors of the garages are closed as construction continues, Watler added:
Installation of fencing atop existing open-air garage structures requires a range of engineering efforts, compliance with building codes and wind load standards, manufacture and delivery of materials and installation.
Beard Drive Parking Garage: Target completion – August 2023
Crescent Hill Parking Garage: Target completion – August 2023
Collins Blvd Parking Garage: Target completion – September 2023
Laurel Drive Parking Garage: Target completion – September 2023
5th Ave Parking Garage (St. Pete): Target completion – October 2023
USF offers free mental health care and well-being support for students online 24/7. If you are struggling, help is available, call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988.