A recent stabbing on Marshall Street and rumors of gang activity near Acropolis Pizza House prompted the Department of Public Safety and Student Association President Dylan Lustig to send the SU community an email on Monday night addressing any concerns.

Though the email dispelled the rumors, DPS Chief Tony Callisto and Lustig encouraged students to avoid going to the popular restaurant.

“We would therefore suggest avoiding this establishment late at night, as it has been the center-point of these activities,” the email read.

Such rumors, and now the email, have already taken a toll on Acropolis’s business, said employee Steven Papazides.

“We’re being treated really unfairly in this situation,” he said. “Saturday night wasn’t as good. We should’ve been packed — but nothing.”

DPS issued an alert notifying students of the stabbing in front of the pizza joint that took place early Saturday morning involving non-SU students. A 31-year-old Syracuse resident received non-life threatening injuries after being stabbed on the right side of his chest.

Once the fight broke out, Papazides said he ushered everyone out of the restaurant immediately, wanting no part in the situation.

“As employees of this store, we’re not in control of these streets,” Papazides said. “If the situation’s so dire, shouldn’t Marshall Street have nighttime security?”

Papazides said lately Acropolis has received “a lot of grief” from DPS and the Syracuse Police Department for serving gang members, and therefore contributing to the increase of gang members in the area.

But Papazides said he has no way of knowing which of his customers are gang members, since members do not explicitly display their gang symbols.

“If we’re gathering them here, well, there’s half of the police’s job,” he said.

Callisto said in an email to The Daily Orange that he won’t speak to the issue of what Acropolis “should or should not do” relative to their patrons, and that it’s Acropolis’s responsibility to consider the situation.

“My comments are to alert students to the fact that criminal acts have occurred there during late night hours, so they should avoid the area,” he said.

As an employee of Acropolis for 13 years, Papazides said the restaurant has been serving customers from nearby neighborhoods for years. He said many of his customers have been coming to Acropolis since their parents first took them as children.

On top of “scaring away the students,” Papazides said police recently closing off traffic on Marshall Street late at night to take care of the situation additionally frustrates him. Not only can Acropolis customers not pick up their food, but neither can the delivery person, he said.

Said Papazides: “So now we’re stuck between the police handling the situation the way they are and these gangs. We’re just stuck in the middle.”

Published on September 25, 2012 at 11:26 pm

Contact Marwa: meltagou@syr.edu | @marwaeltagouri