Acropolis Pizza House found itself as the location of a violent crime once again after four people were stabbed early Sunday morning outside the Marshall Street restaurant.

But Steven Papazides, manager of Acropolis, said he is more concerned about his business than his life after the latest instance of violence.

“You always (have) to be concerned about business,” said Papazides, who has worked at Acropolis for 16 years. “I mean, look at Cosmo’s. They’re gone after 40-50 years. We’ve been here for 30 plus, but you always (have) to be concerned about that.”

After the crowd from a large fight — which happened around 2:35 a.m. — dispersed on Sunday, four people not affiliated with Syracuse University were taken to the hospital with stab wounds. The Syracuse Police Department is currently handling the investigation since the four male victims were all not affiliated with SU.

Papazides said he wasn’t aware of the criminal activity until the police came and asked him to review the surveillance cameras that Acropolis has both inside and outside of the store.

SPD is currently reviewing its options with respect to Acropolis, Lt. Eric Carr said. SPD is working closely with SU to provide extra enforcement in the area and will continue to do so, Carr added.

In 2012, after multiple instances of criminal activity took place near Acropolis, there were talks of shutting the restaurant down.

“They wanted to shut us down because we wouldn’t cooperate and close at 10 o’clock at night,” Papazides said. “If everybody on the street closed at 10 o’clock at night, sure we’d close too, but to single us out — no, we’re not going to close.”

Acropolis had to buy and install a $6,000 surveillance camera and pay about $15,000 in legal fees in 2012, Papazides said. The restaurant also had to add “no loitering” signs to its front windows and have a security guard posted inside and around the restaurant for a year.

“So when the cops were threatening to shut us down, it wasn’t legally,” he said. “They were trying to bankrupt our ass.”

Following the 2012 stabbing and three other arrests, the Department of Public Safety and the Student Association sent an email to the SU student body encouraging students to avoid going to Acropolis.

Hannah Warren, public information and internal communication officer for DPS, said as of now, DPS does not have any plans to increase its activity in the area or to discourage students from going to Acropolis.

Warren added that DPS will, however, be monitoring the area for any future incidents and leave those options open for a situation that warrants such action.

Student Association President Aysha Seedat said while she is upset that four people were sent to the hospital, she’s relieved they weren’t SU students. Seedat, a senior, said for as long as she has been a student at SU, there’s been a negative stigma around Acropolis.

SA is not going to take a stance just yet on whether or not students should go to Acropolis, she said. However, the organization is going to continue to tell students to be heavily careful in general around campus, especially in areas known for criminal activity.

Seedat said she will be meeting with the new DPS Chief Bobby Maldonado on Wednesday to talk about public safety concerns on and around the SU campus.

She added that she thinks it’s a fair time to talk with DPS about continuing to work toward better escorting services for students, which was a part of her campaign platform for SA president, considering the recent criminal events on Marshall Street.

Published on September 8, 2015 at 11:21 pm

Contact Sara: smswann@syr.edu | @saramswann