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Russell parents, staff seek street safety improvements

LEE PERLMAN
THE MID-COUNTY MEMO

Volunteer project coordinator LeeAnne Fergason, left, and Russell Academy of Academic Achievement Principal Debbie Ebert note the pedestrian and traffic patterns at the crosswalk in front of the Academy; the first stop on the "Walkabout Tour" around Russell involving parents, school and city staff last month as part of the Safer Routes To School Program.
MEMO PHOTO: TIM CURRAN
School staff, city experts and parents have spent the last month trying to figure out how to get more Russell Academy students on their feet and walking or biking to school every day. The Safer Routes to School program encourages kids to walk or bike to school — for the sake of their health, the environment and the school parking lot — and to do so safely. But few students at Russell are following suit.

According to Principal Debbie Ebert, most of her 442 students are driven to school by their parents. Some are bused. About 50 came by bike and foot during October’s Bike to School Day, and Ebert said this is pretty typical of the daily numbers. However, she added, “We can do a lot better,” given how close most students live to the school.

There are some fairly obvious reasons why more students don’t walk or bike to school. These emerged through an open house held on Oct. 29, and a mail survey and a walkabout held last month.

The open house attracted 10 parents, most with young children in tow, and most of them immigrants; the school supplied simultaneous translation in Spanish and Vietnamese. The survey yielded responses from 25 parents, two students and a teacher. The walkabout started at the school and was led by Ebert, volunteer Project Coordinator LeeAnne Fergason, and one parent — Verne Sundin — later joined by another — Susan Lampe. They were accompanied by city engineer Scott Batson, to whom they pointed out various problems, such as:

• The congestion at the school entrance on Northeast 127th Avenue during morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up times emulates chaos. Not only are there lots of walking children and cars in close proximity, but the parents conger up cartoonist Walt Kelly’s famous saying: “We have met the enemy and he is us.” The small parking lot is quickly filled, and Ebert said that parents routinely violate the rule that to park at the curb they must remain in the car. More serious, a motorist recently drove through a school crossing while the crossing guards had their flags raised to stop traffic.

• There is a double problem on Northeast Russell Street, east of the school, with heavy on-street parking and high speeds on a residential street.

• Northeast Brazee Street, the southern border of the school grounds, separates the school from John Luby Park. The wooded park would seem a natural and fun way to get to school, but of the three north-south paths, only one has a crosswalk.

• Northeast San Rafael Street is a mini-thruway, a straight street with no traffic controls for 10 blocks. The speed limit varies from 30 to 35 miles per hour, but Lampe said she sees one particular neighbor regularly driving by at 70 miles per hour.

• Northeast 132nd Avenue presents a similar speeding problem, which is compounded by the fact that there are no sidewalks near the school, just a narrow dirt path sure to be muddy in wet weather.

• Sundin called for a stop sign on Northeast 132nd Avenue at Brazee Street. (Brazee already has a stop sign at this intersection.) Batson was doubtful. “It’s not our policy to put four-way stops on local streets,” he said. “It would indicate to motorists that Brazee is a through street.”

• Motorists sometimes use Northeast 131st Avenue, a local street, to avoid congestion on 132nd.

Parent Luz Elena Ruelas expressed her unhappiness with the pick-up and drop-off situation at the open house. “You should have someone enforce the law” about unattended vehicles, she said indignantly.

To encourage more parents and students to participate in Safer Routes to School, Ebert suggested creating a “walking school bus,” in which parents would take turns escorting groups of children to school.

“That’s a very good idea,” Ruelas said. “I live on 132nd, and I would prefer to walk my child to school.” Both she and neighbor Adriana Larraga volunteered to help with the Safer Routes to School project.

Batson is now working on potential solutions to these issues. He will report back at the next open house Jan. 14.

The Safer Routes to School, a one-year program was used in past years at Prescott and Sacramento Schools. Russell Academy school officials and parents are currently working to implement the safety proposal identified in the Prescott and Sacramento program efforts.
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