Steps will be taken by the Town to address safety concerns put forward by parents of children attending Glynn A. Green Public School, Mayor Marvin Junkin says.
Junkin and members of Town staff, including Chief Administrative Officer David Cribbs, Director of Public Works Jason Marr and Fire Chief Bob Lymburner, have met with a group of parents led by Amanda Fulton, who launched a petition calling for more safety measures, including more signage to help make the walk to the Pelham Street school safer for its young students and their parents.
“One of the reasons why we like the neighborhood so much was because we said one day when the kids are older, they could walk to school,” Fulton, a Woodstream Boulevard resident said.
However, she added that is no longer the case. When sidewalks were installed in the area near the school, Fulton said, in theory at least, it would mean more kids could walk to school.
“But there was no increased signage where our kids walk to school,” she said. “They've stopped walking because we feel like it's unsafe.”
The speed of traffic on Pelham Street is one concern while another stems from vehicles coming through the intersection while children and parents are crossing the street when vehicles are turning onto Pelham from Pancake Lane.
Fulton’s petition, which has drawn 118 signatures so far, also called on the Town to designate the area as a community safety zone, allowing for increased fines and potentially a speed camera for traffic violations in the area surrounding the school.
Last Friday afternoon a group of parents including Fulton, Alyssa Brouwer, Jodie Bartlett and Bailey Bissett met with the group from the Town to express their concerns, even though the Town had looked at the issue in the past with nothing changing.
Brouwer said she appreciated the fact that the Town looked at the situation but agreed with Fulton that more needs to be done.
“Just with us using it on a regular basis and seeing the cars — I don't know if they're able to see the crosswalk when it's red — but they’re going through the crosswalk when we're in the middle of the crosswalk,” Brouwer said. “It's happened several times and it's concerning.”
Bartlett, who also is chair of Glynn A. Green’s parent council, said there were several steps that could be taken to make crossing Pelham Street safer for kids walking to school.
“Ideally a crossing guard would be great, but definitely something on this side of the intersection (where Pancake Lane meets Pelham Street),” she said. “Maybe making it a community safety zone.”
Junkin, meanwhile, was impressed by how the meeting went, calling it “friendly” and said that the Town would be taking steps to make the area safer although adding a crossing guard at the intersection was not one of them.
“We’re going to put flashing lights facing Pancake and John, so that when the intersection light is indeed red, there will be flashing lights with a sign that says no right turns or no left turns, depending on where you are when the light is flashing.”
Additionally more school zone signage will be added in various spots in the neighbourhood, he said.
Fulton said was pleased that the Town was listening to their concerns.
“I’m really happy with this as a start,” she said. “It sounds like the Town is committed to hearing our concerns and protecting the kids. They’ve asked us to follow up in two months on progress.”
In the end, the Mayor said he was glad the residents had brought their concerns to the Town and that they could work together on a solution.”
“Everybody walked away, I think, realizing that there was a problem and that we were going to do our best to come up with a solution that made everybody happy,” Junkin said.
Fulton, meanwhile, said the petition would remain active for the time being although all agreed that it “shows the community’s desire for something to be done.”
