I read the letter by Dee and Rob Davison (News-Times, Aug. 28) and agree that the area designated for the children to walk to Hillcrest Elementary School is hazardous. On Aug. 28 I chaired a meeting of almost 150 Broad View parents whose first and second graders are walking to Hillcrest this year, and they were tremendously concerned about safety.
As a citizen of Oak Harbor, a mother, and the president of Broad View PTA, I am an advocate for all children who are walking to Hillcrest; therefore I propose the following:
1) To the Oak Harbor police, we need an officer near Hillcrest Elementary School during the hours of 8:30 to 8:50 a.m. and 3:15 to 3:35 p.m. to watch for unsafe drivers.
2) To the City Council of Oak Harbor, we need additional crosswalks painted immediately to remind drivers that they need to slow down when children are crossing the streets and to remind children of the safe places to cross Heller Road and Whidbey Ave. I have spoken to the OHSD Transportation office and they are working on spots they see as needing crosswalks.
3) To the City Council of Oak Harbor, we need the speed limit changed on this small section of Heller Road and Loerland, specifically from 8:30 to 8:50 a.m.and 3:15 to 3:35 p.m. so that cars only go 25 m.p.h. This is a low cost method of ensuring our children are safe.
4) To the City Council of Oak Harbor, we need a “no drive zone” painted on the side of Loerland and Heller Road where there is presently NO SIDEWALK so that cars do not travel in the area where children are to walk.
5) To residents of Oak Harbor, we need your help to be vocal about these urgent changes. We need to band together and say we want these changes immediately and we will not be given the runaround.
6) To parents who are driving children to Hillcrest, we need to be careful on our morning drive. We can drive 25 mph to slow down the other traffic and ensure the walkers are safe.
7) To the Oak Harbor School District, don’t tell me why this can’t be done. Help be an advocate for these changes for our children and find solutions.
8) To Patty Cohen, the mayor of Oak Harbor, help us to grease the city and county wheels to get changes done quickly. I am not proposing that we fix every traffic flaw in every neighborhood right now. These proposals are designed to address the most critical hazards facing our children THIS WEEK.
I realize our school district only gets state funding to bus children who live a mile or more away from school. This will not change in the immediate future. Thus we need to work together, as a community to ensure all children are safe while walking or biking to school.
Let’s not point fingers as to whose fault this is while some child is hurt or killed in a traffic accident.
Yes, it will require a modest amount of funding and the combined effort on the part of various agencies, but it’s not too hard and it’s not too expensive. What official is ready to stand at a child’s gravesite and tell the parents that their son or daughter just wasn’t worth some paint and some traffic signs?
This is a community problem. Let’s all work together to find a community solution! Laws are made and changed by people.
Please join me today to look for solutions. The more advocates we have to solve this problem, the safer our kids will be. Call and write today.
Kim Page of Oak Harbor is president of Broad View PTA.
