Traffic safety at East High which a number of parents have been writing to the school board about since at least the beginning of the year with little discernible reaction the School Board or the Administration has finally gotten past my posts ( here and here) to the pages of the Tribune this Mother’s Day. As I pointed out it is a legacy of the Red Plan predicted long before construction on the East/Ordean site ever began. The City of Duluth was called on early to intervene and the City Council made a little noise about the traffic issue but the Red Planners largely got their way and yet another Red Plan dilemma, like our teacher layoffs and large class sizes was born. Today, after the fact and the construction to see how this concern can be alleviated without a great deal of expense.
I don’t feel much need to elaborate further here and now. The Trib’s story echoes everything that parents have been telling us:
During the same end-of-day departure frenzy, many students trying to cross the avenue in a pedestrian crossing zone had to wait for traffic that didn’t stop for them.
“The cars kind of forget that pedestrians have the right of way,” said sophomore Lizzy Nikcevich, waiting for her mom to pick up her and some friends after school. “I’ve been crossing the road, and cars have bumped me.”
Its hard for me to explain this as anything other than a legacy of the Red Plan. That kind of explanation has been a great frustration for school board members like Mike Miernicki who keep insisting the Red Plan is over and done with. Rehashing it to Mern is just so much “negativity” and explains his imminent escape from the Board. That’s the next post.
