Who Cares Who's Wrong.... Fix It!!!

There are two different issues in play here.  The walking school issue is a EPSD issue.  Safety in and around the school is a LMT issue.

EPSD has been trying to move the walkability issue forward for more than 3 years now with no success to this point.  They had it planned for last year, however, the successful pressure put on by the families that would be affected along with a lack of a plan in place to make the move brought it to a halt.  They have now decided to move forward for the 2013/14 school year with this initiative.  I have the same concerns that the families who are most affected have when it comes to this decision. I do not know if making Willow Lane School primarily a walking school is practical or safe. I do have a major problem with School Board Directors Stoltz and Donches calling for a halt to the plan, while at the same time pledging not to raise taxes.  What is their plan to pay for the buses?  What budget cuts have they suggested?  If they want to support continued busing then tell us how EPSD pays for it.

As for LMT, for anyone on the Board of Commissioners to act as if the idea of having children walking to Willow School is a surprise, then they are more out of touch with the issues that face the citizens of LMT than I even thought.  This highlights the lack of communication that our elected leaders have with one another.  However, that being said, the issue with safety in and around Willow Lane School has little to do with walking.  It is something that should have been an issue for LMT when the school was built.  The lack of safety measures (signs, lights, etc.) in the school zone should have been addressed well before now.  To blame the EPSD, as Commissioner Reis did on Dec 17, for deciding on a course of action and then telling LMT to pay for it misses the issue entirely.  In an article posted here on the Patch back on June 2, 2011, about a young boy being hit by a car at the intersection of Willow and Sauerkraut, Scott Alderfer posted a comment about the EPSD planning on children walking to school starting in Sept. 2011.  It is 2013, how long do you need to address the need for safety.  This is not a new issue.  Blaming someone else does not get this fixed.  How about being proactive instead of reactive for once! (See Church Lane Bridge as another example).  Not getting this issue fixed now will lead to someone blaming someone else when another child is injured or one of the many accidents at Sauerkraut and Willow is more serious than most.
 
Some members of the BOC value not being wrong over doing what is right.  It needs to stop.  Hopefully on May 21 it will.