The new West Elementary School

[leah]

Yes, the traffic is a HUGE issue.  I drop off and pick up my son everyday.  The dropping off isn't as bad (if you get there early).  But the picking up...that's another story.  I leave there everyday wondering why these people have drivers' licenses.  It is ridiculous.  Everyone is too lazy to park and walk up to the school to meet their kids and they block the very small lane for traffic leaving the parking lot.

Yes, I agree the parking lot is poorly designed.  But that is not the major problem.  It is the lack of respect and etiquette for your fellow drivers, not to mention the CHILDREN in the parking lot, that is the major problem. 

[ForumManager]

We visited the school site this summer and my first comment was to ask  "How are they going to deal with the traffic flow. It was nightmare on Hazelwood and this is even more cramped."

Well my niece now goes to West and the first words out of her mom's mouth were about the chaotic traffic control and lack of parking.   The crosswalks are also  BADLY placed when you consider the enormous traffic flow on Schenley.  Those side streets are much narrower then normal streets.  My sister in law says she parks over at the small church on a side street and walks over.  I wonder how the people in that neighborhood feel about the situation. Another sister in law lives on Schenley nearer to Mahoning and she says traffic gets backed up all the way to her house - blocks away.

Carpooling is a necessity. But I will note that I carpooled with neighbors and it was barely any help.

In a perfect world we could let even the younger children walk home and not go to pick them up...but it is isn't a perfect world. AND the school system expects them to walk a huge distance before providing bussing.

Seems to me that they have several unused areas with just lawn that could have been paved.  I know lawn is prettier and cheaper initially  but when you have that many students and only narrow streets for access, you need more parking and driveways.

When I had children at the old West I thought that Hazelwood should be "one way" during the school day hours or at least during arrival and dismissal.  Sometimes a person would double park and another person  would also  illegally park on the other side and the entire street became a standstill until they returned.  AND EVEN THEN, traffic  was sometimes  stuck because people had edged in so closely it was bottlenecked so NO ONE could move.The police were there MANY days and it is certain  that they had more important things to do with our tax dollars then direct traffic during an elementary  school's dismissal.

Traffic  is probably still an issue at the old West building, but I believe there are fewer students there right now from Kirkmere.

West just has too many students for this not to have been addressed adequately BEFORE the building began.   



It is a mess. -- It was a mess before this.-- "they" had to know traffic  was going to be an issue.

[jay]

A raffle was also held during the open house at West Elementary School.  We hope the staff at the school is able to produce many excellent spellers in the years to come.[/size]

[jay]

The new West Elementary School was officially dedicated today with a ribbon cutting ceremony.  Several hundred citizens were on hand for the event.