Tree Falls Across Erie Avenue
Decatur Metro | February 25, 2013
James sends in this pic of a tree down across Erie Avenue from late this morning and reports that no one was hurt.
James sends in this pic of a tree down across Erie Avenue from late this morning and reports that no one was hurt.
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How’s the car? Will everything be cleaned up in time for the buses and parents picking up children at Clairemont?
This is what CSD posted on Facebook.
Another late-breaking, important dismissal update- this time from Clairemont Elementary: Due to a fallen tree at the top of Erie (by the church), the entrance to Erie from Clairemont Avenue is blocked. We are asking all car riders not to come until after 2:25. We need the space to load the bus riders from the parking lot at 2:15 p.m. Thank you for being flexible!
Maybe *THIS* it what it’s gonna take to get Clairemont parents to stop parking on Erie at drop off and pick up, since repeated letters from the principal clearly aren’t. It’s shocking to me, how many parents prioritize their own convenience (or unwillingness to walk) over our kids’ safety, the need to streamline the carpool line for other parents and school staff, and the need of bus and van drivers to get in and out. We get something like 10+ communications each year reminding parents to please park in the lot or on side streets, and yet the same parents continue to believe that request does not apply to them, causing ridiculous gridlock as cars have to drive single file, and walkers and bike riders have to deal with obstructed views.
Last friday the my child was stuck on the Route 52 bus for 1hour + due to a parent van parked in front of Clairemont that rear ended the bus. CL used to be our school and I always thought that other than resident traffic there should be NO parent cars on Erie. You should have to park on side streets and walk. It’s WAY too small of a street with way to many kids.
My kids were on that bus too and had the pleasure of getting checked out by EMS. It’s ridiculous – the school can only ask parents to cooperate, and while many do, clearly many don’t. When we ride bikes to school (with brand-new bike riders), and the road is narrowed b/c of parents parking where they’ve been asked not to park, and when the entire car pool line is backed up b/c the road is too narrow for 2-way traffic, and when my heart literally seizes in my chest b/c my kindergartner is trying to cross the street but oncoming cars can’s see him b/c of the cars parked right.on.top.of.the.crosswalk, I can’t even express how frustrating it is. And there are parents with kids with disabilities who actually need to be able to park close. What a bunch of selfish, single-minded folks.
The van that rear ended the bus was not a parent van. It was the Horizon assisted living van. Just FYI.
I am glad to see that I’m not the only one upset by this. The school administrators have repeatedly asked parents not to park along Erie and every day you see parents park all along the street, even in the middle of the three-way stop/intersection at Erie and Michigan Avenue and they barely even pull over to the curb. No one seems to bat an eyelash.
I am a new Clairemont parent, but the whole drive right up to the school, park, *then* get out and walk your kids into the school mystifies me. If you’re driving, why not use the car dropoff in the parking lot? I can see it on Fridays when there is Community Circle, but this happens every morning.
What’s all this about parking? I thought everyone walked to Clairmont. That’s why they closed Westchester instead of Clairmont. Remember.
Is it time to let that go?
Especially now that the Glenwood area is finally back in its own school again and doesn’t have to drive over!
Nah, it’s never time to let go the memory of a great school like Westchester which had two cute paths through the woods to residential neighborhoods that all walked to school. Free Westchester! Bring back Ms. Kuebler! Everyone do their personal best! A dime if you use the word “stupid”!
+1000
Our family occasionally channels this near-daily problem into discussions of good citizenship, and how even grown-ups struggle to adhere to EL’s design principles. [Sometimes, this even masks the sound of my huffing and puffing through clenched teeth.
]
The City did a fantastic job cleaning up the BIG mess. All was clean and clear well before school dismissal. The car was the only thing damaged and not too bad – just sunroof, scratches and dents.
How dare any of you suggest my child doesn’t deserve the best! I work very hard to pay taxes and as such will do whatever it takes to make my child know he is my everything. If that means I leave work early to pick him up because my wife works too, I do it. It’s part of being a “good” parent – something you all seem to have forgotten since you let your kids ride with the rabble and learn things they have no business learning, i.e. what beer tastes like, why Mommy screams with delight behind the bedroom door on our anniversery and why Daddy has a GF.
If I want to park on Erie or drive up and get him at the door, I will do it. I don’t care about you and your poor parenting.
PS – I kid I kid.
At first I was all
…
but then I was like
This is as hilarious on the umpteenth read as it was the first time around! :0)
I don’t know about trees in forests, but trees in town certainly make a noise when they fall.
If the school were truly serious about this issue, they would put out some cones or other parking obstructions. It’s tough to park a car in an obstructed space. And if a teacher or other employee would stand there to “police” and ensure that no one moves the cones, you might be able to encourage some new habits.
Putting out cones would obstruct residents who are legitimately entitled to park on the street. Plus, I’d be willing to bet that teachers and other school staff have plenty to do at dismissal time besides chaperone parent behavior. Maybe the PTA ought to do it.
As a public street, anyone is legitimately/legally entitled to park there, including Clairemont parents. Does every Erie resident who has a driveway use it to its fullest capacity, or do some park on the street for convenience? If the answer is the latter, then said residents are no different than Clairemont parents who street park.
Well, maybe in a technical sense. Which is different than common sense and also different than sense of community — which seems to be sorely missing.
There are probably a lot of things we’re allowed to do that aren’t the best choice under certain circumstances. What’s being discussed here is a couple times a day when the street is overburdened and how people can make simple little sacrifices for the greater good.
Do you have to? Of course not. But when everyone exercises their rights without consideration for the externalities of their actions, that’s when government has choice but to step in and “solve” the issue. And government typically “solves” problems like this by widening streets, which completely changes their character, or by installing parking regulations that facilitate flow 1 hour a day and turn the street into a drag strip the other 23.
Personally, I think we all fare better when we solve these things ourselves through the simple act of thinking beyond our own noses.
Agreed…but that nose could belong to a couple living on Erie that does not have to play musical cars in the morning, so one parks on the street, as equally as to a Clairemont parent that doesn’t want to have to walk too far from their car. Far too much judgment here, on both sides. Neither is “right”, but that is something that we have to accept having a school tucked into a little neighborhood.
I’ll totally own my judgementalness on this one. The residents have every right to park on the street, and do. They are sparse enough that dodging around them isn’t a big deal. It’s folks parallel parking and un-parking in the midst of pick-up and drop off who cause the problem. And some of them appear to be active PTA volunteers. If they can’t see that their actions are contributing to a problem, they are clueless, and if they get the letters and ignore them, they’re jerks. Unless you or your child has some sort of special need, you should be parking in the lot or a side street, or else using the drop-off lane.
To steal from Lyrics Only Guy:
It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood,
A beautiful day for a neighbor,
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?
It’s a neighborly day in this beautywood,
A neighborly day for a beauty,
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?
I have always wanted to have a neighbor just like you,
I’ve always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you.
So let’s make the most of this beautiful day,
Since we’re together, we might as well say,
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?
Won’t you be my neighbor?
Won’t you please,
Won’t you please,
Please won’t you be my neighbor?
GOOD GRIEF!
Another solution– and one that the PTA could volunteer to do on behalf of the neighbors and the school– would be to gather Erie Ave residents’ signatures on a petition request to install signs that say No Parking Between 7:30am and 3:30pm (or whatever times best fit). The Decatur Police would then be able to enforce it as needed.
not even to start with what it’s like to live on Erie and try to get in and out of my driveway blocked by cars. And rude to boot!
one solution could be to tie two bikes in the street with a metal chain to your yard. I’ve seen that somewhere,..,
+1
Blocking driveways is unnacceptable. Call a tow truck!