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LEXINGTON SIDEWALK COMMITTEE
Minutes of October 10, 2006 meeting
The meeting, in the Selectman's Meeting Room was opened at 12:15 by
chairman Craig Weeks.
Speaking for the Bridge school SRTS program, Sara Chamberlain said that
the PTA and school officials were very pleased with the safety measures
promoted by the Sidewalk Committee and with the parental support given
to walking and bicycling.
Concerns were raised, in subsequent discussion, about photographing
the children face-on in publicity shots released to newspapers, flyers,
or the web because of possible misuse by undesirable elements. Some
parents are especially averse to this and the school administration is
best positioned to resolve questions case by case for those included or
not in photographs. Other members of the committee felt such fears
were unwarranted and that the process for approvals would be
cumbersome. It was finally agreed that the schools are best suited to
deal with the problem and that SWC publicity pictures of children would
henceforth be vetted through the schools. For adults, these
precautions are, of course, unnecessary.
Lucy F-J said that the Walk Day USA celebration at Bowman the previous
week had been very successful.The trail connecting Follen Hill
neighborhood to Clarke MS via Blossomcrest was shown by Stew Kennedy,
the bike committee chair. He found many people interested in the
broader question of school access for older children.
Sharen MaKenzie reported that Hastings ES has lowered to 4th grade the
age when students, with parental approval and help, can bicycle to
school.
The Fiske ES priority list for safe route improvements will be
considered and acted upon soon by the Traffic Safety Committee. It was
noted that crossing strips painted at Meriam, Coolidge, and Woodland
streets along Adam St. are an excellent first step.
Olga G. said that there were some "global priorities" for sidewalks in
Lexington to be acted on by the SWC, for example, a policy on snow
removal responsibility. She asked if the DPW had an updated list of
school bus stops needing routine plowing and signs indicating where to
stand. Ch. Weeks said he would inquire from DPW since Wayne B. was not
present to answer. Laura C. said she had a partial listing of these
sites.
Lisa B. asked if school policy encourages crossing guards to overlap
time to help students get to more than one school, an example Adam/
Hathaway corner serving students for both Fiske and Diamond. It should
happen when possible, she said.
Lisa also noted that sidewalk inventory and some sidewalk policy
issues raised by Jeanne K were not being pushed forward as needed and
that she would chair an evening meeting to bring in those members not
currently involved, perhaps because they could not attend the regular
noontime meetings. Craig said he would contact those who signed on
originally to see if such occasional evening meetings, would make their
active participation possible. He asked that all members desiring to
continue would sign onto one or more specific SWC tasks covered in
e-mail message by Jeanne K. To alert the public of this redoubled
effort, Jeanne said newspaper articles were needed and that she would
look into adding a flyer discussing these SWC initiatives in future
tax bill mailings.
All members were asked to prepare some "pet peeves" they have about
noncompliance in sidewalk maintenance by residents or business for the
next meeting.
Meeting adjourned at 1:30 PM. Next meeting will be in the evening,
7:30 PM in room G-15 Town Office Bldg. on Wednesday, November 8 with
Lisa Baci as chairperson pro temp since Weeks cannot attend.
Jerry Van Hook