By Mary O’KEEFE

At the special traffic meeting held recently by the Crescenta Valley Town Council many residents and parents shared their opinions, frustrations and concerns about the traffic issues around schools. Four students stepped up to share their real life “boots on the ground” issues.

“I’m the immediate past president of Rosemont Middle School ASB [Associated Student Body] and, as of last week, I’m a proud freshman at Crescenta Valley High School,” said Claire Kim. “I’m here today to please ask the adults in this room to make student safety a top priority. I really think we need a crosswalk somewhere on Raymond Avenue [so] that students can safely enter Rosemont’s back gates.”

She pointed out that only one out of the seven elementary schools that feed into Rosemont Middle School is “convenient to the front entrance.” The other six are south and west of the school.

“That means more students probably use the back gate than the front. Right now the only crosswalk on Raymond goes all the way up to Stevens. No one uses it since it’s too far up from Los Olivos and the actual gate is in the middle of Alabama,” she said. “Kids these days have a lot of anxiety because of school and our personal lives. We shouldn’t have to worry about dodging cars.”

“I’m here to bring your attention to the fact that students at both Rosemont Middle School and CV [High School] lack safe routes to school,” CVHS freshman Tevyn Yong said.

He shared past accidents that occurred near Rosemont Middle School and that street improvements, including the addition of a crossing guard near the front entrance of the school, occurred shortly after the accidents. The crossing guard near the front entrance of Rosemont Middle School was the first one placed near a middle school in LA County and set a precedent for all County middle schools.

“Unfortunately, even after two years of parents and our principal continually asking for some kind of improvement on Raymond Avenue to help students enter school by the rear entrance, we are still waiting. Not a single thing has happened,” Yong said.

He added now that he is at CVHS he continues to see traffic issues.

“I noticed that it’s not really that much better even though we have crosswalks. Yes, we may be high schoolers and of course we should be old enough to cross the street alone but in reality we probably need someone there to guide traffic even more than our younger elementary and middle school siblings. Why? Because there are over 2,600 students all trying to get to school at the exact same time,” he said.

CVHS freshman Logan Lee added his comments about traffic and his ongoing fear of being hit by a car when he was at Rosemont Middle School.

“From my days as an elementary school student, I was always plagued with the fear of getting hit by a car. Unfortunately, one day in the middle of seventh grade that fear almost became a reality. I was on my bike leaving school and tried to cross the street. Suddenly a driver came speeding up the hill, barely paying attention to all the students trying to cross the street, and nearly hit me,” he said.

That incident affected him to the point where he is now driven to and from school – “adding one more car to the congestion.”

CVHS freshman Quinlan Iwasaka added his voice to the pleas for help by his fellow students.

“Like every teenager I of course love video games. My go-to games are usually Fortnite, Minecraft or Roblox but then there is also that oldie but goodie Frogger … the classic game where you dodge cars to get a little amphibian from one side of the street to the other,” Iwasaka said. “Not once would I have guessed that I’d get to be my very own real-life video game character but I’ve got to say my journey getting to and from school can sometimes easily resemble a chaotic round of Frogger.”

He said while at Rosemont Middle School he saw how hard it was for him and his fellow students to know when and where to safely cross the street. That safety concern followed him when he started CVHS. He spoke about the area at Community and Glenwood avenues where there is a four-way stop at the intersection. However, there is still an issue concerning when students and cars should move forward.

“Kids just pour into the intersection from all sides at once, leaving frustrated drivers no choice but to slowly creep their way into the crosswalk and then gun it through when it looks like the coast [is] clear,” he said.

Iwasaka said this intersection would be the perfect place for a crossing guard – a suggestion with which the student speakers and several in the CVTC audience agreed.

“My only job as a14-year-old is to go to school and study,” Lee said. “It’s your job as the grown-ups to make sure I can get there in one piece.”