I attended two school meetings on the same day this week I rode my bike to both meetings. If I can, I prefer to ride, and not drive. Upon arriving at School 9, the staff, seeing my helmet, asked me where my bike was and whether it was locked to something substantial. It was, a very large light pole. An hour and a half later, I walked out and yes my bike was still there, but someone had obviously tried to steal it. Luckily I have a substantial lock. They only stole my old beat up bike gear bag. I had taken my lights in with me. I had locked my bike to the light pole, on school property, right outside the entrance to the building, on a main street, as there were no obvious bike racks anywhere near the front of the school. I also had the only bike in sight.
Later that day, I rode to Twelve Corners Middle School in Brighton. At Twelve Corners, alongside the school there are two to three long bike racks. Its hard to count, because there were and always are so many bikes riden by students to school. That day there were so many that they were also locked to the adjoining fence. I lifted my bike over a bunch of bikes and leaning forward managed to lock it up. Walking in with my bike helmet, no-one in the school asked me if my bike was locked up. I left at dismissal. Most of the bikes were gone already. On my way back to my office, I briefly followed a student riding home.
So the questions are which world do you live in? Which world do you help create and maintain? Which world do you want your child or grandchild to live in? Because these two schools and communities are just a few miles apart. They are the same world. In one the students are limited and unless their parent drives them, their only choice is to take a bus to School. In the other, children have autonomy and are taught independence. They also get vitamin D from the sun on sunny days, fresh air, and exercise before entering the school. They walk into school the masters of their own fates. In the other, they walk in stressed after a bus ride.
Now it would be easy to list all the possible social reasons the children in Brighton can get all the benefits of riding their bikes to and from School and why the children at School 9 can’t. One obvious one, of course, is that Twelve Corners is a Middle School and School 9 is not. However, I have also been to French Road Elementary School in Brighton and have seen children biking to School.
There is also the obvious fact that the children who attend Twelve Corners all live near the school. Due to the busing and school choice programs in the RCSD, many, many students do not go to their neighborhood school, so biking to school is much less of an option.
I have a simpler explanation, however. Brighton has invested in some basic infrastructure that makes riding safe, and easy. By doing so they have created a culture where kids getting exercise as they go to and from school is normal. The RCSD, the City, and their architects and planners have not.
First in Brighton there are bike racks. At School 9 and at many other City Schools their are none. The bike racks at Twelve Corners are right next to a busy parking lot. This means people can see whether someone is trying to mess with the bikes. Not perfectly, but its busy, so crime is deterred. Storage of bikes inside or outside of some of our City Schools could take away the worries and possible reality of stolen bikes.
Twelve Corners Middle School is called Twelve Corners as infront of the building is the intersection of three busy roads. Not an ideal place for students to bike through. Knowing this, Brighton provides at least 3 traffic guards everyday at arrival and dismissal. They monitor each student as they cross those streets. It is very safe. The City has some crossing guards, but not enough near any of our schools to do the same job. They could however, if this was a priority.
Lastly at Twelve Corners once you cross to the School, they have taken the sidewalk and made a walking, bike path away from the road to the front door. For that section you are a good 10 or more feet away from the road and traffic.. That short section feels like you entered a park, which in a way, with the plantings you have. I have never seen anything like this near a City School.
It would not take a lot to replicate these things at first one, then another City School. In SW Rochester, once a year we have a day to encourage kids to ride or walk to school. Community volunteers help out to make this a safe day. That effort and that desire could help replicate that experience. It is injustice when one community can have children and its families feeling safe to ride and walk to school, and another not very far away, where that seems like a complete pipe dream.
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