The Observation Deck

Ok.....first things first. I have one child who attends Kindergarten at McKinley. On nice sunny days we will walk to school mostly to avoid the madhouse that is the parking lot at 3:05 pm. It saddens me that many children get dropped off/picked up from school---but I understand there are many complex reasons for this---namely that this is not 1950 anymore and parents have to worry about the sickos who prey on kids. At the same time our kids keep getting fatter and fatter AND we pack them into cars to TAKE them to get exersise.

So as I was surfing the web looking for a nifty grocery cart so I can walk more I came upon the website www.treehugger.com and a this great idea from the UK. Basically it is called The Walking Bus in which the is a parent 'driver' at the front of the 'bus' and a parent conducter at the back of the bus and the kids wear yellow vests and WALK safely to school. Genius!!!! Check it out at www.walkingbus.com. What a great way for kids to be safe and walk to school---like they we intented to in our "Pedestrian" city.

What do you all think of this????

Anne Steiner

None of my children are fat and they have gotten a ride to school almost every day. One is in highschool and one is grown and married. For safety reason we don't want her to walk to school. Even in highschool she walks home with a large group or we find away to pick her up.

When they were in elementary school. To be honest I didn't have time to walk them to school and than myself back home. I work as do a lot of other parents. It would have been nice if someone was doing a walking bus at that time.

I hope that you can find someone to work this out with.

I'm pretty sure this is something that the Lakewood PTA is going to encourage in all of the schools in the upcoming year. You aren't the only one who has noticed the lack of kids walking. It's a great idea.

Our children attend Taft Elementary. The school sent home a flyer about the possibility of starting such a service. We would use and be very supportive of this. Hope it pans out. Robert

As a young kid I use to walk or bike everywhere in Lakewood by myself or with a friend. I am just curious what is the biggest scare for parents today in Lakewood with letting children do their own thing.

I have to believe criminals and perverts existed when I was a child, and I wonder if this lack of freedom for children to go on their own would have any effect as they grow up?

I am not making any statement or opinion, just looking for others input and thought on those topics.

J Hrlec wrote:I am just curious what is the biggest scare for parents today in Lakewood

Thugs, thugs, thugs, and Convicted Sex Offenders...

I drove down Detroit the other night east of Cove. Scary. No way would my teenagers be allowed to walk around down there.

What a shame. When I was a kid it was safe to walk down to Cove Park to hang out with friends in the evenings. Not anymore. I won't allow my kids to.

Go HEREand put the zip code in. Click a flag near you. Scary. I assume this site and its information are accurate.

People in this town need to be better informed of the crimes going on ...

Joe Ott wrote:

J Hrlec wrote:I am just curious what is the biggest scare for parents today in Lakewood

Thugs, thugs, thugs, and Convicted Sex Offenders...

I drove down Detroit the other night east of Cove. Scary. No way would my teenagers be allowed to walk around down there.

What a shame. When I was a kid it was safe to walk down to Cove Park to hang out with friends in the evenings. Not anymore. I won't allow my kids to.

Go HEREand put the zip code in. Click a flag near you. Scary. I assume this site and its information are accurate.

People in this town need to be better informed of the crimes going on ...

I thought that was part of it, I have a friend who lives in Lakewood and he had shown me a similar website as well. Does anyone know if this large number of sex offenders in town has always been the case historically and just more unknown and now this type of information is readily availble?

Sounds like landlords need to check on this type of information and be more selective...unfortunately many are probably just concerned with getting money every month.

J---

I'm going to agree with the previous posters and say my biggest fear are sex offenders.

I grew up in the 70's and I'm sure that they were around---but I think today with easy assebility to the Internet feeds alot of these peoples appetites and children become like chum around sharks. Its terrible.....My son is free to play in our yard and our neighbors yards, but I constantly supervise when he's in the front. I'm going to be a nervous wreck the day he asks to walk to the store to get a pop......

Thanks for the information everyone, I always like to get input from other Lakewoodites on the status of certain aspects affecting all of us. Is there anything else, other than close supervision, that we can do to limit these threats to childrens freedom?

Even though I'm known as a "bike guy", I called the walking bus concept to the attention of the BOE last winter. It was discussed at a meeting at the time and decided that they would refer it to the PTA for consideration and possible implementation. At least that's my understanding.

I hope they follow through. The walking bus is (at least in my opinion) the very best way to get Lakewood children to and from school. It promotes fitness and community involvement, socialization, and it's green.

If you google "walking bus" and "walking school bus" there's lot's of information. They do it over in Europe at least some, and I think there's a viable walking bus in New Jersey if I remember right.

Lakewood is perfect for this concept, thanks to the neighborhood schools. Two adults accompany the children at all times. One in front ("driver") and one in back ("conductor").

Here's a decent introduction.

I like Tim's walking bus idea for all the reasons he mentioned.

Tim---

I'm so glad you mentioned the idea to the BOE. literelly a day after I made my initial post I received a flyer with my sons school papers with the Walking Bus info. Talk about coincidence!