Mayor Nash and City Councilmembers,
I am writing to thank you for the time and effort that you have invested in Coleman Avenue, and for making the pilot permanent. Our parent community has been very happy with the improvements in the city segment, especially the stop sign at Santa Monica.
With that said, I continue to hear from parents is that they are concerned for the safety of their children. We have very young children biking toward Ringwood and Lower Campus in the morning during the rush hour commute. And we also have slightly older (but still young) students biking home from Upper Campus in the bike lane in the afternoon.
The concern is that the only thing between cars and children is paint. There are parents who will still not allow their student to bike on Coleman because they do not feel that the child is safe from vehicles. They ask for physical separation, such as flexible posts.
Additionally, parents report cars parked in the bike lane very frequently. Cars parked in the bike lane force young riders to swerve into the vehicle lane. Flexible posts would end illegal parking and increase child safety.
Coleman is a major route for multiple schools, and for some kids it is the *only* logical route for them to reach Laurel Upper and Lower Campuses. Our young students mix with commuters and M-A students as well for a very dense, sometimes chaotic and insecure travel experience.
I would like to echo our parent community in requesting Council to consider inserting flexible posts along the bike lane on Coleman to increase the safety of our MPCSD students and the community as a whole.
Thank you for your ongoing partnership.
Kristen Gracia
MPCSD Superintendent
