Children walking to school has always been an issue in the Alabama Hill and Roosevelt neighborhoods, and it still is. Most parents are not able to walk their kids to school in the morning because they have already left for work.
“There was a trail made about 25 years ago for kids walking to school,” said Roosevelt resident Kathi Ing. “The kids would have had to walk down and across Alabama. We also implemented safe routes at the same time. Certain houses were considered ‘safe houses,’ and had signs in the windows to let the kids know that they could go there if they needed anything.”
Some of those signs are still up today, said Richard Maneval. “Kids are encouraged to walk together to school, which is often called a ‘walking school bus,’” says Maneval. Maneval is a previous chair of the Alabama Hill Neighborhood Association, and was also a previous president of the Roosevelt Neighborhood Association.
“The problem of pedestrian safety in the Roosevelt neighborhood has recently been brought to the city council’s attention,” Maneval said. “Roosevelt has been asked to be put on the list of pedestrian accessibility in the Six-Year Street Plan.”
The Six-Year Street Plan is required of every city and town in Washington State. Transportation departments, according to the Revised Code of Washington, are to make plans for the next six years for street changes and additions. Currently, the six-year plan lasts from 2011-2016. There are no changes to be made to any sidewalks in the Alabama Hill or Roosevelt neighborhoods.
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