Intersection near PS 24 assailed over safety

To the editor:

Good morning class! Please open your test booklets and begin:

1) Which of the following constitutes a clear and present danger to the school children at PS 24:

a) Deep budget cuts

b) Swine flu

c) The intersection of West 235th Street and Independence Ave.

d) All of the above

Answer "d" is correct. And now, for extra credit:

Which of the above does the New York City Department of Transportation have the power to fix immediately?

Answer "c" is correct.

The intersection is at the nexus of two school buildings, two public parks and playgrounds, a public library and two huge apartment buildings. It inhabits the not-quite-midway point of a four-block stretch of roadway that invites the NASCAR driver in all of us to come out for a spin.

With school back in session, and PS 24 students crossing early, often and sometimes unattended, the intersection has come to represent an Rrated nightmare for parents. Of course, many parents, including those whose children are already in the auto-dodging glory of their fifth grade lives, are too frightened to allow their kids to cross at this critical intersection. Who can blame them?

At 8 a.m., as 3-foot-tall pedestrians wipe the sleep from their eyes, a deluge of vehicles turns this intersection into the Times Square of Riverdale. Even lawabiding parent drivers have been seen performing vehicular calisthenics within a few feet of kids who walk to school.

The school administration and the Parents Association have been appealing for assistance to anyone in power willing to listen since April, when it was announced that PS 24 would expand into the Whitehall Annex. We have received nothing but indirect assurances that a traffic survey was being conducted that would take 12 weeks to conclude.

This is unacceptable. You don't need to be a graduate of PS 24, or to conduct a 12-week study to determine that this intersection is a ticking time bomb. We are confident that the Department of Transportation study will reveal that the sky is in fact blue and that something needs to be done, but with every passing day our kids are at risk.

In fairness, the DOT did take other actions around PS 24 to make a safer environment for our children, however its lack of apparent urgency relative to 235th and Independence, is callous at best, and irresponsible at worst.

The PS 24 school community is vocal and strong. Our involved parents do not tolerate threats to the education and welfare of our children, no matter how seemingly benign. Now, imagine our outrage that the DOT is allowing a highstakes game of chicken to go on each and every day in front of our school.

As a society, we go to incredible lengths to protect our children. Exhibits A to C: Megan's Law, Amber Alerts, even our school crossing guard, who by the way, is as imperiled by this intersection as our kids. It is human nature to protect our young. Unfortunately, in this case, human nature does not apply. The DOT has no pulse and feels no empathy. We can only hope and pray that when it finally gets around to taking action, that the laws of probability haven't caught up with us.

CLIFF STANTON

Mr. Stanton is co-president of the PS 24 Parents' Association

This is part of the September 24, 2009 online edition of The Riverdale Press.

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