‘Walking in the dark’

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12:50 PM Tuesday, February 9, 2010

First, let me say how pleased we are with Janet Baker, superintendent of Hamilton City Schools. Our family has known her from the 1970s ... when she was a teacher. She, along with school board members, are doing a wonderful job. ...

I would like to see a change in the transportation for middle and high school students (who) are walking to school in the dark. Many neighborhoods are not well lit.

Example: our granddaughter lives on Webster Avenue and her closest route to the middle school is to go over to Gordon Avenue to B Street, take B Street north to NW Washington Boulevard to the middle school, about 1.1 miles. About a block past Starr Avenue, there are no sidewalks or street lights. There is a wooded area by the river, where the city dumps tree limbs and leaves.

While (I was) working for the city, we would find homeless people living there, building shelters from tree limbs. ... This makes for a dangerous situation for our granddaughter and other students. ...

Students who live up around Gordon Smith Avenue have to use Eaton Avenue hill to get to school. There again, no sidewalks or street lights, and a wooded area. Some students are using a path through the wooded area, which is dangerous. With these situations, we are just asking for trouble.

After checking the sheriff’s Web site, I found 11 known sexual offenders within a half-mile of Webster Avenue and 42 sexual offenders within a one-mile radius. And the school board (allows) teenage girls to walk to school in the mornings, in the dark.

Why can’t we supply transportation for our students, like Fairfield, our neighbor to the south, is doing?

Walter Seward

Hamilton

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