Walk To School Day This Friday at Crozet Elementary

by Jim Duncan on February 18, 2010

Update: Walk to School Day is “canceled due to ice and snow on the sidewalks”

This Friday, 19 February is Crozet Elementary’s Monthly Walk to School Day. We probably won’t be walking as we would be walking in the middle of the road for most of the way due to snow.

I asked on Twitter if Brownsville does “Walk to School” days – (and really meant Western and Henley as well) and got an interesting response. Is it true that kids are discouraged/disallowed from walking to school on their own?

Crozet Walk to School Day - 19 February 2010

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  • Ron_Crozet

    Jim, do you want kids to walk on the road, share the road with the 40+MPH traffic? Take a good look at 240 and 250 and tell me where the sidewalks are.
    It is EXACTLY the lack of infrastructure planning, philosophy or thinking here in the east of the USA that got us here: CARS are the only means of transportation that exist in the minds of people here. Got to move to Europe if you want your kids to transport themselves to school on foot or bike (like I did all my living years there, and indeed obesity was non-existent there.

  • http://www.realcrozetva.com Jim Duncan

    Ron –

    I absolutely agree with everything you said. My disagreement is more fundamental – that schools/government should not make such decisions for the families/children. If the parents want their kids to walk to school, they should be allowed to.

    And from Old Trail’s perspective, how many of those kids are walking to school? They have the infrastructure.

  • Ron_Crozet

    Sure Jim,
    Old Trail is unique with its a “walkable” design. But it does not get farther than that: the sidewalks or bike trails are not extended to the schools or to downtown, so what is the alternative? I would love to have my daughter transport herself to school, but look at Jarmans Gap Road. She would have to walk in the soggy ditch with tall grass. (There are plenty of idiots driving more than 40mph around the bends and over the bumps with no view.) All new neighborhoods are isolated that way, and this is why the Downtown Streetscape is utterly useless: we still lack the ability to safely walk or ride our bikes into downtown or to school. Anyway the “walk to school” initiative is not initiated by government or school board, is purely voluntary, and motivated by the idea to encourage the kids to at least think about how they could be more independent and act more healthy.

  • denise

    Right now, Old Trail can’t be declared safe for walking to the three schools nearby. Sidewalks are only clear in some areas – in front of townhomes, but not parts of OTdrive that have no home fronting it. From the towncenter up to the light there are 1 – no sidewalks and 2 – snow along the road. There’s not enough room there for kids to be walking up that road right now.

  • sJan

    “Walk to school and than get hit by a car day” How lovely!!!!
    CROZET is not walkable, and that is that… good bad or indifferent.

  • http://www.realcrozetva.com Jim

    Denise-

    I hear what you’re saying, but as a general rule, wouldn’t it make sense for Old Trail to encourage walking/biking to schools? That would be so beneficial on so many fronts.

  • denise

    I think walking to school has become a luxury for many people. Unless you’re a stay at home or work from home parent, you’re probably in your car driving to your job at the appointed hour. We were able to walk, because in large part our parents felt safe letting us walk to school with siblings and friends; can the same be said today?

  • http://www.realcrozetva.com Jim Duncan

    I agree that part of it is a luxury. I think that (with no supporting data readily available) that kids are just as safe today as they were twenty and thirty years ago.

    We are just, as a society, much more (too much more) restrictive with how much freedom we give our kids.

    Kids aren’t allowed to roam and I think that’s a real shame.

    Assuming there were sidewalks everywhere, why wouldn’t parents let their kid walk to school? I know I would.

  • denise

    I believe you’re right, having seen a recent study that proved crime rates are lower across the board. I think the perception is the exact opposite!

    Not to stereotype, but on occasion I’ve seen a somewhat grungy, long-grey-haired older man sitting at the light at Old Trail and 250 at odd times. My daughter said he used to come around to the back of Henley when there were soccer practices — walking through the woods to get there.

    Does anyone know anything about him?

  • sJan

    I believe I have seen the guy you are talking about walk around as well, but I know nothing about him!

  • julenesque

    If you are talking about an older man with long hair (sometimes described as hippieish), often with a walking cane — he lives nearby and walks everywhere. (He doesn’t have a car.) He’s actually quite talkative and friendly. He cuts through the woods because it’s the quickest way to get to places (for coffee, to get to Crozet, or to the convenience stores near the schools) and because he really likes flora and fauna and being out in Nature. I don’t want to impede on his privacy, but he was a neighbor for several years and recently moved a short way down the road. He’s retired and getting back to nature, but is friendly and not (to the best of my knowledge) a creep.

    We may be talking about different people, of course. Short descriptions and a growing population can be hard to reconcile. The gentleman I’m speaking of is someone who would respond to conversational overtures should you both be someplace where that is viable.

  • Denise

    Thank you, Julenesque, it sounds like the same man. I’m happy he has ties to the community and is friendly. You don’t see too many people cut through woods as a shortcut any more.

  • julenesque

    Bringing it back to the original topic, it’s safer to walk through the woods than it is to walk along 240 (or the other feeder roads into town) towards Crozet – people zip along those curvy roads with no sidewalks!

    I think – like most folks who live outside Crozet, but are Crozet-centric – that making Crozet walk-centric is a great idea, but it needs to go hand-in-hand with creating parking. I haven’t been to the Crozet Library in a while simply because there’s never a legal parking space when I pass by (and the illegal ones are usually taken). I can’t justify occupying parking spaces for other business whose parking is also cramped (especially if I’m not patronising their business!). I can’t think of a business in Crozet that I haven’t had issues finding parking for at one time or another, with the possible exception of the Great Valu/Sal’s/Dollar General parking lot, which has come very close to being full on occasion.

    It’s a tangly problem – these are old roads and buildings in an old town with new traffic, new technologies,and new populations, and there’s limited space for everything. And these days, there’s limited to no money.

    What’s the courtesy if you have to go to the post office, the hardware, and the Library. Do you move your car three times? There’s no guarantee that you are going to get a spot at any of those lots, but you may be making it harder for those other citizens to mail a package, buy some birdseed (or pick up their Chinese food or their prescription at the pharmacy), or pick up a book they reserved. In a town like Crozet, moving your car to those three places seems a little illogical if you are aren’t wrangling kids, canes, or a heavy/awkward load. At the same time, I feel bad if I’m occupying a spot at a highly-trafficked shopping center/parking lot to walk all over Crozet doing my errands. It’s a tough one!

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