A few weeks a number of parents and community members came to the joint City Council and School Board meeting to highlight their concerns. This followed a February 10 meeting of the Safety and Parking Commission where a resident expressed “concerns regarding the safety of the bikes and pedestrians on Anderson Road near Chavez Elementary School for the past two years. Staff made numerous site visits and added red curb at the crosswalk and around the curb returns, and installed a No Parking sign on the west side and requested that Police department step up enforcement. Staff has also included installation of an access ramp on the west side, at the crosswalk, in this year’s concrete replacement project (to be under construction this summer).”
However, parents and residents dispute that information arguing that police accident records “indicate that there were 11 accidents in 2009 on or very near Anderson Road within 1,000 feet of the school.”
According to the staff report for Thursday’s meeting, there are two proposals that would be relatively low cost. First, “Upon construction of the access ramp and replacement of the existing driveway with vertical curb, gutter and sidewalk, continue to monitor the intersection for any additional safety improvements that may be necessary. The proposed ramp and existing driveway are on the west side of the crosswalk on Anderson Road, opposite the crosswalk from
Rutgers Drive.”
Second, “Support staff’s recommendation to evaluate the feasibility of converting the 4-lane segment of Anderson Road (between Alvarado Avenue and Villanova Drive) to two lanes. This evaluation would be performed as staffing and budget priorities allow.”
One concern has to do with the design of the crosswalk and school bikepath which pushes bicyclists off the crosswalk into traffic. “Staff met with the adult crossing guard on duty at the intersection of Anderson Road and Rutgers Drive on May 4, 2010. The Guard expressed a concern with the bikes crossing Anderson Road north of the intersection (eastbound bikes leaving the school bikepath) and not at the crosswalk.”
According to the staff report, they are now proposing modifications to the crosswalk and ADA compliant access ramp. The staff report reads, “We have discussed this proposal with the School District and the school Principal. They are in favor of this modification and plan to modify the parking lot to direct cyclists to cross Anderson Road at the intersection.”
Furthermore:
“Covell Boulevard and Fifth Street, to include bulb-outs and landscaped center medians. Although it would be ideal for any street to have landscaped medians and bulb-outs, there is currently no program nor financing programmed for such improvements. There may be grant funding opportunities in the future if this corridor improvement becomes a priority.
With the support of the Commission, staff will evaluate the 4-lane segment of Anderson Road, between Alvarado Avenue and Villanova Drive, for a possible reconfiguration to two lanes, when staffing and budget priorities allow.”
Neighborhood Proposals
At the invitation of neighbors, the Vanguard came the school Tuesday morning at 8 am. We agree that the entire design of the area is a problem. The crosswalks are misaligned, pushing students toward traffic and off the crosswalk.
Furthermore, the zone in front of the school seems to be a ticking bomb. At the very least through traffic interacting with a large number of students and bicyclists, along with traffic that pulls off to drop children off causes backups and delays. Traffic often pulls off and remains in the traffic lanes and therefore causes either stoppages or traffic illegally passing on the left. There seems to be quite a bit of safety concerns as well.
In the staff report packet, there are numerous letters from parents and neighbors complaining about the situation.
Writes Carole Horn, a parent of a sixth grader at Cesar Chavez Elementary (CCE) on May 4, 2010, “The traffic situation on Anderson is crazy. The street in front of CCE is clogged with cars in the loading zone who drop off kids, drivers exiting the loading zone, drivers trying to find a place to pull to the curb to drop off kids, vehicles on Anderson trying to navigate this mess to reach Russell Blvd., cyclists zipping past the cars en route to UC Davis, and elementary students who cross at Amherst to reach CCE rather than walking to Rutgers, crossing at the light, and then walking back over half a block to get to their classroom at the south end of the school.”
“The resulting snarl of traffic often results in southbound delays at the lights at both Villanova and Rutgers. To circumvent sitting through another cycle, some motorists run the red light,” she continued. “All this appears to be an accident in the making.”
Kathleen Thompson wrote of similar concerns on April 1, 2010, “I have been a Chavez parent for 6 years and I find the traffic situation on Anderson and crosswalk at Rutgers a serious and dangerous problem for both pedestrians and bicyclists. There have been tow serious accidents in the last month alone.”
Alice Wong explained that she has lived in the area for many years as she bikes Anderson and works at the University. As a student, she started avoiding the area during the 8 to 8:30 hour because of the road hazards. She then became a parent, “When my child attended La Rue Park for day care, I started to explore different ways to campus, but Anderson was the most efficient, and I tried to leave before the traffic rush.”
“Now that my child attends Chavez, I’m stuck with the school schedule and must endure the problems along Anderson,” she continued, “After all these years, the problems still exist, I’ve nearly been hit several times, I’ve almost seen accidents occur in front of me.”
There are several additional correspondences from parents and community members along the same lines.
There are some ideas for re-design that this group has come up with and will be presented on Thursday night.
Some Ideas In Our Vision for Anderson:
1. Make drop off/ pick ups in front of Chavez safer by painting a narrower median strip & a wider drop off parking area.
2. Create safer, shorter cross walks by curb outs at corners. Use bolt-on concrete curb-initially, planters later. Add passive ped crossing warning lights at unprotected side streets.
3. Restripe cross walks so they go to curb, not end in mid street.
4. Speed bumps to slow cut-thru traffic in Oeste neighborhood;
5. Eliminate right turn lanes on narrow side streets where cars fill bike lane & block bike button needed to cross Anderson.
6. Bring bike crossing at Rutgers/ Chavez in line with cross walk to avoid bike/ped conflict. Add curb at walk light button.
7. Reduce speeding by restriping Anderson to eliminate the ¼ mile long 5 lane section that ends 200 yards north of school
8. Add planted median strip to slow traffic from current 30 mph and soften road in residential area. Start with bolt-on concrete curbs in center. Immediately to slow traffic & prevent U turns.
9. At Villanova, add round-a-bout to slow traffic & narrow 6 lane ped-bike crossing distance. Round-a-bouts are safer for peds and bikes, improve traffic flow, saves gas vs stop lights.
10.Add green bioswale median to collect storm water run off
The Safety and Parking commission meets Thursday at 5 pm at the Community Chambers. The Vanguard will continue to monitor this situation.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
If the school district had facilities money, it could in principle use it to rebuild the parking at Cesar Chavez. In principle, the teachers’ parking lot could be used as a dropoff lane, and the teachers could park in new parking on the north or south side of the school.
And, unlike the football stadium, this one is a real safety problem. The stadium took the district’s facilities money, and the argument at the time was that it was a pressing safety problem. But that reasoning was concocted by football fans. The most serious injury on recent record at Halden field came during a football game after the field reopened. In any case, much of the stadium money is for luxury features that have no connection to safety at all.
So this is how the school district will look next year. Traffic at Cesar Chavez will still be dangerous; Halden field will have a nice press box.
Though Chavez School is where there, as you call it, a “ticking timebomb” all of Anderson Road needs an upgrade to City standards, like Pole Line Road got.
Consider:
> City actually raises the speed limit when you reach the school: the 30 mph sign is 200 yard south of the School as you travel north.
> The Corner of Villanova x Anderson is the widest street crossing anywhere on the 12 mile Davis Bike Look: Pedestrians and Bicyclist have to cross 6 lanes to cross the street.
> Why Does Anderson have 4 lines for short 1/4 mile section from E Covell to just north of the School. This sends the signal as folk turn south from Covell that “this is a fast street”.
Anderson Roads belongs in Los Angeles, not Davis. Its really surprising to me, a relatively new Davisite, it has not on some city list for an upgrade, and that a Davis Public Works Engineer could call the Chavez area “Relatively Safety” in their February 2010 staff report. http://cityofdavis.org/meetings/safety/040110_packet.pdf
Alan Hirsch
If readers want to be kept informed of progress toward making Anderson Road Safer, write me and I will add you to the Anderson Community Taskforce email list.
Alan Hirsch
AHirsch aT Neighborhoodselect. ORG
916 717 9682
Rather than re-invent the wheel here, how about vigorous enforcement of existing laws and regulations. This is one of my pet peeves, having spent much of my career driving. Two or three days of ticketing drivers, jaywalkers and bicyclists who choose to create dangerous situations will alleviate most if not all of the problems for six weeks to two months. Repeat the application as needed. This will give a wake-up call to the people who cause the problem and give the police a chance to do something positive. It is always fairer and cheaper to ticket speeders than to punish the rest of us with speed bumps. Traffic calming is nonsense. The cost is always astronomical and the result is invariably more congestion and driver frustration. Ask anyone except the consultants that sell cities the snake oil.
Biddlin, even with traffic obeying the rules, it’s a bad set up. Too much in too small an area – thru traffic, cross walk, bike path, loading zone, bike lanes, traffic signal, school, park, parking lot, etc. As I read it, the first changes are not cost prohibitive, simply putting concrete barriers in will do wonders for changing the set up.
I drive by there frequently during the drop off time. The problem is many the parents have no clue what they’re doing and clog the thru traffic. The school should be responsible for creating a drop lane on the school grounds. If that means moving the teacher lot to somewhere else then so be it.
Someone with a better memory than me might remember, I thought they used to use the parking lot as a drop zone, but it wasn’t long enough and the wrap around created gridlock.
To Greg, The City is in charge of traffic and streets, not the School District. I am tiring of your harping about the High School Football field and your lack historical insight and perspective. The community decided that we had waited long enough for the field to be renovated, it was dangerous for students and spectators, and it was time. Private funds are being used for much of the renovation Leave it.
Re: Cezar Chavez
Have the teachers park on the street – use a special parking pass/zone and have the parking lot used for drop off. Position older kids to open doors and help kids out of the cars to keep parents from lingering. Have some one directing traffic where the cars leave so their is smooth transition back into traffic or put a merge lane in.
Have students ride their bikes to school and establish safe routes (not Anderson) to get to the school (like generations of kids did before them.) I am amazed that so few bikes are parked outside that school when I drive by. A big change from the 1960’s when there were 3 bike parking areas crammed with bikes.
[i]To Greg, The City is in charge of traffic and streets, not the School District.[/i]
The school district has at least as much responsibility as the city for the safety of children going to school. That responsibility does not end at the edge of the school property, because otherwise the district would not have crossing guards. In any case, the district is fully in charge of its own parking lot, which in the case of Cesar Chavez is clearly in the way of certain potential solutions.
[i]The community decided that we had waited long enough for the field to be renovated[/i]
“The comunity” decided? Actually, it was the school board and the superintendent, and they acted in response to an advocacy group. They explicitly threw out a plea from teachers to use the facilities money on something else.
Besides, even when the community is unanimous, which it certainly wasn’t in this case, the community can still drop the ball. There are communities in America that believe that evolutionary biology is an atheistic conspiracy.
[i]it was dangerous for students and spectators, and it was time.[/i]
To the extent that there was any real danger, it was entirely addressed by leveling the field, fixing the track, and replacing the stands. You tell me how a press box or a concession building has anything to do with anyone’s safety.
[i]Private funds are being used for much of the renovation Leave it.[/i]
Okay, how much? With all of the hullaballoo about disclosure these days, there has been no clear public answer to that question. Some people have even said that MOST of the renovation is paid for with private funds, and that is certainly not true.
The Blue & White Foundation is raising 1.5 million for the project. A DHS Alum built the project at cost, saving 100’s of thousands. The ADA accessible bathrooms are necessary and the concession building solves many Health Code problems with having a shack or open tent selling refreshments. These are being built with private funds. It is my understanding that only district funds were used for the field and track – the classroom space, which is being used every day, all day and into the evenings by large groups of students.
If parents stopped driving their kids to school, the street would be calmer. They are contributing to and creating the problem. 100’s of cars arrive to drop their kids off and then they complain that all the traffic is making the street dangerous and demand that the City come up with a solution. I believe that these parents need to come up with a solution to their own dangerous behavior.
Rarely do I agree with Greg Kuperberg, but I do on the issue of the DHS Stadium renovations.
That said, when my kids went to West Davis Elementary, which is now Caesar Chavez, the same problems occurred. We were told to avoid driving kids to school – instead park some distance away, and walk over to pick up our kids. I found that answer very unsatisfactory then, but it is what I did. With parking permits instituted, I don’t think that is even possible now.
I am curious though, why aren’t more kids biking/walking to school? Why are so many parents driving their kids to school? I know I used to walk my kids to school if at all possible.
I am glad a task force has finally formed to address the problem. It has been festering for years…
[i]The Blue & White Foundation is raising 1.5 million for the project.[/i]
Ryan, this is a non-answer. Blue and White Foundation did set a goal of $1.5 million, but they never reached it; some of this money is a “donation in kind” of some unclear nature. And for all of what you are giving, you’re not saying how much it costs the district and how much actual cash has been provided by the Blue and White Foundation. Some offhand remarks like yours are no substitute for a real balance sheet for this project. Again, for all the hullaballoo about transparency, no such balance sheet has been made public.
[i]The concession building solves many Health Code problems with having a shack or open tent selling refreshments.[/i]
Well damn, I guess the ballet productions and the school orchestra productions and the junior high track and cross country meets, and basically every extracurricular that my kids have done during our 12 years in Davis, have had to limp along with those health code problems. Also, all of these other extracurricular groups have suffered without a press box.
Seriously, the high school stadium project has the privilege of solving health code problems and safety problems without any actual health code or safety evaluation.
[i]These are being built with private funds.[/i]
Are they? Shouldn’t claims like this begin with a balance sheet?
Again, all of this would be livable if the district did not then say, sorry, we don’t have any facilities money for Cesar Chavez. Even for the step that you want, more kids bicycling, they have told me that don’t have facilities money for better bicycle parking or traffic separation. And actually I agree that more students bicycling would be a good thing.
One reason Elaine is that Chavez is a magnet school that offers dual-immersion and thus draws from around the city, not just the neighborhood.
1. Chavez school is a Magnet School- Kids come from all over town, so drop the 100 offs in fron of the school and probably equal or larger number behind. So while more bike and Ped are good goals, they are not going away.
2. I’ve been told by many parents they won’t let their kids ride to Chavez as they feel access from east- across Anderson Road is unsafe. Bicycling down Rutgers is dangerous with the large number of cars and lack of even a bike lane to wait to cross Anderson.
3. The access across west is also less than ideal. The crossing of Sycamore to go down Villanova from 113 Bike Bridge Path is Illogical and unsafe.
4. This the Villanova x Anderson crossing is the widest unprotected Ped/Bike crossing in the City? certainly widdest on Bike loop. This is access to High School from west.
Lets not expect our Schools to do everything. I want the principal and admin focused on class room activities.
The Public works Engineers are the one who are supposed to be up on safety, particularly off city property or as other properties interface with the street.
Redoing the front of Chavez Parking Lot for a revised drop off might be part of long term solution, but this is just one part of problem: ALL of Anderson needs a fix, and much can be done without redoing the Chavez Parking lot.
Chavez is also one of the larger enrolled elementaries, second (591) only to Birch Lane (616) this year, according to the ed-data website. I think in some years it has been the largest.
[i]I am curious though, why aren’t more kids biking/walking to school?[/i]
Everywhere in the world, cars have gotten much better and more affordable, and the traffic grids have also generally improved. A 2010 minivan is incredibly convenient for a family with a 2010 income, compared to a 1970 station wagon for a family with a 1970 income. In order to keep the bicycling experience in Davis competitive, the city and the district would have to raise its standards over time to match what has happened with cars. It needs to invest in traffic separation and bike parking to make it work.
The university has worked very hard at this and the city has at least tried. The school district has hardly tried. It accommodations for bicycling would have looked great in 1965; today they look mediocre. The fabulous modern cars that people use to drive their kids to school also contribute to the problem, because the bicycling then feels less safe and is less safe.
In fact, one of things that kind-of bothers me about Hammond’s record is that none of his solutions were specific to Davis. Everything he did would have been equally good or bad for Woodland or Bakersfield or anywhere in California. It’s great that he did better than a notoriously bad predecessor, but that only counts for so much. I certainly don’t think that we should mistrust outsiders, but his record is unfortunately consistent with the fact that his family never even lived in Northern California, much less in Davis.
[i]”That said, when my kids went to West Davis Elementary, which is now Caesar Chavez, the same problems occurred. We were told to avoid driving kids to school – instead park some distance away, and walk over to pick up our kids. I found that answer very unsatisfactory then, but it is what I did.”[/i]
When I was a child and I attended West Davis Elementary, starting in kindergarten, we walked to school. Uphill. Both ways.
Ordinarily, my gripe here would be about the assinine parents who insist on driving their kids to school. So many think they are doing their kids good by this practice. Children can walk. They can ride bikes. It’s not too dangerous. Stop being so damn overprotective and ruining your kids’ childhood.
However, in the case of CCE I make an exception because most kids come from distant parts of town.
[i]The access across west is also less than ideal. The crossing of Sycamore to go down Villanova from 113 Bike Bridge Path is Illogical and unsafe.[/i]
Alan, you (and maybe many parents) are making a geography mistake here. If you want to bike to Cesar Chavez from the west, you should take Sycamore to Colby, to Pine, to Cornell, and then take the back bike path to Cesar Chavez.
[i]Redoing the front of Chavez Parking Lot for a revised drop off might be part of long term solution[/i]
It would be most of a long term solution. There is the same mess in front of every school in Davis, except for schools such as Harper that have good traffic separation. If you want the city to rebuild all of Anderson, well that’s not necessarily a bad idea, but you’re changing the subject to a much larger and harder project, and one which would only do so much for Cesar Chavez itself. If your fireplace is broken, that’s not a reason to demand a new house, even if it is true that you could use a new house.
Unfortunately rebuilding the Cesar Chavez parking lot certainly won’t be a short-term solution, if the district has no facilities money.
[i]When I was a child and I attended West Davis Elementary, starting in kindergarten, we walked to school. Uphill. Both ways.[/i]
It was uphill both ways? Wow! I didn’t know that Davis was once like this:
[img=http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_y9JCP1wazVo/Rdz397Z_WEI/AAAAAAAAB60/NXt5cOQ6TFQ/s400/escher_waterfall.jpg]
Some offhand remarks like yours are no substitute for a real balance sheet for this project. Again, for all the hullaballoo about transparency, no such balance sheet has been made public.
Excerpt from Bruce Gallaudet Enterprise article, May 9, 2010:
[url]Brown Construction is handling the project. Its owner, Ron Brown, says Phase 2 includes an entry plaza with the Steve Larsen memorial bike parking area, home-side bleachers with an elevator and press box, new concession stands and restrooms, and extensive concrete flatwork and landscaping.
When finished, the two-phase project with cost about $6 million. Money used to rebuild the multi-use stadium is coming from Davis Joint Unified School District capital project budget and an ambitious Blue & White Foundation fundraising campaign.
“We are happy to announce, that with Brown Construction’s in-kind donations, we have met our $1.5 million fundraising campaign,” foundation president Rochelle Swanson says. “This has been an incredible effort on the part of so many people — not just the donors, but the school district, Ron Brown, our foundation, area businesses.”
[/url]
Some offhand remarks like yours are no substitute for a real balance sheet for this project. Again, for all the hullaballoo about transparency, no such balance sheet has been made public.
If you want the documents on the cost of the project, you could probably find them in the consent calendar of some recent board meeting. I tried to look just now, but the site seemed to be down. You can also file a public information request in the lobby of the district office for that information. I think they’re obligated to respond w/ in 2 weeks.
My understanding is that Phase 2 (press box included) is funded by the $1.5 million above. Do you think that the school board should have rejected the private donation that would have covered phase 2 because it included a new press box?
When I was a child and I attended West Davis Elementary, starting in kindergarten, we walked to school. Uphill. Both ways.
I did the same, but from Winters, barefoot, in the snow…
[i]My understanding is that Phase 2 (press box included) is funded by the $1.5 million above. Do you think that the school board should have rejected the private donation that would have covered phase 2 because it included a new press box?[/i]
If it is true that Phase 2 is funded entirely by private donations, then sure, it doesn’t hurt the public kitty do spend these private donations. But there has been a lot here that begins with “My understanding is…”. Some people have decided that it’s a great idea without really checking.
Yes, I don’t have good numbers either, but I do know this much: (a) the school board approved a large expenditure on the stadium, (b) the district rejected a request to renovate Emerson, and (c) the explanation for several turns of events now is that there is no facilities money.
In fact, one might hope that the Blue and White Foundation itself, whose president is a city council candidate, would be completely transparent about this huge project that it asked for. It shouldn’t have to wait for critics to file public information requests — it can be a lot of work to make such requests and untangle the information that comes back. Even more so to untangle this, that, and the other understanding.
Regarding safety issues at Cesar Chavez Elementary, here is an opportunity for a senior volunteer or a public service officer to get involved educating parents/drivers in bicycle safety and appropriate procedures when dropping-off/picking-up passengers. This would also send the message to parents and students,”We must be responsible for our own safety.”
Sorry to interrupt the stadium rant.
Thanks Biddlin, I’m very concerned about this issue, my granddaughter goes to that school. Maybe Don can direct people not to divert comment threads with off topic subjects such as the stadium every other issue.
[i]Regarding safety issues at Cesar Chavez Elementary, here is an opportunity for a senior volunteer or a public service officer to get involved educating parents/drivers in bicycle safety and appropriate procedures when dropping-off/picking-up passengers.[/i]
Biddlin, educating parents or whoever sometimes has its place, but it’s also the throwaway solution when there is no money for a real solution. If you consider why people bicycle in Davis in the first place, it certainly isn’t just because we’ve all been tutored in the virtues of bicycling. There are lots of cities that are perfectly happy to raise awareness for bicycling and recycling and all kinds of things, but it never gets very far without practical incentives and serious infrastructure. Even more than cities, it’s always a favorite activity of schools — they are always raising awareness for a dozen different issues.
It only takes one look at Google Maps to see that the Cesar Chavez school zone is poorly designed. Certainly the Marguerite Montgomery school site looks like Frank Lloyd Wright in comparison. So does the Harper site, and in that example Covell is hardly a nicer street than Anderson. So you can’t expect safety education to work here without some real engineering. And the idea that it’s only the city’s responsibility also doesn’t make sense.
“Biddlin, educating parents or whoever sometimes has its place(I had to check and make sure I hadn’t doubled up om my meds when I read that), but it’s also the throwaway solution when there is no money for a real solution.” Hardly a throwaway solution, driver education pays immediate and lasting benefits, which is why many municipalities and large corporations employ “Emergency Vehicle Operation Course” programs. All the striping and concrete in creation can’t prevent a thoughtless act, but education can.
The point is, biddlin, education won’t work either unless you also have the striping and concrete. Besides, accident records in Davis show that Davis drivers are already well educated compared to drivers in other cities. I’ve been bicycling and driving in Davis for 14 years — I miscounted when I said 12 — and I do not need to be tutored in how to drop off children at school. Especially not by a district with poorly placed parking. They should stick to the three Rs and address the traffic problems with facilities funds.
I would never dispute the view of such an erudite poster as GK, however the photographs above indicate that not all people in Davis are as learned and skilled in the loading and unloading of passengers, merging, or other driving skills. Although I cannot site statistical data, I wonder how often hubris and complacency result in vehicle accidents.
biddlin, I don’t think that hubris has much to do with it, but I would argue that we are all busy people and that we are entitled to a little complacency.
I have participated in the pick up and drop off mess in front of many public schools in Davis: Cesar Chavez, Valley Oak, Holmes, the high school. We and our kids have also biked past Willett and North Davis Elementary, which have some of the same trouble. It is true that with some experience and a good night’s sleep, I can focus on these traffic snarls. I learned to tell my kids to get ready to step out the door without dawdling, and to be absolutely sure to get out on the RIGHT and not the LEFT. I learned about the rear access to Chavez from Cornell and the rear access to Valley Oak from Colgate. And I learned that L Street and Hemlock/Menlo, not just Drexel, can be useful for dropping of kids at Holmes.
But parents only have so much time for these details. As I understand it, the district gets millions of dollars in facilities money every year from Mello-Roos taxes, precisely so that it can fix such problems. Instead, the attitude recently was that the district didn’t have all that much to spend that money on other than __________.
Bruce Colby sent me (along with Greg) some information about the Mello-Roos and also the reasons for the stadium fix. One piece of information he did tell me was that this has been a board priority for some time. Colby told me that when he was hired it was a concern and when Hammond was hired he was told that was one of the goals. We can get more into this later if you want.
Here’s what he sent:
1. Mello-Roos Funds
The $6 million of taxes collected annually are used for Debt Service (principal & interest) for capital projects. The last project funded by Mello-Roos capital was Phase I of the stadium. There is no fiscal capacity at this time to issue more debt.
2. The Stadium Project Phase II
The bleachers, press/announcer booth, restrooms and concession stand were unsafe and/or non ADA compliant. The concession stand had been shut down permanently by County Health last year due to unsafe conditions. The bathrooms and bleachers did not meet standards for people with disabilities (ADA). The district has had ADA complaints and has results from official compliance reviews noting the ADA deficiencies. Additionally, we have had accident claims and injuries from broken bleachers. These are all fixed in the new construction.
The press/announcer booth is a standard part of a stadium and had to be replaced and upgraded as part of the project. Once a facility is upgraded, we are required to make the whole facility ADA compliant. The facility is viewed as whole and must be ADA compliant from the parking lot to every area of the stadium. All school projects are approved and reviewed by the California Division of State Architect (DSA). This is a very detailed process and in the end ensures that school facilities are safe and meet the needs of people with disabilities.
This upgrade will generate revenue for student programs. The increased capacity will bring in more gates and concession revenue that goes directly to student programs. Additionally, it will increase other new events can that bring funds to the district and DHS. We are also looking at moving DHS graduation from UCD to the new stadium. This will save about $20,000 per year to the DHS site budget.
“biddlin, I don’t think that hubris has much to do with it, but I would argue that we are all busy people and that we are entitled to a little complacency.” Sounds like hubris to me. When operating a two ton vehicle, one should never be complacent. Perhaps you can tell us how much inconvenience is the life of a child worth, using your own child as the standard?