A lot of moms I hear from, across the country and world really, are fed up with people driving too fast through their neighborhoods. Making it unsafe to simply walk and bike. If you are one of these moms or dads, I wanted to share with you what I've been doing to try and activate some community support to slow people down in our very dangerous neighborhood.
Last summer I held a community meeting.
One person showed up.
But over a toast we formed a group called "Insert Your Community Name Here" Walks. In reference to Los Angeles Walks.
We talked about getting sidewalks installed and we both set off with our respective petitions.
Last night I held my second meeting. PTA was nice enough to email the whole school about it and I put a letter, hand signed in 70 mailboxes.
8 people showed up, including a reporter from our local paper, that's the best part.
I have never been an activist as I've mentioned. So I did what I do. I printed out interesting article and highlighted them. I printed out emails from the City reps I have been talking to.
I served some food and wine.
A big thanks to Tom from Keep Kids Alive Drive 25 for his advice. I bought 10 signs from him and 3 neighbors bought some from me.
So, we are trying to get people to put signs in their yards and I just shot off a letter to the city guy asking what about speed bumps, what about cameras, what about lowering the residential street that is 35MPH?
One parent mentioned how even though a street, one of them, has a sidewalk, people are plowing down it so fast that one false step from a child and boom, hit. It's very scary.
Look, we want to give our kids freedom but it's simply way too dangerous right now in our neighborhood.
If you have any interest or frustration please don't hesitate to email me or take some tips front this post.
At least I feel like I'm doing something.