March 9, 2006

By Donna Stefanik
Contributing Writer

The words “pedestrian advocacy” evoke images of families walking together in quiet wooded neighborhoods, but pedestrian safety is very much an urban and low-income issue, according to advocacy organization Feet First.

“ Pedestrian advocacy is thought of as being more suburban and middle class,” says David Levinger, executive director of Feet First, “but generally, people who are lower income are more impacted by pedestrian safety.”

That’s apparent if you happen to drive past Bailey Gatzert Elementary in Seattle’s Central District at the beginning or end of the school day. The school sits just steps from four busy arterials: Boren Ave. S., Yesler Way, 12th and 14th Aves. Many of the children walking to school must cross one or more of the streets daily. The area is not designated as a school zone.

“ It’s terrifying,” says Jen Cole, project coordinator for Safe Routes to School, of the situation at Gatzert. She added that a “school zone” designation would require a speed limit of 20 miles per hour. “There’s an 85 percent chance of pedestrians being killed at 40 miles per hour, and 40 miles per hour isn’t unusual at Gatzert.”

In addition to the walking students, 100 parents drop off and pick up their children daily, leading to additional danger. “We have kids walking home going between the cars,” she says, adding that statistically, most children hit by cars at a school are hit by parents of other children.

Gatzert was chosen for participation in Safe Routes because it is in a low-income area and has a large immigrant population, says Levinger. The organization recently got a “2006 Safety Superstar” award from the state Department of Transportation.

To reduce the danger to Gatzert students, Cole’s project includes the growing “Walking School Bus.” The award-winning plan involves parents walking youth to school via safe routes.

Because of the diverse student body at Gatzert, Cole reached out to parents from several ethnic communities, whose members are from countries where walking is the most common mode of transportation. Thus far, some Latino, Somali, and Ethiopian “Parent Champions” have become involved.

“ What’s good is that we’ve been able to tie into the cultural heritage of the students,” Cole says.

With language an issue, none of the Gatzert parent champions wanted to be interviewed for this story, but Cole said that among their communities, parent champions are organizing additional parents to walk children to school. So far, the project has up to 20 children participating on any given day.

Cole is also working with parents to get the state Department of Transportation to reduce the area speed limit and change parking designations along neighboring streets to school drop-off and pick up zones, rather than parking spaces for nearby hospital workers.

But hampering the effort is the fact that the area looks safe, “at least on paper,” Cole says, “But it’s not. It can be very treacherous.”

Feet First recently got a grant to expand the Walking School Bus project to four other Seattle schools. Wing Luke Elementary, on South Seattle’s Beacon Hill, is in the first stages of its program, and Cole is in talks with several others. They include Dunlap, Emerson, and Dearborn Park, also all South Seattle elementary schools.

Cole’s approach at Wing Luke differs from that at Gatzert, in that it works through a nutrition program. The first stage, nutrition education, is already underway. Later, the program will evolve into getting families to walk their children to school and stay for breakfast.

Wing Luke Principal Ellen Punyon says that though the school itself isn’t on a main artery, students from nearby housing complex Othello Station would have to cross Beacon Avenue to reach her school, and another busy street, 37th Ave. has no sidewalks.

“ Parents get very nervous about it. They don’t want their kids walking,” Punyon says, adding that she’s glad to see the program start up. “There’s a definite need for a program like this,” Puny on says. n