I have been working with the City of Albuquerque, & Albuquerque Public Schools for over 3 years now to get something accomplished. My hope is now that R.J. Berry is the mayor and David Robbins is on the APS school board & there is a new principal at Chelwood Elementary School, Rick Barden, maybe something might be done. Please support this project by texting "issue 12951"to 41411

Per DMD-Traffic Studies
Case is open and waiting assignment

2 other items that should be done are:
- Chelwood School teachers/employees to park on school grounds and NOT on Eastridge, since this makes children dart between cars onto oncoming traffic when they are trying to cross the street. There is plenty of vacant land on school property to handle their cars.
- Speed Bumps should be added on Eastridge to slow down traffic, since so many children try to cross Eastridge to get to the school's playground when school is not in session.

Thanks Zoie for your comments. If the principal is willing to ask the teachers to park inside the school grounds that would help. Don't know why the teachers park outside on the street.

Thanks for your comments. I was told that the principal Rick Barden keeps the gates open until the morning bell rings and then closes the gates. The cars outside the gates are late. I don't know if this is true or not. I also heard that he is aware of this issue #12951 and the more people become aware of this issue the better possibility for resolving it. Please feel free to contact me as to finding ways to create more involvement.

There is NO way that the crossing guard can be moved from Indian School and Eastridge! That is a VERY busy street and to remove the crossing guard would be reckless the cars do not always slow down for the school zone and coming around the curve they would not see the children. I know it is not a high traffic crosswalk BUT it is use by children and the Crossing Guard needs to stay there. I think another solution needs to be thought of.

More on the comment above. I think the main issue with Eastridge is the parents are not utilizing the WONDERFUL parent drop off. If that were used then there would not be the children crossing the street unsupervised. If a parent wants to walk their child in they should use an area where there is a crossing guard. There has been some discussion about closing the gate on eastridge so that there would be no access to the school from that side, which I think that is a WONDERFUL solution.

Thanks for your comments. By voting for this issue doesn't mean you agree with every element as outlined in this topic. It is just an opportunity to participate. Please don't just comment but vote to support resolving the current traffic and safety concerns at Chelwood Elem. Please text "issue 12951" to "41411" to support real change.

There does not need to be a crossing guard on Eastridge! Parents should not be leaving children on Eastridge. Parents should utilize the Parent Pick-Up Lane. There should be a crossing guard on Indian School and Eastridge--that is why there is one there.
Parents need to be the ones to teach their children responsibility and respect of the laws. Use crosswalks, no jay-walking.
Speed limit signs should be posted on Eastridge.

Thank you for your comment. Please vote to see changes to the situation. Text "issue 12951" to "41411" or please vote on the website related page. All comments are valuable. However, if there aren't enough votes for change the city won't see this as an important issue. As important as your comments are only votes will be noticed and referenced by the city of Albuquerque.

Thank you for your comment and support to fix the traffic problems near Chelwood Elementary School. All ideas are welcome.

I wonder what the text number is to vote against change. The parents need to do the changing, and no one can make them change. If you stand on the street and watch the parents drop off in the morning, you see where the behavior begins.

Thank you for your comment. Not sure what you mean about voting against change. Do you like the status quo (the way things are)?

I am a parent. What do you propose to get the parent's to change their behavior? You don't seriously expect offenders to just behave rationally without any information or help.

It is unfortunate that we need signs, rules, & laws to help some people be respectful of others but if that is what it takes, how is that bad?

I and my children experience everyday the danger and frustration of this ongoing problem so I have been working for several years with many different methodologies. I am open to fixing the problem.

Please make a viable suggestion and help get involved.

The case is still open pending research. Per the Traffic Division, the issue was reviewed in March 2009 by the interested parties.

arm

Howard DeLaCruz-Bancroft said "I am working with councilor Harris to continue looking for positive answers. The Dec 10 Traffic Control study did not agree with the suggestions offered but we are looking for positive contributions. Councilor Harris has asked the Traffic Control to find answers to the problems of speeding, unsafe and unmarked crossing areas next to the Chelwood Elem school."

Thank you. I have updated the case with your information.

arm

Please update the current status of this situation. Thank you.

arm

Another meeting is scheduled 9/14/11 with city councilor Don Harris, APS school board member David Robbins, Letha Oman the principal for Chelwood Elem & myself, Howard DeLaCruz-Bancroft, the Eastridge APD neighborhood watch captain, to revisit the continual and dangerous traffic conditions for walkers and drivers alike. We will see what happens. It has been 5 years and nothing seems to get done. APD wants traffic signs so violators can be cited but they cannot until the signs show the area as a school zone and require a 15mph when children are present.

Thank you for the update. We will continue to monitor this issue through SeeClickFix.com

arm

The City of Albuquerque needs to modify their "traffic density algorithms" to accomodate school areas where the traffic fluctuates to the extremes in the morning, afternoon and during after school activities. This issue has lasted beyond any reasonable time period. It is very frustrating for the families that attend school in the area and the neighbors as well.

Thank you for your comments. They have been forwarded to Traffic Engineering. Please contact the Director of Municipal Development, Michael Riordan, for additional feedback regarding this issue at 768-3830.

arm

Howard DeLaCruz-Bancroft had a conversation with APS school board member David Robbins on 10/11/12. He is willing to appeal to the directly to the Mayor on this issue because DMD (dept of muni dev) CABQ (city of Albuquerque) Mike Riordan, mriordan@cabq.gov 768-5300 & Traffic Engineering apparently tell him that after all the studies and meetings with APS, APD, Chelwood & parents, since 2006, they (CABQ) doesn't want to be held liable for any changes requested.

Mr. Robbins said the city of Albuquerque will be liable if anybody gets hurt and a wrongful death or injury case shows that ultimately there is sufficient show of negligence because the city ignored the repeated & reasonable requests of the community. This will most likely cost the city taxpayers thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Howard DeLaCruz-Bancroft is proposing legislation to legislators (he was a legislative assistant last session) to require all municipalities to post signs and provide crosswalks for all pedestrian entry & exit points onto public roadways with signs that notify drivers to reduce speed to 15mph, no passing, before and during school and any school activity where children may be present at those locations and extend the school zone 200 feet beyond the nearest intersection of those crossings.

Mr. Robbins said there is a "Blue Team" study that hasn't been released since last year and he is advocating the release and proposal to CABQ. Howard DeLaCruz-Bancroft is willing to file a FOI (freedom of information) request to make the study public.

Thank you for your comments. They will be added to the original cases.

CEHC

The City of Albuquerque's Municipal Development explained they do not want to put up speed limit signs or notices of school children because they don't want to give the appearance that the area is safer than it really is.

Hoping a new chief of police can intervene at some point.

This issues has been outstanding for over 1660 days. The Chelwood Elementary school principal Letha Oman has provided school personnel to be near the North West gate to help provide a presence.

She has implemented a policy that children are not allowed to cross the street without an adult. Some of the personnel help children and older grandparents cross the street. This is a big help. Thank you Ms. Oman.

Other school personnel just watch as speeders fly by almost hitting pedestrians. The inconsistency isn't helpful. This is a classic case of the system being more interested in following someone's "interpretation" of the regulations at the detriment of weightier matters of safety.

However, the rules clearly indicate that safety trumps all regulations, but good luck finding someone willing to see the reality of this sad and hopefully never tragic situation. It may take a TV news team to bring the appropriate attention to this matter.

Ps. To anybody who comes to visit the site. On any given day the traffic changes and the dangerousness of the situation varies from day to day. Some days are alarming with two lanes of parked cars, two lanes of traffic and a lane of those attempting to enter the pickup/drop off area. All the while someone is actually passing a slower vehicle and children wrongfully scurry under the fence dodging cars to cross the street.

Look at the area on Lester Dr. NE next to the Three Fountains apartment adjacent to the east side of the Wyoming WalMart for an example of something that would help without putting up speed bumps for those vehemently opposed to such options.

This issue has been outstanding for 1660 days not "This issue(s)".

Also, the initial issue should read: There are no traffic control devices not "There is no traffic control device(s)" Sorry about the bad grammar when I am typing fast the mind trails behind. Hopefully, the issue garners more attention than the syntax.

This is what it looks like when it is somewhat busy. Notice the four (4) lanes of traffic. All this while children and grandparents try to cross the street & while some try to make a U turn in the middle of all this mess.

Howard DeLaCruz-Bancroft met with city councilor Don Harris 6/21/15 on alternative ways to address this ongoing unresolved issues.

7 YEARS and this issue is still here? Does the city ever scrub all the issues that are listed and check for resolution?

7 years and city councilor Harris hasn't made any progress on this issue. I will keep pursuing the concern but progress has been made with Chelwood elementary which has helped. It looks like we need a different city councilor. I think the city is pre-occupied withe the "ART Project" which appears to be an unwanted distraction.

I recently sent an email to City Councilor Don Harris about this outstanding issue, among others but he hasn't responded yet. I will text him and see if this makes any difference.

I received an email from city counselor, Don Harris's office, 6 months later asking for a follow-up.
Let's see if something gets done. It's been 8 years since I first posted this but I've been bringing attention to this issue since 2007.

Hmmmmm, I know the wheels of justice move slowly but this beyond sad. Some progress has been made over the years but now that area has been partially blocked off so that if someone gets hurt, APS has limited indemnification. The city will still be largely liable however. This more of a CYA response than a fix.

Too bad that might be what it takes to get change. A sure sign this world is not as it should be.

Hard to believe 4420 days and nothing done.