With the Green New Deal Club on the corner of Culver and Elenda handing out seed packets for California poppies, and the bright green Culver CityBus parked in front of the high school, the Culver City Unified School District Earth Day celebration was as green as it could get.
Mayor Dan O’Brien was on hand, supporting the festivities. “This is a great way to get parents to do that three-block challenge, and just drop off a little ways away.” While many students ride bikes or walk in on any typical day, the ease of having a car-free street was evident in smiling faces of those heading to class.
Edgar Varela, the events coordinator for the city, was very pleased. “The whole thing came together pretty easily, and we were way under budget; always a good thing.” After weeks of notifications from the city and the school district, simply setting up some barriers so that people knew the street was closed to car traffic and having some Culver City Police on hand to enforce.
The little kids on the bikes – Farragut students – we having a real holiday, riding down the street with laughter and shouting.
The first of its kind, the two hour long open streets event gave the students one day with a car free route to school along CCUSD’s busiest school commute corridor.
Bike Culver City’s Art Nomura offered “It could be like this every day. Giving the kids a chance to ride without the threat of car traffic ought to be the way to go.”
“Providing students with safer routes to school is the cornerstone of the program” Jim Shanman, Culver City Safe Routes to School Coordinator enthused. “We are excited to demonstrate the value of removing cars from the equation and demonstrating to parents that parking just a few blocks away is not as hard as it seems.”
Parents are always encouraged to park and walk with their students away from campus, or drop their students along Huron, Coombs, the parking lot at Culver/Elenda or at the pedestrian bridge, North of Ballona Creek.
The open streets event was part of the City-wide Culver City Safe Routes to School program that encourages families to rethink their commutes to school in an effort to reduce traffic and create safer, cleaner school communities.
Just like the Green New Deal Club, planting a a few seeds can be the way to grow.
Judith Martin-Straw