Some residents say there is no room for such walkways, which would lead to the local school, and that traffic and restrictions against property owners will be problematic.
By Lindsay Kuhn/Special to The Malibu Times
Malibu was awarded a grant in December to build walkways to Point Dume Marine Science Elementary School, and has since been met with mixed reactions. Those in favor of the project emphasize the pathways would protect children who already walk to school, and encourage parents who have not let their children walk to school to do so. Those in contention claim the plan will impinge on property owners and create unsafe conditions for vehicular traffic, and has been characterized by a lack of planning.
Caltrans, through Safe Routes to Schools, a program created to increase the number of children walking and biking to school as a means to enhance their health and to offer traffic relief, awarded the City of Malibu approximately $380,000 to construct a decomposed granite walkway on Dume Drive, Grayfox Street and Fernhill Drive, which would link to the path on Wildlife Road. Parents in the PTA at Point Dume Marine Science Elementary School started the initiative.
Deborah La Gorce Kramer, fourth vice president of the PTA, in charge of all aspects of safety for the school, cited recent changes in the population and character of Point Dume as the impetus for these pathways.
“Twenty years ago, kids walked through canyons and backyards. Now they have to walk in the streets,” she said, noting that backyards have become more privatized over the years.
La Gorce Kramer mentioned that safety has been an issue for a while, but escalated in the past year due to an increased number of students at Point Dume Marine Science Elementary School.
“Last year was the first year the school reached capacity,” she said.
Capacity is reached with 320 students. La Gorce Kramer added that 60 of the 320 students wanted to walk to school at the beginning of this year. She started walking to school last year.
“It’s not a safe place for kids to walk,” she said. “People speed. There are blind curves, cars parked on shoulders.”
Pete Anthony, a member on the board of the Safety Committee of the Point Dume Marine Science Elementary School, has three children at the school and talks about the issue with a sense of urgency.
“I’ve seen near misses,” he said, referring to children almost being hit by cars.
John Mazza, a resident against the plan to create pathways, agrees that children should have a safe route to walk to school. “I’m not against kiddies having a way to get to school,” he said.
Mazza, however, is fighting these pathways because, for one, he’s concerned about the implications they will have on traffic in the area and the restrictions they will bring for property owners.
“The problem is that they [the pathways] will eliminate off-street parking and people will have to park on the street,” he said. “The streets are too rustic and narrow for that.”
Mazza thinks the pathways will create an unsafe situation, which would lead to an increased number of accidents.
La Gorce Kramer sees things in a different light. She thinks the pathways would improve vehicular traffic by alleviating it since she expects more children to walk to school.
“There would be less congestion,” she said.
There are concerns that the pathways would change the rustic quality of the neighborhood. La Gorce Kramer cites the congestion as a reason why she thinks the pathways would, in fact, do the opposite.
“With more people walking to school, it would protect the rural nature of the neighborhood,” she said.
Mazza is also worried about the encroachment the pathways will create, on property owners. “The real problem with trails is that there are real restrictions with what you can do with your property if there’s a trail,” he said.
But before anything is done, the city manager has to meet with the residents. Mayor Kearsley insists that the decision is going to be democratic. There is already discussion on whether the city will need to contribute more money to the plan.
“We’re going to take input from people who live on the point,” Kearsley said.
While some criticize the effort for being disorganized, Anthony is convinced that the kinks will have time to be ironed out. “There are plenty of chances for this to get bedded within the community,” he said.
This isn’t the first project of its kind in Malibu. In 2000, a similar walkway was completed near Juan Cabrillo Elementary School, Malibu High School and Malibu Methodist Nursery School.