Hermosa Beach City School District

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Hermosa Beach City School District

• Walk to School Initiative

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Objectives

• Reduce number of car trips by students
• Identify opportunities and issues associated with
  walking or biking to school
• Engage school community and city in increasing
  walking and biking
• Publicize information about walking

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Methodology

• Have initial meeting with Pioneer group and use
  maps to identify proposed safe routes
• Pioneer volunteers walk proposed routes and
  evaluate safety and other concerns
• Survey of school families to identify interest in
  reducing automobile trips and concerns
• Share survey results and elicit comments
• Make appropriate adjustments
• Develop implementation plan

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Methodology

• Have initial meeting with Pioneer group and use
  maps to identify proposed safe routes
• Pioneer volunteers walk proposed routes and
  evaluate safety and other concerns
• Survey of school families to identify interest in
  reducing automobile trips and concerns
• Share survey results and elicit comments
• Make appropriate adjustments
• Develop implementation plan

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Pioneer Walk-to-Schoolers

• Sharon McClain, superintendent
• Lisa Ryder, parent
• Catherine Landis, parent
• Greg Breen, school board member
• Tommy Thompson, police officer
• David Barr, interim police chief

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Pin map of 05-06 school population - Valley
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Pin map of 05-06 school population - View
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Pin map of 05-06 school population
DistrictValley/ View
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Proposed routes Prospect Valley/
Greenbelt Strand 2nd Street 8th Street (west of
PCH) 7th Street (east of PCH) Pier Ave 16th
Street 21st Street 27th/ Gould
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CommentThe school population is distributed
throughout the community, with no part of the
city predominant in terms of draw. The approach
to identifying safe routes should therefore focus
on the whole city, and not just on certain areas.
The principal arterials and streets that have
controlled crossings across major highways, and
that extend most of the length or width of the
City, are our starting point for review.
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Methodology

• Have initial meeting with Pioneer group and use
  maps to identify proposed safe routes
• Pioneer volunteers walk proposed routes and
  evaluate safety and other concerns
• Survey of school families to identify interest in
  reducing automobile trips and concerns
• Share survey results and elicit comments
• Make appropriate adjustments
• Develop implementation plan

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Observations on initial walkthroughEighth
Street no sidewalks east of PCH or west of
Valley, narrow walkways and no traffic buffer
between PCH and Ardmore16th Street most
direct route between View School and Valley
School, but needs city sidewalk
workValley/Ardmore and Gould is prime candidate
for crossing guardGreenbelt may be difficult
for kids with rolling backpacksIn many areas,
folks park their cars in their driveways and
block the sidewalks, forcing kids to walk into
the street to get past.Particularly west of
PCH, parking is permitted in some areas very
close to intersections, limiting visibility for
motorists.
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Methodology

• Have initial meeting with Pioneer group and use
  maps to identify proposed safe routes
• Pioneer volunteers walk proposed routes and
  evaluate safety and other concerns
• Survey of school families to identify interest in
  reducing automobile trips and concerns
• Share survey results and elicit comments
• Make appropriate adjustments
• Develop implementation plan

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Survey approach

• Survey parents to identify major themes and
  concerns or opportunities
• Share survey results with survey participants and
  community, and with City
• Ask for further free form comments from
  participants
• Refine and re-survey based on survey input

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To start, we divided the City into six zones
based on main arterials 2nd, Gould/27th,
Pier/Aviation, and PCH
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Northernmost (16) Northwest (39) Northeast (23)
Southwest (17) Southeast (35) Southernmost (13)
143 total surveys, as shown
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Inventory of survey responses about current
transportation modes, total district
Note total responses (first line) is the total
number of responses, and not the total number of
surveys. The total responses will generally be
larger, since respondents may have several kids
and/ or may have indicated several means of
transport.
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Inventory of current transportation modes, by
grouping (K-2, 3-5, MS)
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CommentTables of figures, although the best
source for analytical review, are inherently
difficult to digest and understand quickly. One
approach toward making matrices easier to
understand is to color code values within the
matrix based on certain criteria, and then to
review color patterns to see if either the
abscissa or ordinate discloses trends that can be
acted on. In the next slides, we color code
based using the familiar green-yellow-red trilogy
to show number of responses reporting each means
of transport red cells indicate fewer than one
third of responses lie in that cell yellow
indicated one-third to two-thirds of respondents
report use of that method and green indicates
that more than two-thirds of responses are in
that cell.
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Color coded transportation modes, by grouping
(K-2, 3-5, MS)
Red 0-1/3, Yellow 1/3-2/3, Green 2/3-3/3
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Color coded transportation modes, District
Red 0-1/3, Yellow 1/3-2/3, Green 2/3-3/3
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To school trends
Note data is for different cohorts and
therefore not a true trend
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To home trends
Note data is for different cohorts and
therefore not a true trend
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CommentFolks prefer to drive, and the number of
folks driving to school does not seem to decrease
that is, once the pattern of driving to school
is set, it seems to continue. As kids get older,
more tend to get themselves home. There is a
tendency for kids not being driven not to cross
PCH. The area closest to View school sees a lot
of parents walking with their kids to school.

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Potential concerns surveyed

• Physical danger
• Neighborhood traffic
• School traffic
• Inadequate sidewalks/ bikeways
• Distance too great
• Not enough time to ride/ bike
• After school schedule too busy
• More convenient to drop kid off on way to work
• Child would be walking/ riding alone
• Child does not like to walk/ ride
• Backpacks too heavy

As identified by Pioneer group
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Physical danger (crime, bullying, stranger danger)
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Traffic in our neighborhood
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Traffic around school
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Inadequate sidewalks or bikeways
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Distance to school is too great
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Not enough time to walk or bike
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After school schedule is too busy
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More convenient to drop kids off at school on the
way to work
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Child would be walking/ riding alone
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Children do not like walking or biking to school
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Backpacks are too heavy
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Comparison of concern levels
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CommentThe primary concern is traffic,
primarily neighborhood traffic but secondarily
traffic in the area around school. There is also
concern about kids walking alone, both fear of
physical danger and concern about supervision.
Kids seem to like the independence that comes
with self-transportation to school, and neither
time nor distance is a principal concern. The
weight of backpacks emerges as a large concern.

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Suggestions
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Other comments/ suggestions

• PCH is too dangerous
• Backpacks are too heavy
• Kids at different schools, not enough time
• Too far to walk
• Kids are not old enough

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Suggestions for crossing guards

• Gould and Valley/Ardmore
• Aviation and Prospect
• 16th and Prospect
• Aviation and PCH
• 2nd and PCH
• 5th and PCH
• 8th and Valley/Ardmore

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Crossing guardsCurrentPopular proposed
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CommentThree principal concerns emerge from the
comments about crossing guards.1. PCH is
perceived as a major barrier and there is a major
reluctance to have kids cross without a crossing
guard, even at a controlled intersection. 2.
Prospect, while a wide street with a good traffic
buffer in most places, is considered dangerous to
cross since travelers along Prospect apparently
only genuflect at stop signs and do not come to
full stops and watch for pedestrians.Aviation
and Prospect was the second-most-frequently
mentioned intersection at which crossing guards
were wanted. 3. The oblique intersection at
Gould and Valley/ Ardmore is a major concern (and
is cited most frequently as the intersection
needing a crossing guard).
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Would you allow your child to participate in a
walk to School program?
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Would you be willing to help plan a walk to
School program?
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Can you walk with a group of kids one or more
times per week?
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Would you be willing to allow your house to be
used as a checkpoint or safe house for kids
walking to or from school?
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CommentFolks are generally supportive of the
effort to get kids to walk to school, but we deal
with the perennial problem of folks simply not
having enough time.
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Methodology

• Have initial meeting with Pioneer group and use
  maps to identify proposed safe routes
• Pioneer volunteers walk proposed routes and
  evaluate safety and other concerns
• Survey of school families to identify interest in
  reducing automobile trips and concerns
• Share survey results and elicit comments
• Make appropriate adjustments
• Develop implementation plan

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Survey sharing

• Sharing survey results is the purpose for this
  presentation
• Results will also be shared with Rick Morgan at
  the City for his use in developing City plans for
  increased walking, and for use in applying for
  grants.
• Will work with BCHD to emulate their Redondo
  Walks program.
• Next step will be to send Emails to survey
  participants asking for review and feedback
• We will also ask for help and ideas in arranging
  incentives for kids walking to school (regular
  Walk-to-School days, pedometers, school credit,
  coffee for parents walking with kids, etc).

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Methodology

• Have initial meeting with Pioneer group and use
  maps to identify proposed safe routes
• Pioneer volunteers walk proposed routes and
  evaluate safety and other concerns
• Survey of school families to identify interest in
  reducing automobile trips and concerns
• Share survey results and elicit comments
• Make appropriate adjustments (to be done)
• Develop implementation plan (to be done)

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Questions or Comments?

• Contact Greg Breen, breen.quane_at_verizon.net