Is Leominster High School creating its own traffic and parking problems?

The Sentinel recently ran an article about the traffic and parking problems at Leominster High School. Basically there is too much traffic and not enough parking. But is there something that the administrators at the high school can do themselves to alleviate the problems?

I went to Leominster High although I did not have a car. Many of my friends did and many of the ones that had cars lived close enough that they could very well have walked to school but who wants to be seen walking to high school right?

I’d like to suggest a solution to the parking problem that will then help to ease the traffic problems on Granite and Exchange St. I think the only way to help the traffic is to decrease the number of students driving to school so I will offer my parking solution and the traffic problem should be somewhat mitigated although it will never go away. It’s up to the faculty and administrators to step up and make some immediate changes to their parking policies if they want to see changes.

First thing…figure out exactly how many parking spaces the school has on-site. Actually the very first thing to do is to put No Parking signs on Kingman Drive. Parking should be limited to striped spaces only. The recent accident on Kingman Drive should be evidence enough that that road isn’t wide enough to accomodate on-street parking. It’s narrow and winding and clearly an unsafe road.

The second thing along with figuring out how many parking spaces their are in the various lots is to figure out how many are required for the staff. After designating the staff parking, whatever is left is for the students except for a small number of spots that should be designated for visitors.

Rather than allowing all Seniors and Juniors to drive to school, have a lottery. Only give out as many parking permits as the school can accomodate in the on-site parking areas. Maybe there is an opportunity to create a little more parking but I’m sure they look at that option every year. First you start with Seniors, draw names to see who gets parking permits. If all seniors are accomodated, go to the Juniors and maybe a few Juniors get parking permits too.

Not only should they limit the number of parking permits that are issued, they should restrict the issuance of parking permits to students that live a certain distance from the school. If  you live less than 1 mile or so from the school there is no excuse not to be able to walk.

With all the hoopla around the environment and preserving the ozone layer and carbon emissions, it would do everyone good if more people walked to school. Maybe offer students that ride bikes to school some sort of reward like each time a student rides a bike to school they get entered into a drawing for something like a computer or maybe a new bike.

What about the problem with obesity in high school students? I think some of those kids need to do more walking for the health benefits. I don’t mean to be disrespectful but kids these days are a lot lazier then they were years ago. Obesity is a real problem. Am I right?

Now the downside to my idea is that there is a potential for more students needing to be bussed to school but by limiting the parking privelages to students that truly need transportation, you aren’t picking up new bussing students. The kids that lose parking privelages because they live too close to the school wouldn’t qualify for bussing anyways.

Now I don’t have the figures on how many parking permits are given out now and how many students park on Kingman Drive but I think it’s worth looking into. The benefits are sure to outway the drawbacks. I’m sorry if a group of students are going to get mad because they have to walk to school but maybe somebody can start a carpool service or something. Get creative…

Do you have any ideas to help the parking/traffic problem at Leominster High School?

I’d love to hear them…