A New Rochelle crossing guard was struck by a car on November 12th and is recovering at home. According to the recent Trinity PTA newsletter, “Mr. Rizzutti, our crossing guard on North Ave. and Pelham Rd. was hit by a car on November 12th and is now recovering at home from a serious head injury. Gratefully, he should make a full recovery.”
The newsletter article continues.
This should be a strong reminder to all students and parents that not all people passing by our school are part of our community and are not taking care when driving through our neighborhood.
There are so many distractions today and we must use extreme caution when coming to and leaving our school with our children.
We also ask that parents dropping off and picking up children respect the drop off zone and do not double and triple park on Church St. and Pelham roads, or cross in the middle of these streets with your children, this has become as much of a hazard as speeding through the school zone. We have been very lucky that no children have been hurt, please help us protect them.
If you would like to send your wishes or a card to Mr. Rizzutti, please send it into the main office c/o the PTA, we will make sure it is taken to his home.”
Our family certainly wishes Mr. Rizzutti a quick and complete recovery and look forward to seeing him back at his post. He always took his position very seriously and crossed the children safely.
A hardworking Crossing Guard
Mr. Rizzutti is a very conscientious guard, who manages his intersection with skill. This is not the first time he has been struck by a vehicle either. We wish him a quick recovery. His much younger replacements are not nearly as vigorous.
There is a real problem with the traffic at Trinity during drop-off and dismissal and NO ONE IN THE CITY GOVERNMENT or SCHOOL BOARD ACTUALLY CARES.
traffic committee?
This traffic at Trinity was just recently discussed at the City Council meeting. The Mayor said he was going to refer it to the traffic committee.
Too late for Mr. Rizzutti.
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Trinity Traffic – no word yet from the mayor to the TAC
I communicated with someone on the traffic committee recently and the mayor has not yet asked for assistance. They have cancelled their Dec. meeting and will meet in January if there are any items to discuss. The committee feels under-utilized.
On the Oct. 12th city council meeting the group discussed an item filed by complaint. Someone asked the city to install a ‘no u-turn’ sign on Church Street in the drop off zone. At the meeting(see 2 hours 22 minutes) the city traffic engineer discusses the item. The mayor mentions the TAC at 2 hours and 29 minutes.
The traffic engineer had studied the situation and recommended the sign be installed, the acting DPW commissioner approved the sign, the police department approved the sign. But, then at the meeting, the traffic engineer was ‘betwixt and between’. The item was pulled and the mayor said they could recommend it to the Traffic Advisory Committee (TAC).
In the same meeting a ‘no right turn’ sign at Daniel Webster school was voted on and passed. Very quickly the city installed the sign, the principal sent out robo-calls, the police department enforced the sign. Now the sign is up and the area is that much safer.
Not so for Trinity. I counted 30 u-turns on Church on October 15th between 8:10am and 8:35am within the drop off zone. I also counted 6 outside of the drop off zone. That is more than one per minute.
During the city council meeting the mayor asked the council what is the recommended route for parents to drop off their children in the drop off zone. There was no definitive answer. Parents are likely supposed to drive north on Pelham Road, make a right onto Davenport and drive through the residential neighborhood to drop off their children in the drop off zone, many parents do come from that direction. Maybe the neighborhood doesn’t want any additional traffic, though it might be safer than all those u-turns.
One person on the traffic committee reminded me that u-turns are not illegal. But, I said, in the drop off zone of a school where there are 855+ students and very little busses, u-turns are asking for trouble in the drop off zone.
How come the Daniel Webster problem was handled so quickly and efficiently, and the Trinity situation was swept under the rug?