WGHS buses bother some residents on Dry Creek Rd.
Moving traffic not a solution, they say
By George Moore
Something had to be done about the large volume of traffic in the early mornings and afternoons at Willow Glen High and Middle schools. The combination of parents playing the role of chauffeurs, a few Valley Transit Authority (VTA) buses and about a dozen school buses was becoming increasingly unsafe for student pedestrians.
Traffic congestion on Cottle Avenue needed some attention, and on March 26 the San Jose Unified School District (SJUSD) and the San Jose Department of Transportation decided to provide some relief by moving one of the elements around the corner to Dry Creek Road.
"We felt that we needed to do something right away," said Russ Taft, the city's school safety program manager. "The quickest and easiest solution-as far as the most improvement to safety-was moving the buses."
School buses have been rumbling down Dry Creek Road for years. But beginning April 8, instead of making a right turn on Cottle Avenue, the buses pull over just short of the intersection to drop off and pick up students. The new bus zone utilizes roughly 400 feet of curbside and doesn't allow automobile parking from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Helen Brady, one of the residents affected by the new busing measures, was not happy about the decision and especially with how it was handled. Residents in the area surrounding the schools received a flyer notifying them of the neighborhood traffic calming meeting, but no mention was made of what was on the agenda or any possible proposals.
But Taft said that city staff, the district and some residents had met on several occasions to develop a plan so that when they came to the meeting, they were prepared with a few options to present to those in attendance. Taft said residents at the meeting liked the idea of moving the buses and the prospect of positive change in the neighborhood as a result. He feels that the issue now is not so much that a decision was made, but rather that some were not included in the decision-making process.
During the meeting, a resident asked if anyone from Dry Creek Road was in attendance and nobody responded, prompting the resident to say that she thought it was unfair. The next morning, a resident from Cottle Avenue, feeling guilty about the situation, knocked on Brady's door and informed her that the problem had been moved onto her street.
"The unfortunate thing is that we can't please everyone," said Taft. "Everybody's impacted in certain ways. We have to look at the big picture and look at safety as our number-one goal and our primary motivator."
Brady said it would be safer for everyone if the buses parked on school property, but it could take years before the school reworks its front parking lot to enable buses to do so. Brady said she has no objection to having buses use the street, but thinks that she and her neighbors were railroaded with the decision of letting them park there.
The bus zone is located across the street from the Willow Glen Neighborhood Church, but also affects a few residences. If city officials and the district went out of their way to ensure the involvement of those residents, those ill feelings may have been quelled.
But Brady said she sees children darting between buses when parked on Dry Creek Road and parents are picking up and dropping off their kids in the same area, creating the same type of situation that occurred on Cottle Avenue.
According to Helen Solinski, vice president of the Willow Glen Neighborhood Association, the goal is to park the buses on campus to prevent them from jamming up neighborhood streets.
"Let's not wait for an incident to happen before we do something," said Solinski. "It's a safety issue, and if the buses were on school property, it would be safer for everyone."
Taft said that once the traffic normalizes, the next step is to look at the patterns and then see if more improvements can be made.
"That might include moving the buses somewhere else," said Taft. "The door's open to continue to work [toward] other measures that might mitigate the negative impacts of having the buses on Dry Creek."
In the meantime, impacted residents will have to live with the temporary bus zone and hope that the decision makers keep them properly informed.
Willow Glen, California Since 1992
