We'll see whether Broughton High School students can successfully pull off an act of civil disobedience this morning.
Students say they plan to park their cars all over the front lawn this morning to protest the need for more parking spaces to the campus. The battle over whether to turn Broughton's historic front lawn into a parking lot has pitted alumni against the school's administration, staff, students and parents.
The City Council is considering the school system's appeal of the Planning Commission's rejection of the request. But as noted in an article earlier this week by David Bracken, it doesn't look like the Council wants to approve the request.
While no final vote has been taken yet, the Council instructed City Manager Russell Allen to look for ways to find more parking that doesn't involve paving over the lawn.
Click here for a story that ran this week in the Midtown Raleigh News which helps show why the issue is so passionate.
UPDATE
Click here for the online story.
Comments
the "play" this is getting
Fri, 09/19/2008 - 14:58 — bigwinniethe "play" this is getting in the face of true hardship like MYR or alleged physical abuse of autistic children is a nauseating example of "the haves" and that money can by anything even exposure of something this mundane.....
please spare me the grass vs. pavement issue....
Students Unite!
Fri, 09/19/2008 - 13:04 — Anonymous (not verified)Obviously you have all forgotten what it's like to be a kid. They dont want to take the bus, thats not cool, or maybe the kids are out of control on the bus. They finally have the priveledge of driving, and they want to drive to school. DO you not remember how fun it was to pull in with your car and see your friends in the lot? It's like a right of passage for these kids. Some of my best photo's from high school are of everyone hanging out in the parking lot before & after school!
I find it offensive that they even have to pay to park there in the first place, but if they are willing, why not pave the unused area and make a few more dollars for the district. Maybe we can use the money for something important like building schools and abolishing MYR!
Hmm.
Fri, 09/19/2008 - 14:53 — Bob_SconceAbout 10 years before I started high school, one student hit & killed another student on the way to/from school (I don't recall the details). From that point on (until this day), students are not allowed to drive to school, even if they park on nearby streets and not on school property. If they do drive, they're suspended. The only exception was that after the school day was over, they could drive back for after-school activities. I don't recall feeling especially deprived.
Let's not get confused here -- it may be a rite of passage to some, but it's not a right. Besides, Broughton is hardly a poster child for kids needing to drive to school -- there are sidewalks for miles around.
Raise the prices. Eventually, some students will realize that they'll get more "cool" out of, say, new clothes or an ipod than they will by driving to school.
Well
Fri, 09/19/2008 - 16:42 — Bob_SconceSo one modification I'd make to this -- Broughton is a magnet school and the alternative to driving for some students is getting on a bus at 6am. It seems to me that kids who have to drive a long way (for something that the district should be providing close to their home) should probably get a discount on parking fees.
Of course, the ITB crowd would probably go apoplectic over the idea that outside-the-beltline kids would be able to park when their kids can't.
Did anybody notice the irony that the Historic District's ordering WCPSS to move trailers from the front lawn may end up turning that front lawn into a parking lot? I wonder how the commission is going to feel about *that*.
Always a clarion voice
Fri, 09/19/2008 - 14:56 — Dadof3Right on, Bob. The accident rate for teenagers is staggering. Remaining alive is tres cool. We shouldn't be so glib or flip about the privilege to drive.
the problem is....
Fri, 09/19/2008 - 12:28 — Anonymous (not verified)The problem really boils back down to the over-reaching assignment poliices of the old socialist and arrogant do-gooder BoE members, Dulaney, and Del Burns.
If the attendance zones were optimized based on GEOGRAPHY, then the demand for (and cost of) the entire WAKE Pubic Schools transportation "complex" including Busing, Carpooling, Parking, road deaths, etc, would decrease.
In Broughton's case, I understand that much of the old parking was taken by Trailers and Bus parking - - which would likely go away if mostly neighborhood kids were efficiently assigned there so many more could walk and/or ride bikes to school instead.
RE=ELECT NO1 . We need fresh ideas and fresh Cooperation.
Good for them!
Fri, 09/19/2008 - 11:40 — jenmanI say good for them! Its ridiculous that the City Council is letting a group of alums dictate this situation. I think its great that the students organized their 'park-in'.
The Italians call it "divertissement"
Fri, 09/19/2008 - 10:57 — Dadof3The affluent versus the affluent. We've got real educational problems; meanwhile, over in ITB-La-La land, rich alumni argue with rich students. I just can't get in a lather over this tempest in a teapot. Tell you what -- I put my bike on my front lawn in solidarity with the addled students. Take that social justice!
what's missing form the conversation
Fri, 09/19/2008 - 10:46 — Raleighmom (not verified)seems to be an discussion of ways to lesson the demand for parking. Why aren't they talking about setting up carpools, riding the bus, encouraging students to walk, promoting more environmental responsibility, upping the parking fee and taking other steps to reduce the demand for parking? This isn't just a Broughton issue. In my neighborhood several kids drive one mile to and from school every day, alone. And I know they don't need their cars for after school jobs because I see them coming right home every day. It takes barely 10 minutes to walk to their high school. I've done it many times pushing a double jog stroller with 60 lbs of kids in it so I'm assuming a healthy 16 year old can do it too.
Maybe this is happening and the media isn't reporting it but it seems to me that Broughton's administration and WCPSS are missing a golden opportunity here. Given the cost of fuel, the accident rates among teams, the negative environmental impact from all those cars, it seems to me it might be time for a new approach.
Re: what's missing form the conversation
Sun, 05/03/2009 - 12:06 — TriangleMomI totally agree. It's just crazy how people get in their cars to drive such sort distances when they could just as easily walk and get a little exercise for a change. If more people would walk when practical, there would be no whining about not enough parking.
I push around a double jogging stroller (http://www.baby-travel-gear.com/index.php?cPath=7_28) myself. As soon as the twins are big enough to walk on their own, they will be taught to appreciate foot travel.
parking
Fri, 09/19/2008 - 09:08 — esthercHooray for the students!
At the parent open house last night we all had to park in the grass or not attend the open house for our students. Parking is BIG problem for most school events, not just in the mornings for a few students who want to drive, or may need to drive if they do not have bus service to the school. The proposed new lot would be almost invisible to people on Peace Street. It would help out the traffic congestion immensely by getting people off St. Marys & Peace to let their kids out for school in the parking lot and depart out the new driveway from that lot. A garage would only invite crime to our school - just look at the stats - no amount of money or cameras could stop it! Of course, progress was much prettier when we had the trailers out front - where were the alumni then?
It seems the alumni and others would rather have grass than allowing enough parking for parents to access to the school to be involved in their kid's education!
Supply/Demand
Fri, 09/19/2008 - 08:02 — Bob_SconceWhy not just bump the prices of existing parking up? The problem appears to be that more students are willing to pay $170 to park at the high school than the district is able to supply. If they bumped the price up to $250, I suspect fewer students would want to park. At some point, the numbers are going to be in balance.
There is no right to a parking space at school.
Civil Disobedience?
Fri, 09/19/2008 - 07:37 — Anonymous (not verified)Why do you call it civil disobedience when it's kids doing the protesting? Would you call it that if they were 35, 40? Times change and progress is necessary sometime. The Alumni are gone, today's students need more parking. My old school was sold and torn down. I did not protest because it was 'progress'.
Disobedience
Fri, 09/19/2008 - 08:31 — KeungHui (author)It is against school district policy to park in an unauthorized space. In theory, you are subject to towing at your own expense.
Tow them all
Fri, 09/19/2008 - 06:54 — Anonymous (not verified)They are parking illegally. Why not tow these cars?
I agree with the above.
Fri, 09/19/2008 - 10:39 — seaknight8I agree with the above. There is precious little green space left, and cars illegally parked on the lawn should be towed, starting ASAP.