Maplewood city council on Tuesday took the Maplewood Richmond Heights School District’s request to rezone a house on Laclede Station Road a step closer to completion. The district wants to use the house, at the corner of Laclede Station and Burgess Avenue, for its Discover Zone, a popular after-school program.
In a meeting one school board member described later as lively, with many resident comments, city officials voted 7-0 to rezone the house (2812 Laclede Station Road) for the school district’s use. The final vote will be taken at the next council meeting.
Plan and zoning voted 5-1 last week to recommend rezoning to the council. See also: Residents tired of ECC traffic speak out in plan & zoning meeting
Some residents who live near the MRH Early Childhood Center opposed the rezoning at both meetings, saying it will make worse an already bad traffic problem when parents drop off and pick up students.
I agree that people should show up at the council meetings. The community should be heard. May I also suggest showing up to school board meetings? I am not against more kids in an afterschool program. I am against the city rezoning a residential house for public use. The use of that house can be changed from a daycare in the future. This was not a thought out plan, it was a quick reaction to a wait list for Discovery Club. The ECC principal even said at the last PTO meeting, that it might not make sense financially to redo the house for the program. She also told everyone present that there was only “one woman” opposed to the rezoning. She is wrong, there are many of us against rezoning. The school district has bought 3 houses surrounding mine. They have also said for years that they have no plans for the use of these 3 properties. They sent a lawyer to my house, to get my contact information, so she could send me an offer to buy my house. The only problem with that..is that she lied to me saying she was representing a private developer, not the school district. I called the director of communications at that time, asked if he knew anything about it, he lied to me and said no, it wasn’t the school district, and maybe the developer wanted to build a Quick Trip where my house sit. The lawyer sent me an insultingly low offer for my house. My daughter sold her house to the school district, it sits next to mine, I knew what they paid her. The offer they gave me was much lower. The house behind me got bought out from under the school district. I reached out to the new owners, they told me they were told not to speak to me directly or it would ruin the deal they had to sell to the school district. I asked the district about the house, I was lied to and told they were no longer interested in that property. The school district DOES have a way to alleviate the parking problems, and has had a way to fix it for a long time. They are not in a hurry to help the parents who are aggravated getting their kids to school, or the residents frustrated with so much traffic. YET, they managed to get the rezoning issue in front of the P&Z committee a month after the waitlist happened, and before the City Council a month after that. It only took 2months for something that was a REACTION to the wait list. Just think what they could do if they were concerned about everyone’s issues and had a plan. The school board makes all decisions for the district, maybe they need to start hearing from the community, and how their decisions affect our lives.
Lots of impassioned dialog here. The next Council meeting is Sept 10. The people directly affected by the rezoning proposal will be there. How many of the rest of you with strong opinions pro or con will also be there?
Todd, I’m just as shocked as you are to be replying to your nonsense, but hey, I’ve got some free time so why not. I have noticed all you can contribute is labeling me and others as a millennial. Soooo here we goooooo! I do not live in my parents basement. In fact they never even had one. Dad died with nothing to his name and Mother still has nothing. NO one gave me anything. I solely provide well for my family. Provide my own personal healthcare for self and family. Provide 100% private retirement fund. I rely on the government for absolutely NOTHING. My wife is afforded her dream of being a stay at home mother. We give generously to charitys which we believe in. We give generously our free time to help others. My wife and I, did and do, all this 100% on our own. If that Labels us as “Millennials” then if only their were more of us. World would be a better place. Todd, I’m going out on a limb here. The reason that is all you contribute to this discussion is because your a bitter loser.
The next Council meeting is on Sept 10.
The people directly affected by the proposed rezoning will be there.
Municipal governance should be a participatory process by the governed.
How about the rest of you with such strong and positive opinions being there also.
Get there early and register to speak. OK?
Typical millennial gimme gimme gimme. Its all this is.
Thinking of only themselves.
Who raised these kids? What terrible parents those baby boomers were, huh?
Hey Jay, Baby Boomers are now ages 56-74 years old. I highly doubt they are the parents of many Millennials who have kids in early childhood centers. More than likely Boomers are the grandparents.
Before this zoning issue, before the traffic, there was a choice. Not just the choice to buy across from a school, but the choice to buy a house WITH NO DRIVEWAY. You made the choice that a driveway / designated parking was not a priority you were willing/able to pay for. That was your choice, but now claiming to be a victim?
Reality: those who depend on public/street parking do so because they opted to purchase a house whose parking exists on the good graces of events, weather, traffic, and the PUBLIC. You probably paid less for your house than someone with a driveway. And it’s because you left yourself open to this kind of nonsense you are so annoyed about. When you made the choice to buy a house with insufficient private parking for your needs, you agreed that you have no more or less claim to the public property in front of your house than any other person who is there using it. Maybe parking 4 blocks away is the incidental “price” you pay for opting NOT to manage your own parking needs and instead expect the public street to accommodate you.
Sorry, but why are you more entitled to the public parking on the street than anyone else? You gambled that it would work out for you and apparently you lost.
Starting to think ya”ll are just retarded. These ARE NOT PUBLIC SPOTS I AM SPEAKING OF. Golly….
That’s a slur against people with intellectual disabilities Joe, don’t use that word.
And also stand by what you said “parents who when their are spots in the lot available, do not want to get caught in the mess or caught in the queue rather eat away at the neighborhood street parking”. *Neighborhood street parking* obviously includes public parking spots. You’re walking back what you were originally whining about, and you’re using ugly offensive language. Act like an adult
Very interesting comming from you Jim. Retarded is not a slur. It has a definition in Webster’s dictionary and when I was searching carefully for a word that was sufficient it happend to check all the boxes. Sorry your offended. Yes, in my neighborhood there are NON-public spaces as well. To be clear, these are the ones I am referring to. Thank you for your usual irrelevant coment Jim.
We are more entitled to those spaces then someone who doesn’t live on those blocks because we actually do live there.(Or in my case did live there.) We should be able to park in front of our own homes after a long day at work and not have to walk several blocks, as I had to one time, just as others who have a driveway can. Sorry but what makes you think that someone who doesn’t even live near the schools in question has more of a right to park in spaces in front of people’s homes then the actual homeowners do? This is just the sort of finger pointing attitude some people are using that I was talking about before. It’s not the homeowners who are at at fault. It’s not the homeowners without driveways who are at fault. Its the school district who failed account for the districts growth who are. Please direct your blame to them and not the rest of us.
Amen!!
Um. No. When you’re a cheap-o and don’t buy a house with your own private driveway or parking, that doesn’t give you more “dibs” on the street in front of your house. That makes you someone who can park in front of your house in a public spot that is just as open to anyone else. If there’s any stupidity here it’s people who purchase a house without a driveway and then act stunned when street-parking (aka PUBLIC PARKING) doesn’t exist at their beck and call.
And to the person who used retarded as an insult (JOE): Thank you. That just gave me any impetus that I needed to vote against your interests.
I could give two craps how you vote, it’s obvious these decisions are made long before any vote takes place. The city goes through those motions to put on a show. Total Joke!
By your account, Schnuks could build a grocery store with only enough parking for its employees and assume the residential neighborhood around it as their parking lot? That is exactly what the City of Maplewood allowed the school to do when approving the improvements to the school without regard to parking, traffic, or residents. Now, instead of looking into ways to improve on their mess, they decide to actually expand the problem. Total B.S. by a panel of con-artist councilmen and women.
If you keep calling permitted residential spots public then you are absolutely the type of retard that parks in them.
I’m sorry but I can’t take your post seriously when you call people who have the misfortune to not have driveways and have to resort to street parking “cheep-os”. Being cheap has absolutely nothing to do with it. The fact that a lot may not have enough space to have one does. Also you say that Joe was name calling but what exactly are you doing there? Yep name calling. What a hypocrite.
Clearly you are not someone who is affected by the parking situations around the MRH schools so I guess you can’t be expected to understand the ramifications it has for those that live in the houses near them. Personally, I don’t believe that people who do not live in those houses should be allowed to park in front of them AT ALL regardless of whether they are so called “public” parking or not. First priority should ALWAYS go to those who actual live on those streets first and everyone else second.
I can’t believe people would be so inconsiderate of people may have small children, various health issues (as is the case with myself) or who may be elderly and therefore unable to walk long distances. If the shoe was on the other foot I’ll bet you wouldn’t want to have to park and then walk blocks just to get to your house after a long day at work or carrying a small child or with various health issues.
There’s one house in that block without a driveway, and they have permit parking in front of their house. Everybody else has driveways. I guess you don’t see the irony of trying to shut down a aftercare center for toddlers at the same time that you sit here and say “think of the people with small children.” You might not realize this, but people who take their kids to school do have to deal with the parking situation too.
And calling someone a “retard” is not the same as calling someone cheap. It is a shameless and pathetic, debased person with no self respect who goes on the internet under a pseudonym to mock people with intellectual disabilities in order to make a point.
Sorry but what Diz said still name calling in my book because it implies that the people who buy a house without a driveway are unable to afford one with a driveway. It implies they are poor when they may not be. Sorry but I find that just as offensive as people using the term “retard”.
It’s a term being used to look down on people just the same as “retard” is.
Jim, honestly just to clarify. There are three homes without driveways. I know it appears all do but thats decieving the way the street is setup. Also, I really don’t hide behind pseudonyms, my name is really Joe. Not like we’re trying to park a bunch of vehicles. Each need one spot. One spot each was designated to residents onlys during school hrs by the City of Maplewood due to the total free for all, on account of the school not providing enough parking. It’s not asking much. Parents fill all three permitted spots every day. Dissrespectful. Therfore I have Zero respect for them. Thus started this nonsense. Blame the residents instead of the School for not providing sufficient parking or the the City for not requiring the school provide sufficient parking when more than doubling in size.
We are not against the aftercare. We are against another insufficient expansion to the school property. The aftercare need has already exceeded the potential of that property/house. Residents are already dealing with traffic issues due to this same type of neglect with the insufficient parking from the school expansion. We are witnessing a reaction to the need for aftercare rather than a solution. It’s plain as day. However, we’re treated as if we are just trying to thwart their efforts to provide aftercare and that is absolutely NOT TRUE. We may not be perfect in our efforts but we are not monsters. An after care solution needs to be a long term solution if your gonna start converting residential property away from the neighborhood and convert to Public use. This has a long term negative effect on our block and should certainly, at least, provide more longterm solution. This plan simply does not. I would not even bat and eyelid if the plan made any sense at all. Like a larger building to accommodate the actual current need and the obvious future growth of the school.
I’d settle for the MRH school district and the City of Maplewood coming up with and then executing a plan to deal with the parking situation at ALL of the MRH schools since the problem is a district wide one. Neither entity seems to have taken into account parking when thinking about the district’s growth and its on them to rectify the situation their lack of attention to detail has caused.
Whether you are for/ or against the rezoning of @2812 Laclede Station Road, WE, as a community need to have the school district address the issues we all are experiencing. The district has doubled enrollment in the past 10yrs. MRH anticipates enrollment to increase by another 121 students by 2022. A school board member said the school district do not plan to purchase land to build any new schools, only expand the 3 they have now. The 3 neighborhoods most affected, will only become more frustrated by traffic congestion. Parent will become more frustrated, from lack of ease to get their kids to school. Events such as the Preschool sing-a-longs are horrible. You’ve got 100? preschoolers parents and grandparents, wanting to attend the event, trying to find a spot to park. The neighborhood residents get frustrated because people trying to find a spot will “bend” the rules and park wherever they can find a spot. The parking lot @the ECC cost $1,750.000 to buy land and build. It was a horrible design that does not work well. Traffic has been so bad during a.m. drop-off and p.m. pick-up, the Maplewood police are now stationed at the parking lot entrance daily. In speaking with the officers, they have made comments that if there was an emergency in the ECC, they would not be able to access the building form the parking lot side. I asked if the district requested them to be there? The officer said no, it was because of so many altercations between parents trying to pick their kids up, on the parking lot or at the entrance. Parents are frustrated with the struggle to get their kids to and from school. Residents coming home from work are frustrated that there is no where to park near their house. AGAIN, we as tax paying citizens, who pay/support the school, need to hold the school district accountable, and demand that they plan out future expansions with parents and residents in mind. Not just how to shove move kids into the buildings, and nowhere to park.
Out of curiosity I am wondering if the house they are talking about is ADA accessible? Is it navigable for people with special needs, wheelchairs etc? If this is before and after care, is it only for children who can walk to and from the school? How will a child in a wheelchair or with limited mobility get to and from school for their before and after care? Since this is a public school and our taxes would be involved in this before and after care situation, will it be usable for people of all abilities? Maybe it has been addressed, I am just asking.
Good question. Yes, the ADA, requirments will be met. For all students. Will be led to home by adults. Hope that helps to answer your questions.
Very interesting.. about the ECC. My issue is the highschool. I live on Oakland and am tired, tired, tired of the teachers and students (I assume they are seniors and certainly the young woman in short, short shorts who parks to go into the GED house must be a student!) I and tired of those who park on Oakland instead of school parking. And, actually, for most of the year, there is a huge parking lot by the pool – they could use that Sept. thru May, but they would have to walk…WHAT A PROBLEM! Folks might get some exercise!
Margaret, I have just recently come aware of similar issues near the other schools. I just never thought about it as I was focused on my neighborhood. It really does seem like the fast growth of this district has had an impact and whike I’m sure they have worked hard to meet the demand of that growth, I feel like traffic and parking had been seriously neglected/fell short. Seems enough time has passed and it’s time to have it addressed. Please participate any way you can, even if that is just showing up to council meetings and or reach out to the city directly. I have submitted a formal request for a professional, outside company to conduct a traffic study to give their recommendations to the city. One has never been conducted in my neighborhood prior to, or after the large improvements. I wounder if your neighborhood could benefit from something of that nature as well?
I’m still not clear. Why does the ECC need the house for Discover Club? The ECC is too small?
Their claim is the 6.1 million dollar building which holds 500+ students/preschoolers does not have enough space to accommodate 150 aftercare for up to 3 hours after school is out. School district explained this house could hold a whopping 20 children. The school wait listed 25, so already, it’s potential has been exceeded. With growth very much on the rise, its obvious to residents of the neighborhood this home along with the hugely inflated need, are being used to achieve re-zoning of this parcel. Packing the children into this small home will serve no long term benefit to the school and hardly a short term.
That is not their claim. The remaining spaces in the school are not appropriate for aftercare and/or they do not meet state licensing requirements. Parents are frantic for after care for before care for their children and the school district is doing their best to come up with any solution to help with that.
What does that small house have that is “appropriate” and “meets state licensing requirements”, that the ECC center does not have?
Sara, I’m waiting for your answer.
If you want details about state licensing requirements then you can take the time to go to a school board meeting or contact the administration. It’s not my responsibility to educate you, you are an adult and I assume fully capable of doing do yourself.
If parents are “FRANTIC” for before/after school care, why not check out the 3 other child care facilities within 6 blocks of the school? ECC is not the only provider in the area. The MRH school district moved very fast for the rezoning of 2812 Laclede Station Road, for Discovery Club…. Yet they won’t be opening it until next school year? With the minimal amount of work needed to bring it up to ADA code, freshen the interior and exterior, I’d say most homeowners could contract the work out and complete it in about 2 weeks.
The school district moved very fast, to react to the “frantic” parents needing afterschool care, so they got a property they own rezoned. I’m curious why they won’t be opening it for aftercare until next year? With the minimal amount of work to upgrade the house, most home owners could contract all the work to be done in approximately 2weeks. I own a house with the same sq. ft., and it is VERY crowded with 22 people in it during holidays. That is the number of children and workers they plan on having there. The program is affordable, but the district is having a hard time finding qualified workers to fill spots. You may ask why? They only pay them $10,30-10.97 an hour for approx.. 17hrs a week, and they have to have college credits in child care, ect. This was a not a well thought out decision. And since they are going to walk them from ECC to the house every day, what happens when the weather is bad? Do you think they will have 20 umbrellas available? What about sub-zero temperatures? Snow/ Icy conditions? I’m convinced that they WILL find room at the ECC when they are forced to.
I believe the residents thought it all the way through. Re-zoning of residential property has an impact in the long term on the neighborhood. We are thinking in terms of once the school decides they no longer wish to use property as aftercare, they can then embark on another use. They own two other propertys adjacent to these and all three have set derelict all this time. Probable prjections next year will be another 25 kids waitlisted….then what? The home is question is 980 sq ft…..We could trust the city of Maplewood would do their job and be sure future growth would include traffic studys and protect the residents by including major improvments to the roads leading to the school? Looking at the nightmare they have allowed to take place this far in allowing the school to make such large improvements with no reguard to how folks will get into and out of the school twice a day. With a parking lot barely big enough to hold its staff. LAZY parents who when their are spots in the lot available, do not want to get caught in the mess or caught in the queue rather eat away at the neighborhood street parking (many without driveways)….cause screw them, I dont want to complain to the school district or have to wait my turn in line. No I’d rather be a crappy person and impose my inconvience onto these residents and teach my kids the rules do not apply to us. We’re better, we’re smarter, and waiting in line through the queue at the school is for dummies…….
Until you live it every day and realize Maplewood dropped a serious ball here and is not doing squat enough about correcting it then do not judged the folks against the re-zoning. I dont think any of us are against the school or the program. We’re against Maplewoods poor management, oversight, and planning of the schools growth.
You want to talk about traffic calming and all that, that all sounds good. You just lose me totally when you start attacking families for parking their cars in empty spaces on the side of the road for 10 minutes to drop our kids off. Like that’s some big personal affront to you! You can try all you want, but you’re not gonna convince me that a kid’s education is worth less than an empty parking spot in the side of the road for 10 minutes.
Sorry but are you saying that people who actually LIVE on those streets should just drive around and around waiting for people who don’t to move their cars? Somehow I seriously doubt you would feel that way if the shoe was on the other foot and it was affecting you! People deserve to be able to park in front of their own homes without hassle but sure its the ACTUAL people who live there that are the problem.
I used to live on the street behind the MRH Middle and High school and there was a constant problem with people parking in front of people’s homes for a lot longer than 15 minutes while waiting for their children to get out of school and also any time there was an event at the school. I used to have sit out in front of my house on a chair literally IN the parking spot there to keep people from parking so my sister would have somewhere to park when she got home from a busy day at work that wasn’t four blocks or more away. There is a real parking issue at ALL the schools and frankly the district should do something about it.
Sure. So the people who live there are the ones that are at fault here and they should be the ones inconvenienced because after all they are the problem. Its not at all a problem for some of you because you don’t live with it day in and day out so why should you care but for those of us who either have or currently do its way more than an inconvenience especially when spots in front of our homes are taken while events at the school are going on. Somehow I rather suspect that you would feel differently if this was affecting you more directly and it was your parking spot that was taken every day either for drop offs or during events at the school. I used to live near one of the schools and one of the reasons I moved last year was because of the constant traffic and parking issues that happened during the school year.
Honestly parking and traffic issues are a real problem with all the school buildings since the district has gotten bigger and I really think the district could benefit from some kind of traffic study and better parking/pick up options than street parking. For example, maybe the city should consider buying the lot the empty Stake n Shake is sitting on currently and use that for staff/event parking for the ECC. It’s better than leaving that sitting empty and it might allow for parents to use the current staff lot to park and wait for their kids.
Yeah sure, look at the Steak and Shake. Whatever they do, there’s no way around the fact that if you have a school in a neighborhood, the streets around the school are going to be crowded a couple times a day. That’s nobody’s fault. And when you don’t have a parking lot big enough for everybody, people are going to use street parking. That’s not something people need to apologize for. What people ought to apologize for is going on this website and writing about mothers and fathers saying that we’re “LAZY,” or “I’ll be a crappy person,” “typical millennial” or whatever other bullshit.
Any sympathy I might have had for someone who had this unrealistic expectation of always having an empty parking spot in front of their house goes out the window when I see people trying to prevent much needed spots at Discovery Club from opening up and spewing this venom on the internet.
Hi Jim, I would like to address your frustration with my use of the word lazy in a previous comment. I am probably the newest member to this traffic/parking issue. I expected some delays and possibly walking some distance if no nearby parking was available from time to time. Shortly after we purchased last fall/early winter I observed a total free for all in terms of school parking jamming up our street,street parking, cross streets ect. When I could clearly see open spots at the school parking lot and learned of the queue the school desires parents use, I approached The City of Maplewood and asked why? Why do they rather walk than use the lot at the school or the queue. City officials gave me a brief summary of why. It included terms like “convenience” “they don’t wanna get stuck in the queue” “Laziness” Officials explained its been a problem for a long time and that they would monitor it for a week and get back to me. They did, and found what I was saying to be true and again used those phrases in describing the issue. Jim, I am only passing along the description given by city officials. The fact that I totally agree with it is another story. But, nonetheless, I wanted you to have the history and hopefully helps you understand my use of the word in this discussion.
I didn’t spew venom here. Everyone on both sides of this are frustrated beyond measure over this. I don’t see why something cannot be done that would make the situation better for both sides of this issue. I don’t think there is any need for the people who actually live in those areas to have to just “put up” with this parking situation when there are things that could be done to minimize it. It’s not fair to the residents whose homes are in those locations and its also not fair to the parents who are dropping off there children either. Also if you live in a house that has no driveway and your only option is street parking then, yes, you should expect the spot in front of your house to be open for you to use.
I simply don’t like the attitude of some people here who are saying “well those people should have expected this because they moved in near a school.” Its condescending and rude to be honest so that makes it hard for people to be sympathetic to the parents here.
Talk to your friend Joe, who absolutely is spewing venom and insults at me and my family and other families of toddlers just for using free public parking spaces on a public street. And then he turns around the next day asking for help. F No. You all want to partner with parents, then stop attacking us, and stop filming “countless hours” of surveillance footage of our kids and storing that footage away on some server. You all are not making any friends over here man.
Jim, Very dramatic. I have nothing against toddlers dude. They are being guided by parents. Yes, if you are one of the parents, not using the “queue” as requested by the school and decide instead to park in the residential spots then yes, your part of the problem. My opinion, your hiding your irresponsibility behind the innocent act of dropping your children off at school. You can use the queue like the other parents or park in the lot. I understand this would require you to be extra responsible and considerate of others by leaving the house a little early, but it is a choice you have. Your choosing not to, and then turn around and get offended when someone speaks out.
Jim, I can see you do not have a full understanding of the issue. For one, re-zoning of residential property has long term affects on the integrity of the neighborhood. Such changes should have a need that warrants the change. In this case the need does not appropriately warrant the change in re-zoning. Our position of course. Not just a few of us either.
2nd,
The traffic issue came out during the planning and zoning meeting\recommendation. Some people showed up to voice concerns over or approval of re-zoning. I did voice my disapproval, however do not recall hearing from you there? Also, at the council meeting on same subject, I was there to voice my disapproval and do not recall hearing from you there either? It seems to me you are a keyboard warrior on this issue with no skin in the game. My skin is I own a home in the directly affected zone. My daughter is a student of the ECC. Since your focusing on the traffic issue in your previous comment I will address it. I would have to be a MAD MAN to put this much effort into a situation if the problem was ONLY a 10 min inconvenience. The issue is much larger. I have countless hours of footage showing families jamming up our street, blocking driveways and parking in permitted residential only spots for those with out driveways. This morning was a Black Toyota Sieanna in a resident permit only spot for 30 min. After the first few weeks of school is underway and the police stop monitoring the traffic the true boldness appears. My footage from last school year shows parent after parent pulling into an open spot immediately after they become available. This can last up to 3 hrs and that can be twice a day 5 days a week plus the special events later in the evening when the true chaos take place. The city of Maplewood does not deny this problem.
I want you to be informed before jumping to random conclusions.
What are you, hiding in the bushes and filming people getting their kids out of their cars? You have “countless hours of footage” of us bringing our kids to school?
Jim, Simple home surveillance. Does provide strong evidence of issues described.Very common nowadays and throughout Maplewood neighborhoods. No, I do not hide in the bushes. I simply capture the hours in question and compile them together on a server. I receive a simple, easy to retrieve summary I can glance at from anywhere or live feed if needed. Get with the times Jim!
Yeah alright man, that sounds great. Last thing I’m gonna say to you is that is when people use street parking, it’s not because they’re lazy, or they hate you, or they want to teach their kids that rules don’t apply to them, or that they look down their noses at you and think you’re stupid, or anything else you said. It’s because they know the lot isn’t big enough for everybody. I don’t know how you connect those dots, but people really just want to get their kids to and from school.
Jim, Now you and I are making some progress. You say you know there is not enough space at the ECC and I assume using their requested “queue” system is not always a desired. I understand just needing to get your kids to and from school. Sounds like a reasonable request to me. After all, you did pay for it.
So, what I ask of folks in that position is to direct your frustrations towards the school district and the City of Maplewood simultaneously in effort to disrupt their current solution to the problem which is, point the finger at each other and hope for the best…..This basically throws problem onto the residents living nearby. Unacceptable solution. Been going on way to long. We are doing all we can and could always use more help.
Who is dramatic? “LAZY parents who when their are spots in the lot available, do not want to get caught in the mess or caught in the queue rather eat away at the neighborhood street parking (many without driveways)….cause screw them, I dont want to complain to the school district or have to wait my turn in line. No I’d rather be a crappy person and impose my inconvience onto these residents and teach my kids the rules do not apply to us. We’re better, we’re smarter, and waiting in line through the queue at the school is for dummies…….” You are a delusional paranoid insecure weak crybaby, typing this stuff on a message board the first week of preschool because parents are parking close to a school in legal parking spots. There is no request from the school for us not to use street parking, but you’re over here acting like you own those spots and we’re supposed to ask you for permission. Nobody asked you for anything. You want to get at me in person let me know let me know. You can start by reading all of your insane rants out loud and see how ridiculous you sound.
Jim, Let’s review, The spots I am most concerned about are the three “Resident Permit Parking Only” spots which are very clearly marked. They were put in place last Spring by The City of Maplewood for the three residents without driveways,(homes constructed on narrow plots 110 years ago with no space to add driveways) They designate one spot per home. We, like many others, have more than one vehicle and understand that we do what we must with the others. I personally keep one in a nice neighbors driveway (as it sits most of the week) And I keep my toys at another property in Fenton. I feel that when someone chooses to park in these clearly marked spaces with no regard to the resident or the law, that is a huge show of disrespect. Why would we have any for them? Out of compassion for the beginning of the school year as you mentioned, I do not run out there and confront them. I have in the past and assume will have to again in the future. See Jim, this portion is a respect issue and might also help explain my use of the word lazy. I would absolutely jump at the opportunity to discuss this with you in person. I have been to the public hearings and will continue to be present at them. I think it would make a great venue to continue this.
Like I said elsewhere unless someone is being affected by these traffic and parking issues daily they cannot understand the magnitude of the problem or how it affects those whose homes are in those areas.
At the time I moved into Maplewood parking wasn’t an issue because there were not that many students in the school near me so it wasn’t a concern I had. As the district improved and more families started keeping their kids in the district the parking situation started to get worse but I fully expected that the school district would take the necessary steps to insure there was enough parking for students, staff and parents at the school near me and I also expected that a plan would be in place to deal with future growth. That doesn’t appear to have been what happened. They may have thought about the school buildings themselves and had plans to expand them in the future but they seem to have failed to take parking, traffic and so forth into account as well.
And to add to the problems: after the council meeting a school board member stayed to talk to residents opposed to the rezoning… I suggested that the district should buy back one or two properties they district used to have schools on, and build another building, to ease the overcrowding problems we are/will face in the very near future. They already plan on another Bond issue to build a 2nd story at the elementary school. The board member said they are not going to build any new school buildings, only expand the ones we currently have. This will become a much larger burden to the areas around the 3 school buildings we have now. Parking/traffic issues will only become worse. At the ECC the Police are posted at the lot entrance, during drop-off and pick-up times. I asked if the school requested them to be there? The officer said no, IT WAS BECAUSE OF ALL THE ALTERCATIONS BY PARENTS IN THE PARKING LOT PICKING UP & DROPPING OFF. Yes, people block driveways, park illegally, ect. But, now the police have to police the pick-up & drop-off lines because people can’t be civil in line in a parking lot? MRH has some issues, and I feel they will get worse. Whether you are for or against the rezoning of a residential house, we all need to come together and demand the school district make a more comprehensive plan moving forward. If we as the people who support MRH, and pay for MRH schools, hold them accountable for better parking for parents, school events, pick-up/drop-off lines, ect, maybe we can make them make improvements. Things need to change for residents and parents needing to get their kids to school.
I’m a parent in the district and support MRH in most of their decisions. On this one I need some convincing.
My kids went to Discovery Club before the recent $6.1M expansion which I fully supported even though by then it was their alma mater.
What I have a problem with is that the ECC has a beautiful campus. After class lets out it is all underutilized. All 100,000+sq/ft which was good enough when my kids went to Discover Club and spent their time in the art room, playground, sandbox, etc. What is a 1500sq/ft house going to do for the district? I need some convincing on this bad idea.
Someone asked the principal about that at a PTO meeting last year, and they’re legally not allowed to do that. I don’t remember the reason, but if you’re interested I’m sure you could ask people at the school and they’d tell you why.
“These people” have thought this through. The population in the school has doubled in the past 10yrs. There is not enough parking for parents to park and take kids into the building, so they double park, park in NO parking zones, block driveways, ect. The main opposition to rezoning is changing our residential neighborhood to public use. They could change what they have in that rezoned house in the future. The mayor agreed this may well lower my property value. I agree affordable after school care is needed, but would you want it in your backyard? Can you get out of your driveway to go to work, and get there on time? I can get stuck in traffic on my small street for 15min, due to school traffic that does not move. So, before you judge “those people” think about what the school has done to their neighborhood before you judge anyone.
I would want after care to be close to the school, duh. “Not in my backyard!” Buddy that school has massively increased you’re property value. And more after care is only going to relieve some of the traffic burden at the peak times, so you haven’t thought it through if you’re opposed to after care. At the end of the day, you’re actually upset that the school is getting bigger so you’re running around trying to undermine the school, even if it only makes your problem worse. I’m there every morning too, and you’re not getting stuck for no 15 minutes.
It’s obvious that your problem isn’t with the aftercare, it’s just that you don’t like the school. Even though you know that the quality of that school had increased your property value by a ton. If you were actually worried about traffic, you wouldn’t be upset about aftercare, because it will reduce the need for everybody to come at the same time. These spots are very important for the kids and their families, and even if it did slow traffic down for a short amount of time on school days, that’d make it well worth it. Very passive aggressive to try to block something important for these kids’ education just because your upset about people parking on a public road.
They haven’t changed some designation for your neighborhood, they just rezoned one house. What it sounds like is you’re just mad at the school, but trying to stop people from having aftercare for their kids isn’t going to help you. This is a public street. You don’t own it, you live on it. Other people have the right to drive on it and park on it. If you want to ask for better enforcement of rules about double parking or blocking driveways, go for it. That’s not what you’re doing though. Instead you’re trying to block something that’s totally important for these kids and their families, seemingly out of pure bitterness.
Yep, did notice everything is me me me, I I I, not one sliver of concern for anyone else.
Typical millennial. Beard, actually, amazing.
Well ok Todd, if you apparently know who I am, feel free to introduce yourself to me in person. You can tell me all about the good old days, I’m very interested in hearing all about it
Jim you seem to have a LOT of opinions here. The school expansion has not massively increased my property value. At the council meeting, the mayor agreed that this probably will lower my property value, having publis use zoning. Traffic did back up on Burgess for 17min during p.m. pick-up 1st day of school. Police officer @parking lot entrance voiced safety concerns. Emergency responders wouldn’t be able to get to the building on the back aide of school. I do like the school district, 4 generations if my family have gone to MRH. As far as traffic & illegally parked cars, the police are here every day now, because of traffic, and they will deal with it. Sorry if you think I’m bitter, just stated some facts, you seem a bit touchy reading them. It is a public street, school expansion took away up to 30 parking spots on 2 streets. There will only be 20 children in the rezoned house, it won’t help traffic much, having them picked up later. There are more kids in the ECC than in the high school building. I am not trying to undermined the school district or block education.. BUT daycare does not=education.
FYI: My grandchild went to MRH, so I’m not sure who you’re calling a typical millennial. And calling me a beard? Now that’s just showing an ugly side, no need for name calling.
I think he was talking about me. Anyway, people need the aftercare spots to be able to send their kids to preschool. School lets out at 3 and most people don’t get off work then. 20 spots, that’s a huge deal for 20 families, and it’s not gonna make traffic any worse. Even if it was, how are you going to weigh the need of these kids to be able to go to school against people being annoyed about congestion a couple times a day? That’s why I’m posting so much, I’m just pissed to hear all these people calling families selfish or whatever just because they take their kids to school. The entitlement of someone to say “we shouldn’t free up a spot for a child at this school because I don’t like it when people park in empty spots on the side of the road.”
Bravo!
I truly don’t understand the argument against this. The children who might use the Discover Club program in the house aren’t extra kids, they already attend the ECC and are already being dropped off and picked up. The only difference is that rather than being picked up in the 3:15 rush when school is over, they would be picked up sometime between 3 and 6pm.
Exactly! These people aren’t thinking it through. It would actually reduce traffic instead of make it worse.