LINC helps parents bring media attention to dangerous traffic at King Elementary

Parents Dianna Anderson (left to right), Kara Huff and grandparent Pam Woodcox talk to KSHB-41 reporter Sarah Plake Sept. 21 about their concerns with dangerous traffic on Woodland Avenue at Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School in Kansas City.

To watch the KSHB-41 report click here.

The parents and grandparents of Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School — with LINC’s help — say they are just getting started in trying to protect their children from the dangerous traffic that rushes by their school.

“Cars come jumping over that hill,” grandparent Pam Woodcox said, “and once they top that hill it’s hard to stop.”

The King Elementary families and the Blue Hills Neighborhood Association shared their concerns with LINC’s Caring Communities Coordinator Darryl Bush, and LINC helped the parents and neighbors reach out to local news station KSHB-41 to help raise attention.

KSHB reporter Sarah Plake met with the parents and neighborhood members Sept. 21 on the corner of Woodland Avenue and the school’s parking lot at E. 48th Street. The TV station came with its own radar gun to see just what the parents were talking about.

“Two weeks ago I almost got hit by a car,” parent John Allen said. “They go like 45 to 50 mph up and down that hill.”

A school bus climbs the hill at Woodland Avenue and E. 48th Street that parents say is dangerous, especially when cars come over the top the hill from the other direction.

LINC Caring Communities Coordinator Darryl Bush with KSHB’s radar gun.

“We’ve got people using walkers,” Blue Hills Neighborhood Association President Linda Brown said. “We’ve got parents with strollers pushing children here.”

Some of the possible remedies they are seeking are more police patrols, warning lights and speed bumps. KSHB’s reporting noted the process for installing speed bumps would include getting a city evaluation, going through a petition process and getting at least 75% approval from property owners in the petition area.

Bush said he will continue working with the parents and neighbors.

For the parents, Bush said, inviting the television station out “was just step one.”