Seeking community comments for safe routes to school initiative

To the editor: As you may have read, Governor Spitzer recently announced a Safe Routes to School Grant to be funded by the NY State Department of Transportation. As described by the DOT, this program “promotes a safe, healthy alternative to riding the bus or being driven to school. The program emphasis is to encourage and to enable children, including those with disabilities, to walk and to bicycle to school; to make walking and bicycling safe and more appealing; and to facilitate the planning, development and implementation of projects that will improve safety and will reduce vehicular traffic, fuel consumption and air pollution within a two-mile vicinity of primary and middle schools.” The Village of Warwick, the Town of Warwick and the Warwick Valley Central School District have decided to join together in an application to receive funds from the Safe Routes to School Grant. During the summer of 2007, the town began this effort with the installation of a multi-use lane on West Street and West Street Extension. West Street is a popular walking route for the middle and high school students in Warwick who either live in the village or choose to go to the village after school. Based on the numbers of students taking that route to and from school, we will be applying for funds to continue that multi-use lane and to install new sidewalks along West Street to Pond Hill Avenue. In addition, we will be seeking funds to repair or replace the existing sidewalks on West Street beyond Pond Hill. In our varied experience within the community, improvements to West Street for the sake of pedestrian safety have long been a concern. As a result, we feel we are a candidate for the Safe Routes to School funding and we would like to include your comments in the grant application. A variety of perspectives will provide community-wide support - comments from parents, comments from students, comments from teachers and comments from drivers are all welcome. If you would like us to include your comments in the grant application, please send an e-mail to vlgclerk@warwick.net. If you would like to send your comments via paper mail, you can send a note to Village Hall, 77 Main Street, Warwick, NY 10990. Michael Sweeton, Supervisor, Town of Warwick Michael Newhard, Mayor, Village of Warwick Dr. Frank Greenhall, Superintendant, Warwick Valley Schools