Public safety concern at Peterson Elementary school crosswalk Public Comment from Louie Castro Aimee Brunckhorst
From: Louie Castro <406bgsky@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 4, 2024 7:50 AM
To: Kalispell Meetings Public Comment
Subject: EXTERNAL Public safety concern at Peterson Elementary school crosswalk
Mr. Mayor Mark Johnson and All Council members
RE: Peterson School crosswalk
The reason for this letter is to bring some light to a concerning and dangerous crosswalk at Peterson
Elementary in particular the one on S. Meridian and 3rd St W. I've personally witnessed many near
misses and kids just waiting for vehicle after vehicle flying by more than likely going above the speed
limit. I personally followed a driver after a near miss with 3 children (one being my own)to make them
aware of what had nearly happened, this driver was totally clueless. I dont know if its the ever growing
amount of distracted driving, the complacency or the amount of"new drivers" from the High school, but
any of these combined with an unpredictable or innatentive child is a recipe for disaster. I've brought this
concern to the attention of both the school staff and Law Enforcement with no reaction. That's why I'm
coming to you all.
I don't know what can be done but a couple ideas in my mind include automatic flashing lights and
signage like the ones arond the courthouse and rails to trails, maybe there is some kind of public safety
funding that can be tapped into for this.And possibly deploying the KPD mobile radar for a couple weeks
just to raise awareness about this crosswalk.
It seems like something unfortunate has to happen for something to get done about a public safety
issue like this. Let's not wait until that happens, lets be proactive about this and prevent a very
predictable accident.
Thankyou foryour time and willingness to hear me out. Hopefully we can show how much our children's
safety means to us.
Respectfully
Louie Castro
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