I'm not going to take it anymore day!

The kids had finished school, and Whittaker was asleep and I had sat down to whip out a silly blog for 'I'm not going to take it anymore day' when the phone rang. Caleb had just walked Duncan down the street to a friends and they had seen some rat like creature walking down the side of the street. My friend wanted to know if I knew what it was, she had to go pick up her kids from school and couldn't stop for a closer look. I don't think my choice to stay home during the day and teach my own children necessarily obligates me to be the available ratlike creature identifier! But I went outside to take a peek.

This is as far as the silly blog I'd been working on ever got.... My kids can attest that I won't tolerate certain things. Whistling in the same room as me... definitely no whistling in the car, chewing gum noisily, chewing gum for more than 15 minutes in my presence, WHINING, calling me ma'am! But this year I've decided to add some things to my list of not tolerated items.

At this point outside the creature has hidden under a neighbours car. My job of identifier wasn't an easy task.... I'm not a big creature fan so I didn't want to get too close. I went back into the house for my camera. The zoom can get closer than I was willing to have my body. With each glimpse my assistants were claiming, "It looks hungry, should I get some food?", "I think it's limping, it's hurt. Can we get a cage and fix it's leg?", "It has a cute face, I think it's someone's pet."
The neighbour had come out and was trying to coax it out from under the car... not sure why though, by throwing snowballs at it, not sure about why the snowballs either. I was snapping photos, but the shadows and the dark tires and the fact that I didn't want to lay down on the street in the ice to get a great shot limited my photographic success.

The creature was indeed ratlike with a black leathery tail at least 8" long and a fuzzy body almost the size of my cat. It had huge hind feet and it's front paws were very clawlike. It moved slowly and deliberately, not exactly a scurry. It was aware of our presence, but not terrified by us.

As we were outside attempting to identify the creature, the traffic which still haunts our street each week day at this time began to arrive. I'm sure they wondered why we were out of our houses and all looking at the gutters. At this point the owner of the car that it was hiding under came out to go to work. She hopped in and moved her car slowly. The creature slowly crawled up onto the boulevard. We definitely got a good look at our mysterious visitor. My skills at idenitfying creatures is non existent. I was as clueless as the rest. Although it was ratlike, it just didn't seem to be a rat, but other than that, my diagnosis was ??? The creature headed out across the street. He made it amongst all the cars that were slowing for him to cross and crawled up on to the snow bank on the other side.
What happened next happened so quickly that if you'd blinked or turned around to hush the barking dog in the yard behind you... you would miss it. I wasn't so lucky. I didn't blink or turn around to hush the dog like my neighbour did. I was privy to the white minivan that had careened down the street oblivious to the strange occurrings of the day. The van sped past me and whipped around the circle cul-de-sac without any thought to the people standing by and obviously no thought to the creature we were all observing. He made a fatal decision to return to our side of the street and left the snowy bank for the road. The crunch, the squeal and then the thud as the back wheel also hit, and then watching the writhing body as it gave up the ghost.

We still didn't know what it was but now we were faced with the new dilemma of who is going to remove its remains after it's thoughtless murder! Other cars had slowed, swerved carefully, and this van hadn't. In fact the driver didn't look back or even pause to consider what she had driven over and I'm sure she felt the bump. (remember, this thing isn't small, it' s like a cat!)

The next vehicle stopped, the driver opened the door and took a look at the suffering animal. Then he closed his door and went on to the walkway to retrieve his children. Once his children were in the car he turned around and came back. I had walked towards home to retrieve a shovel. He pulled up to the animal again. His children now all looked at the poor creature. I approached him. "Do you know what it is?"

"A muskrat."

After only a minute or two of chatter he went on his merry way, or perhaps subdued ways depending on how he felt about the muskrat.

I moved his remains to the side of the road with the shovel. I didn't know what else to do. Can you put muskrats in your garbage can? I didn't want it to be continually run over. Twice seemed insensitive enough. I went home.
I googled muskrat. Now that I know that they are typically nocturnal animals that hibernate for the winter, I feel worse. Why wasn't he in his little den on the banks of the canal hibernating far from the cruel traffic laden streets!! He's almost completely an herbivorous creature, so he wasn't out to hurt anyone. I began imagining what could have happened to lead to his being on my street, and I cried... ok I was also preparing dinner and chopping onions, but it was sad I tell you!

If this doesn't prove that there is rush hour traffic on what should be a quiet cul-de-sac, I'm not sure what will.

As for my original blog thoughts... I don't think I will tolerate senseless muskrat killings on my street anymore!

(I don't know how to get the photos off of my phone camera yet...)

Rush Hour Noble Style -- part five

On one particularly busy morning for me, I was madly trying to put a roast in the oven, for a dinner party I was hosting that night, in between the time that I put the pylons out and the time that I needed to be back out to the cross walk to cross children.... I was rushing so fast that as I was trimming some of the fat off the roast I sliced the skin off the top of my left index finger! (Not sure if I want to thank Dad now for giving me a set of knives and sharpener for Christmas... I keep them sharp thanks to Dad.... hmmm) Fortunately nothing serious... no stitches or anything would be required... but oh how it smarts!... another time I'm reminded how important every little inch of the body is and how often you need and use each body part! But I digress....

As I hurried out with my bandaged finger a little late for crossing kids, my kids started excitedly telling me, "look at the pylons"!!! Sure enough they had multiplied since I had put them out only 30 minutes earlier. Now there were 11 tall pylons and 4 short ones, instead of our usual 2 tall and 4 short. There were also some odd paint markings on the street. If these were gang tags... it was a safe gang (not that I'm looking for a gang to join). I didn't have much time. After the kids were safely at school we had to hurry home to get ready for an orthodontist appt. I was just brushing my teeth when I heard noise in the hall and came out to see Gina... my partner in crime... She was excited about the extra pylons too only she knew why they were there! The city was painting today! We were about to see some progress! Hooray! They were painting a red line for a safety zone around the crosswalk so it would be more obvious to the drivers where they could and could not stop and park!

I wished I could have stayed to help the guy paint I was so excited... and to think I helped in some small way to make those street edges get painted! It was a very gratifying and encouraging moment. But we had to go... we would be late!


When we returned home 1 1/2 hours later.... we were excited to see how the curbs were going to look. We saw as we turned down our street a new sign!!! a NO OUTLET sign... I didn't know we had won that issue also! WOW... and then we saw the red curbs... they had painted the entire gutter area... So these red lines are over 1' wide! VERY VISIBLE Have I got friends at city hall!

During afternoon pickup time that day the city was back. This time over by the other crosswalk. They were repairing the road in preparation of the next weeks projects... We will be getting bike lanes and a yellow line painted on the big road! Have we made a difference or what?

Rush Hour Noble Style -- part four

The next morning though... after two weeks of putting pylons out morning and afternoon and keeping track of traffic violations, observing loading/unloading procedures, and assisting children to school safely, I was back out at 7:15 in the morning as though the meeting hadn't taken place. Low and behold there was the Mayor! He wanted to observe with me this morning. He left after 15 minutes of observing... resolved to get the ball rolling on this and to see what he could do about the school board's lack of involvement.

Later that day, just before lunch, the phone rang again. This time not a curious neighbour wanting to know what was going on for a change, but instead it was the member of the city council who had attended the meeting with us. Apparently she had been in a meeting that morning and had been able to find out some information for us regarding the possibility of sidewalks in our neighbourhood. The city owns the easements which meant that it was just a funding issue now. Sometimes if the city has to buy the easements it can be a very long process. However, the cost she said is roughly $1500.00 per home on the street. There are 30 homes on the street... quick math says $45,000.00. Not exactly pocket change! So she shared a few creative ways to move our sidewalk project up on the city docket!

• If we chipped in half it could be done almost immediately. (because $22,000.00 is just a walk in the park!)
  
• We could do some of the actual labor and try to find a company who would let us have the actual concrete at cost and the city would be able to finance that better and again move us up on the docket.
  
• We could get the support of the neighbourhood in doing what they refer to as a Special Improvement District Project. Essentially spread the cost out over all the homes affected by the sidewalks...not just the homes on the street getting them but also to the neighbourhood to the north whose children would effectively be using them to get to school. In spreading it out over 200 homes as an increase in property taxes over 5 years it would only cost each home $45.00 each year for 5 years and we could realistically have the sidewalks put in as soon as the ground can be prepped!
• Meet to discuss any other options with the neighbourhood. She recommended we do this regardless. So we have scheduled another neighbourhood meeting. This one for early in October. (It was difficult to find a location right away to host the meeting)

Within two hours of my phone call with the city councilwoman, I received another interesting phone call. This call was from the school board liason for our school. She had just been brought up to speed on the situation and wanted to know more and what would we like from the school. We had a great half hour conversation. She agreed that the school should be more involved in this situation for the safety of the children. She agreed that parent education would be paramount to making this work. She would need some time to discuss this further with the board and decide how they can best resolve the concerns. Unfortunately, we haven't heard back from her since. (of course it's only been 10 days.)

Progress is progress no matter how small... and for us as long as it continues to progress.
We were in a waiting game... Everyone had to meet with their people.... including us... but meetings we've learned aren't always that easy to schedule! For us we still had to continue with our already busy lives and now squeeze this important civic task in wherever we could.

We continue to do the pylon and crossing guard duties each morning and afternoon while we wait for a little more progress.... We sure hope for a long fall... We're not looking forward to cold winter weather pylon and crossing detail!!

Rush Hour Noble Style -- part three

What next?
The afternoon was equally as crazy with many officers, the principal and all of the neighbourhood out to discuss the issues. Nothing resolved on the street corners but lots of ideas and suggestions of things to try.

We went to the city council the next night. The city council only allows for each person to speak for 3 minutes. Some of the frustrated parents also spoke although they only had complaints and we proposed some solutions. When the time cut off and we hadn't quite finished our speech the Mayor requested that we call his office in the morning and schedule with his secretary. He wished to discuss this matter further with us.

When we called the next morning, she said that he would be available to meet with us in half an hour... could we be there? Uhhhhh... sure! So we went to see the Mayor! We presented the problem to him. We showed the maps of the school boundaries, the map of the neighbourhood, the map of traffic flow concerns. We discussed our main concerns and our proposed solutions. He was patient and kind and listened to us. We arranged to have a meeting with all the needed individuals to pinpoint some feasible solutions. The meeting was scheduled for 2 weeks away.

Until then, we assisted children crossing the roads and we observed the traffic flow and pondered any further solutions. The city conducted some traffic studies of their own. The school opted to wait until the outcome of the meeting to do anything further.

The day of the meeting arrived all too quickly. Many of the neighbours were in attendance. The Mayor, the traffic engineers, the code enforcement officers, the DARE liason officer, the Sherriff, the crossing guard coordinator, the city council member over the area, the PTA, the Principal of the school were all there. The meeting lasted a little over two hours! A lot of discussion... some a little heated and others fairly productive! It was established that all our concerns were valid and needed to be addressed. The city committed to do any and all of the proposed solutions as funding would permit. The school apologized for not having informed the School Board that there was an issue and promised to fill them in so we could find out what the schools intentions were. The police agreed to continue weekly spot surveillance of illegal parking and traffic violations in an educational capacity. The crossing guard coordinator helped us know what things we needed to do in order to qualify for a crossing guard. The Mayor made it clear he wanted to see some steps taken ASAP to resolve this issue. The PTA argued that they had tried to help before... it hadn't worked and they didn't have any other options and the Principal backed them up. We pointed out many things that we'd like to see that would require the support and assistance of the school. We were only met with arguments.

While we went away from the meeting feeling as though the city was on our side and we would see something soon... just what we didn't know. We also left very frustrated with the school. Without their support, even the efforts of the city could be for nothing.

Doing my civic duty is exhausting work... and keeps my phone ringing. I finally turned off the ringer and went to bed that night.

Rush hour... Noble style -- part two

I had no idea what I was starting... a rumble was on! And somehow I was the new ringleader... HEY.. WAIT... I'm a shy, reserved person... who home schools her children and reads a lot of books... I DO NOT talk to all the neighbours nor do I make waves! But here I was over the summer making plans to bring about change for our neighbourhood!!

• I contacted the school and voiced our complaints... Response...Oh... we'll have to see what we can do..... equals... nothing.
• I questioned many of the neighbours asking for what has been tried over the years... Response... repeated requests of the school, petitioned the city for signs and crosswalks and sidewalks... (it should be noted that 10 years ago we did get crosswalks and that 4 years ago we got a sidewalk from one crosswalk to the corner of the street, so this gave me hope)
  
• I wrote a letter to the neighbours asking that we all be united as we make waves and try to evoke change... Response... the neighbours all banded together to put their garbage cans lining the street so that people couldn't park along our streets...
  
• I bought large orange pylons to put in the two crosswalks, I got myself an orange vest and looked for a hand held stop sign without luck. I made large signs that said "Not a pick up or drop off zone, Thank you" and "Please use 2700 West access to the School parking area" (I thought I should try to be polite still.) I printed up a flyer for those parents coming into our neighbourhood behind the school with a map highlighting the actual routes they ought to take to go to the school and explaining that this simply isn't a safe access for the students nor is it courteous to the people who live here. ... now I was ready for the first day of school...

I had 200 copies of the letter for the parents, I'd posted my signs out of the way but still very visible and put my pylons on the crosswalks... I chickened out of wearing my fluorescent vest but I did wear an orange shirt... There were eleven neighbours out watching that morning interested to know what was going to come of our actions... The other two ladies most involved with me Susan and Gina had to get their children off to school and then they met me at the main crosswalk where I stood in the middle of the road and handed out my flyer to each car as they came by.

We received many mixed reactions to our flyer, signs, pylons and us... many people were confused... "but this is how I've always driven to the school?", and "did something happen?", "doesn't this road go through anymore?", to "I can't believe this.", "You've got to be kidding me." to "@$%$... "... yes.. some were quite rude... others wouldn't even roll their windows down to take a flyer. We began at 7:50 and we were still handing out flyers until 8:15 and I might add without much of a break between cars... often there was a line of them... (I only had 30 flyers left when I was done) School starts at 8:20 so we knew that we were nearing the end when one lady rolled down her window and said "Hi, I'm the Crossing Guard coordinator for this district can I help you guys with something?"... She pulled over and parked and we met on the sidewalk to discuss things... She was a very nice lady and said this isn't the first time I've heard about this school's issues. Then the police started to show up... First the DARE officer assigned to this school, then a code enforcer officer, then a traffic officer, then another officer... who I guess didn't want to feel left out!

Mum who happened to be here for a very brief stop on her way home was also involved. She had taken a copy of our flyer and Duncan and had walked over to the school and was just milling around near the office as a fly on the wall to get a sense for the reaction that we were getting at the school. It wasn't too long before some complainers arrived and the principal was alerted to the action taking place. Mum volunteered that she had a copy of the flyer being handed out and that it was a peaceful request taking place in the neighbourhood to the north. She left and came to find us out on the streets.

The parents felt that we were causing a nuisance on the first day of school. The code enforcer let us know that while we had every right to make a stand and get this issue out in the open, we can not legally put up a sign, and that we had really gone about this all wrong... so get this... we're the bad guys! The other officers said...'well hold on... this has been an ongoing issue... we've been called out many times over this and as for going about it all wrong... what should they have done?' Apparently we should be taking our concerns to the city council... not the school and parents driving in? Ok... so the city council meeting is the next night we'll be there. Yes we'll take down our signs and what else do we need to be aware of and what are we to specifically ask of the city council?

So we have permission to assist children crossing the streets, and politely ask people to move if they are blocking our driveways and ask them to slow down in a school zone... and interestingly enough we learned a lot that morning for over an hour chatting with our new friends the officers who kindly didn't arrest us or fine us for our illegal signs. They did see many illegal actions such us parking on crosswalks, sidewalks, the wrong direction on the opposite side of the road, in front of fire hydrants, in front of driveways and mailboxes... oooooh... we were excited with all our info. that we were collecting... So based on what the officers were telling us there aren't many 'LEGAL' places for anyone to park on our street to begin with. 20' either side of a crosswalk, 15' either side of a fire hydrant, 5' either side of a driveway and mailbox.... So although we can not legally stop them from driving through our neighbourhood, too fast and too many at once even though the school lists our neighbourhood as the 'Safe Walking Route', they will happily patrol the area for the next few days and enforce code violations to discourage people from stopping.

We had hopefully made our point and we would certainly be attending the city council meeting the next night... Oh wait... while we were still chatting that morning... here comes the principal.... Finally showing an interest. She said all the right things to us... "Oh yes... I see the issue and we'll have to do something... back to school night is on Thursday we'll be able to inform parents better then and encourage carpooling." We all parted ways and went on with our days... only to meet again later that afternoon during the next rush hour...

Rush hour... Noble style -- part one

We bought our house on a quiet little cul-de-sac. At the time we moved in I was working full time at the charter school where the kids were going to school. We had to leave home by 7:15 each morning to take Duncan to his childcare and then get everyone to school on time by 8:10. School didn't end each day until 3:20, although since I had to run the traffic and carpool afterschool pick up and sometimes had staff meetings, we never were able to leave the school before 4:15 and sometimes even that was a challenge and then we began our commute home and picked up Duncan and began the ever dreaded, dinner, homework and piano practice, scouts and other evening activities... We were dropping into our beds... those who had them...(explain in another post sometime about that!) absolutely exhausted..... So... after living in our home for 6 months we very much enjoyed our quiet little cul-de-sac throughout the summer..... HOWEVER..... we had had enough of the insanity... We weren't going anywhere the next year... I signed up for K12 curriculum and haven't looked back!... We stayed home!...

What a shock it was for us then when we discovered that as of the first day of school for the traditional elementary school that is located behind our street, we no longer lived on a quiet cul-de-sac.... We wondered what was going on that had a constant stream of traffic coming down and turning around in our little circle... and then to top it all off they were stopping wherever they could find a spot... sometimes in the middle of the road and letting their children out to run through the little pathway into the back of the school....

I was puzzled but we went on with our day only to discover at 2:40 that afternoon as we were getting ready to take my kids to piano lessons that we couldn't back out of our driveway... and that the street was completely lined with parked cars... most had people in them but they weren't showing any signs of leaving any time soon. I convinced the lady stopped at the end of my driveway that I needed out and she needed to move but she obviously was put out by it! I then got turned around to head down the street as swarms of children started to exit the little pathway behind the school and all the cars previously lining the street were in motion... it was like an obstacle course played out with small children and cars. For me to drive past the 7 houses to the turn at our street and then drive the one block so I could get to the main road and leave the neighbourhood took me 15 minutes.... usually less than 1.5 minutes is enough! I was flabbergasted! I thought... I am so glad I'm home schooling my kids, this first day of school stuff is for the birds!

When this continued to be the pattern EVERY DAY... TWICE A DAY... for the rest of the school year... I was beginning to feel my blood boil.... I couldn't send my children out to play, I had to plan to run errands around what we referred to as Rush Hour, and the number of times I thought I would have a heart attack as I saw child after child almost be hit when the obstacle course went amuck. As I spoke with people in my new neighbourhood I learned that they also were dismayed by the traffic but that it has been like this for as long as they can remember.... Except for one guy who said he used to go to that school as a kid and it was fine since there weren't any houses or traffic coming to the school 30 years ago.... hmmm... So I learned that complaints had been made for over 37 years regarding the safety of the children and the excess traffic.... So why after all these years was it still so bad?