Sidewalk Paves Way For School Kids
By Logan Hall
Ventura County Supervisor Steve Bennett has announced that construction on the new sidewalk on South Lomita Avenue in Meiners Oaks has been completed in time for the new school year. The project, costing $329,000 and funded by the State Highway Safety Program, has paved the way for children walking to and from school on Lomita between Meiners Oaks Elementary School and El Roblar Drive.
“We think it’s wonderful,” said the school’s principal, Dawn Damianos. “We don’t have as many buses to pick up the kids as we used to and more and more of them are walking or riding bikes. This makes it a lot safer for them.”
Although the sidewalk was completed in June, the county made the public announcement a week before students have their first day of school (which will be Tuesday).
Schoolchildren aren’t the only ones who stand to benefit from the new sidewalk.
Meiners Oaks resident Gedene Felgar frequently uses the new sidewalk on strolls through the neighborhood. “The new sidewalk is great,” said Felgar as she strode toward the school with her dog, Ginger. “I use it all of the time when we go walking.”
County staff has stated that the project is just the beginning of improvements along the entire length of Lomita. The county’s plan is a veritable make-over of the road with the next step involving a total repaving of Lomita along with a widening of the road’s shoulders for improved bike lane safety. Both phases of the project are scheduled to begin later this year. A press release from Bennett’s office says, “The sidewalk project will be followed by the repaving of the entirety of Lomita Avenue from Rice Road to Highway 33.”
Bennett believes that the make-over will benefit the valley as a whole. “The sidewalks together with the bike lanes will make it much safer for kids and families to get to school …” Bennett said. “Next year we will start extending sidewalks up the south side of El Roblar. These projects all help make the Ojai Valley a more sustainable and accessible community.”
The county has tried several times over the years to allocate the money for the project but had fallen short until the safety program shelled out the necessary funds. “We applied for grant funds for this project for several years before we were successful,” said Bennett.
Damianos agrees that the sidewalk project has been a waiting game until now. “This has been in the works a long time,” she said. “The kids used to have to walk on the dirt path and sometimes in the street because there was no sidewalk. Public schools need to have sidewalks in front of them so we’re very grateful for this.”
I’d like to add some safety statistics to this discussion. The comment that ‘someone is getting rich’ and that there is nothing wrong about walking on dirt is incorrect. Walking along the side of the road accounts for approximately 10% of pedestrian crashes, and that figure it higher in rural areas. The presence of a sidewalk reduces pedestrian crash factor by 88%. These statistics are from the Federal Highway Administration, Bicycle and Pedestrian Information Center.
Congrats on the sidewalk! It’s a great safety improvement.
Thanks for speaking up Ojai Parent!
As the founder of Walk to School Day in Ojai I can tell you that sidewalks are desperately needed in our community. The new MO sidewalk is a great improvement. It was paid for with state and local funds that can only be used for that purpose. If Ojai chooses not to get their per capita share,then the money is simply given to another community.
Safety was the number one reason that parents in Ojai did not allow their children to walk to school according to surveys collected on Walt to School Day. Walk to your local elementary and you will find parked cars that force kids into the street, mailboxes and shrubs that keep kids off of dirt paths, not to mention the angle of the sun in the morning and our aging population that may not see as well as they used to.
Three cheers for the County for installing these sidewalks!
Suza you are funny Peak hr traffic
“really,” when was the last time you walked El Roblar, Lomita and Rice Road with a group of young school age children, a baby in a stroller, a couple of dogs, or your elderly mother pushing a walker, during peak hour traffic?
Sorry but this was a hugh waste of money. There is nothing wrong with walking on Dirt. Someone got rich on this one while the tax payer got more indebt. Maybe repaving the roads would have been a better use of the money.