GUSD gets an F for failing to try.

Fill out the application and try for chris'ake. GUSD should apply every year. Two children have died.





GilroyDispatch.com of Gilroy California

School and city officials opted not to seek coveted federal safety funds this year, despite ongoing concerns about kids' safety in Gilroy crosswalks.

...

This year, SRTS' requests for proposals came out in October. One month after Gilroy Unified School District Superintendent Edwin Diaz mentioned possibly applying for the grant in his winter bulletin, school officials decided to drop the idea, put off by expensive engineering assessments and looming deadlines. This is the first time the school district has considered applying for the funds, said Freedman, who estimated that engineering conducted by outside firms would cost $5,000 per school.

The assessments are not required to receive grant money, but could give Gilroy a leg up on the competition.

"You're competing with every other city in the state, and the funds are scarce," said city traffic engineer Don Dey, who consulted school officials on a possible application. "Last year, they awarded about one grant per county."

But other cities have snagged funding without costly assessments, said Wendi Kallins, program director of the Transportation Authority of Marin, which administers Marin County's SRTS program. Marin County laid the groundwork for the nationwide program, cutting their own school-zone congestion by 13 percent, Kallins said. Among the county's most successful programs are "non-engineering" efforts such as Walk to School days and crosswalk safety education.

It is the first time GUSD considered applying for aid. Gilroy just added a huge shopping complex across town and our Mayor used this development to increase traffic congestion in the City core as part of his downtown business rennovation, "Drop a few bucks".



Shouldn't we have been trying to adapt to the increased traffic before this devleopment was finished?