by Garth Meyer
A neighborhood kids’ brigade, led by 10-year-old Otis Schlaff, convened at a Redondo Beach city council meeting March 17 to call for a crossing guard on Ford Avenue and Aviation Boulevard.
The council, after discussion, voted to move a guard from another intersection, and in order to fund its crossing guards, it will look to cut earthquake insurance for city-owned buildings, and explore reduction of general property liability insurance.
Schlaff presented 133 signatures to the council from fellow Jefferson Elementary students, and 107 from the surrounding community.
“We need a crossing guard for the rest of the school year,” he told councilmembers, noting 54 days remained.
A total of 21 people spoke at city hall – kids, siblings, parents – in a group of 34 who came for the agenda item. They maintained that it took 20 extra minutes for a kid to walk from Ford Ave. to the next street that has a crossing guard, Grant Avenue.
Councilmember Paige Kaluderovic complimented the speakers’ brevity, all of whom stayed well under the three minutes allotted per person in public comment.
Councilman Zein Obagi, Jr., made the motion to move a crossing guard to Ford and Aviation in what will be a pilot program. The guard comes from the intersection of Havermeyer Lane and Harkness Lane, which has less traffic.
“I’m not interested in adding more crossing guards,” Obagi, Jr. said. “… This is a pilot, we’re going to see if it works.”
City Councilman Brad Waller noted that two other intersections are the subject of requests for crossing guards.
“Is Aviation and Ford the highest priority?” he said.
Ryan Liu, Redondo Beach transportation engineer, said, “It’s hard to make these decisions just based on the input given.”
Liu cited the number of approaching lanes at Aviation and Ford, compared to quieter crossings.
“The more lanes to look at; that could include the risk for a conflict to occur,” he said.
Obagi’s motion passed unanimously. The Redondo Unified School District will send out notices to residents about the Havermeyer and Harkness guard moving.
Schlaff’s efforts first began last fall.
“There were a lot of accidents at Ford and Aviation, and I was biking at that time and I asked my mom how to get a crossing guard to make it safer,” he told Easy Reader.
His mother, Lauren Schlaff, helped arrange meetings with councilmembers Obagi, Jr., and Kaluderovic.
Otis then started to give public comment at city council and school board meetings, and made classroom speeches at school to gather signatures.
He and his friend Dean Corrall, along with Otis’ 6-year old sister, Lucy, then knocked on doors in their neighborhood for more signatures.
Schlaff started to ride his bike to Jefferson Elementary this school year, but since his parents forbade him from crossing Aviation without an adult, he took notice of the lack of a crossing guard at Ford Ave.
“You can only control so much, and it’s just too unsafe for an elementary student to ride by themselves,” Lauren said.“… It’s really nice for our kids to feel heard and go through this process, that this is how they can make a change in their community.”
It all culminated last week in front of the city council.
“All my friends came. I think it was great, and relieving, that (the council) even considered a motion to do it,” Schlaff said.
Has he done anything like this before?
“This is all brand new to me,” he said.
Was it harder or easier than he thought?
“Harder – I thought it would be an ask, I thought it would be one and done.”
The crossing guard at Ford and Aviation arrives April 13.
So what happens if next school year starts and there is no crossing guard at Ford and Aviation?
“I’ll probably go back and do all that again,” Schlaff said. ER
SIDEBAR: City insurance may be adjusted to keep crossing guards
At present, Redondo Beach spends $553,000 for 27 crossing guards per year.
City Manager Mike Witzansky said that it is likely the city will need to shrink the number to 22 in next year’s budget. To do that, the city council asked for insurance cuts.
For earthquake insurance, the city spends $1 million per year to insure $234 million in assessed property value. The maximum payout is $100 million, Witzansky said.
“It’s silly for us to have that broad a level of coverage if we’re never going to see a payout at that level,” he said, recommending that the council reduce the number of facilities covered, or have no earthquake coverage at all, as is the case for Torrance.
“I’d be happy to cut earthquake insurance… I don’t have it on my house either,” Councilman Brad Waller said.
As for general liability insurance, Witzansky told the council he could not recall the city filing a claim for property damage in his 20 years working for Redondo Beach. A possible adjustment would cut the premium but not coverage limits. It would change the “self-insured retention amount,” which is like a deductible.
With or without earthquake insurance, the city still has all-risk property insurance, including 40 facilities which have just-shock earthquake insurance. ER
