I (we ) drive that gridlock too , to far to walk , to far to ride a bike.
But there's good news , the city and the school distrist are going to get together and build a new gym at Hamilton.
After all we don't need buses if we carpool.

If Bahia, Blackpoint, and Atheron kids were going to Hill, then the traffic problem existed there before it was added to the other schools. I see a lot more cars than there should be from just the far away homes. In my opinion, the parents are driving their kids to school from a shorter distance also, out of concern for their safety. With the changes in our town due to the affordable housing policies, and the sanctuary city designation, the thugs from all over the bay area are now coming here to do their dirty work, and the need to protect our kids is greater than ever. Get used to the traffic. It's here to stay, along with the winos, rapists, muggers, and burglars that section 8 housing brings.

To me, the reasons why I drove or carpooled were:
1) We simply don't have school buses (or buses) for the kids
2) Kids had extra-curricular activities that we needed to take them to/from
3) Too dangerous to walk/bike that winding and dark Simmons Lane - not because of the crime, but because of the cars
4) Really, I just wanted to spend that extra time with my kids - they grow up so fast!

So, school buses ... something to consider ...

Craig, certainly there was congestion around all of the three middle schools but to a far lesser degree at each school given that the number of students was divided by three schools then rather than two schools now. As for driving them out of fear, I don't personally know any parents who do so for those reasons, but that doesn't mean there aren't folks out there who feel that way.

Sylvia, I do think buses would be a good idea. Perhaps some of the $554,000 in savings from the Hill closure could be used for buses. Unfortunately, NUSD is in contract with another school district, renting out most of our buses to that district.

One of the biggest problems is that parents forget that we're all in this together. We're all doing the same thing - dropping off or picking up our kids from school. Nobody is more special, more important or in more of a hurry than anyone else. The rules apply to everyone and the kids' safety should be first and foremost.

Hopefully traffic at all of the District schools will be something considered durning this years full boundary strudy. Traffic problems are certainly not confined to just the middle schools. Rancho Elementary which is not a neighborhood school and draws its student body from the all over Novato is located at the end of a court (Cambridge/ Johnson). The only other access is Taft Ct (also a court). Since Rancho is not a neighborhood school and very few kids actually walk from their home to the campus, there is considerably more traffic on these two small residential courts than there needs to be.
Hopefully in the near future, Olive will be a K-8 and Rancho will be a neighborhood school. Withthis seemingly simple fix, more kids will be able to walk/ ride to school and traffic for all of Novato should improve.

Patty,

Great article. Traffic's a mess as anticpated, but you may not realize there are folks working on it (at least at San Jose). I am the volunteer Safe Routes to School task force manager for San Jose Middle School, and at the end of last year spent a few days observing the traffic situation along with Safe Routes engineers, Novato police and admisnistrators and PTA reps of San Jose. We're working hard on possible solutions to what we antiicpated last year after the announcement of the Hill closure would be an issue w/ the increase in students this year; however, the process is a bit lengthy as the City engineers need to agree on the right course of action, a submission is made for financing during one of the limited Federal funding windows and then if approved the work needs to be done. We currently have pending request for crosswalk improvements at the intersection of Arthur and Cambridge to allow more kids to safely cross/walk/bike to Novato High- requests which were not funded during last cycle and will be resubmitted. Also, I have set up a meeting with transit officals to begin the process of trying to coordinate Golden Gate bus schedules w/ school schedules as currently any child riding the bus is either an hour early or 5 minutes tardy for school (which is not a good way to incentivize use of buses). In the meantime, I am very open to and would love to hear any and all ideas for improvement, so keep them coming!

Marla, I think the work you're doing with Safe Routes is great. I concede that it does take a long time to make improvements. It just feeds into the continued belief that the decision to close a middle school was made without giving very basic consideration to the impact such a decision would have and without planning. In a year or two, I'm sure all will be running far more smoothly. That is, unfortunately, no comfort to those of us bearing the brunt of the chaos, particularly those, like me, who have 7th graders and 8th graders who will not realize any benefit of future improvements.

I'm curious as to how long it's been since you undertook the (in my mind) relatively simple crosswalk improvements at Arthur & Cambridge. Perhaps some of the savings from the closure of Hill Middle School can be directed to crosswalk and parking lot entrance/exit improvements all over. With more than a half-million dollars saved, why wait for the feds?

The crosswalk improvements (actually we added both a crosswalk, signage and a crossing guard) at Adams and Johnson were completed two years ago. It was not an easy process as it require doing a "walkabout" with SafeRoutes, school administrators, PTA, Police and City engineers, preparing a proposal, submitting the request for funding etc, then the City had to come out and do a traffic count to justify the work, then it finally got approved by City Council with some advocacy work on our part (we had some students speak up about hte dangerous conditions they used to have trying to walk to school and cross with limited visibility through the line of cars.) Then I had to work with MTC to get a crossing guard. The result is there are far more walkers, bikers, and people who walk from the remote location of parking lot near United Methodist Church now.

I agree the closure was a bit "hasty" and all the implications were perhaps not thoroughly thought through, but we are doing what we can to adjust. I have no more say over how School funds are used than any other parent, but suggest you attend a School Board meeting and ask them to dedicate some funds to improving the traffic situation around the middle schools since it poses a safety threat to the kids if that is a priority for you. It can't hurt.

I realize you have no more say over how school funds are used. As for attending school board meetings, I do believe I will. Again, Marla, your work with Safe Routes is commendable. I appreciate your efforts.

Thanks Patty,

I appreciate your bringing the issue to the community and school board's attention and working to resolve by looking for creative solutions. Keep me posted.

(warning: matter of fact, sarcastic comments below...)

Love how this, as the article states many, many times, is "someone’s" problem (should have read, someone else’s problem). Oh wait, didn't we choose to buy homes far away from those schools we have chosen to send our kids to, but the traffic is now "someone" else's problem. Because "they" closed a school and spread out that population of middle school aged kids.

And, I guess parking on Paladini near Sinaloa Middle School during the hours of 2 & 3 pm on school days is not our fault either. They, I mean the police officer I spoke with just yesterday, said neighbors "complained." But in the 5 years prior, I saw a police officer only once. But wait... it gets better. Could it be that the cash strapped City of Novato is generating income from sending out their police department to give tickets to parents & teachers who do park there.

I ask, where else can we park now that "someone" has increased the school population by 200+ students? Ooops, there I go, blaming "someone." Surely it's not my fault ;) BTW, I’ve been good about parking & have NOT received any tickets. But, IMHO, those signs need to be removed. Afterall, if you bought a home near or far away from a school, you knew what you were getting into…

Actually, as someone who lives next door to a school, we did not know what we were getting into. We did not realize that the parents of the school kids would think that our driveway was for their use, parking, honking, idling, blocking. EVERY DAY. Dozens of parents who are more important than we are, who think that we like to hear the bottoms of their cars scraping the pavement of our driveway. When politely asked to stop, the best we get is a wordless shrug, the worst is an argument. Maybe we should start following these people home, park, honk, and block their driveways, and see if they still think that we are being unreasonable. When we approached the school to please help us by making an announcement regularly in the school paper, we get the same "someone else" answers. It seems to be the way the school district works. A lot of really friendly people who often have no answers to problems, no solutions, and maybe if we are lucky, they will know something before the end of the school year.

When we bought our house, Hill was open. My daughter planned her riding partners in 5th grade before it closed. Now we are part of the gridlock...my son had taken the bus at least some days when it was offered ( I still have many tickets some where that I bought before it was canceled) and if it were offered today my daughter would take it too....

I still wonder why we can't have a few school buses running? They only need to stop on the main roads, such as Novato Blvd, San Marin Drive, San Carlos Way, Hamilton Drive, Atherton Drive etc to pick up kids. Neighborhood kids can walk to the stops on those streets. We did that when we lived in difference cities.

Personally, I would have been willing to pay for the bus services if needed (some kids might get a scholarship if they can't afford the bus services).

It might take a little time for people to be used to the idea but it would have been a good experience for the kids, save a lot of time and effort for adults and good for the neighbors and the environment.

When I bought my house ( right next to a school ) I didn't have children , or plan for them . I know and always knew that people would have to park to drop off children or visit the school. I've gotten upset over them moving my garbage cans on garbage day to park but I can live with that , no one has ever parked across my driveway , if they had , their car would still be there blocked in by my cars. I guess we are lucky because we only have this problem on weekdays not EVERY DAY.
I would much rather have street parking in front of my house rather than being upset about someone parked or waiting for their children.
It's a no win situation I guess , with no buses , there's cars , with no parking there are parking violations.
Me , I don't park where it says no parking , but I will stop there to use my cell phone with my motor running so I don't use my cell phone while driving.

I'm really sorry, even though I've done nothing wrong, that some parents chose to use people's driveways as their personal space. But, to honestly say that "you didn't know what you are getting into" when you bought a home next to the school??? not buying that.

I bought a home near San Ramon Elementary & San Marin High School AND knew exactly what I was getting into. A home next to schools that my kids would be going. Yes, there is traffic at certain times.

My comments referred specifically to restricted parking on Paladini (near Sinaloa Middle School) from 2 to 3pm. I think for a short period of time, now 4 days per week, when most people are not home is something the neighborhood can deal with. As a parent who has dealt with traffic & driving my kids to Sinaloa for the last 5 years, I see what happens. This is just the first year theat the Novato PD has choosen to "enforce" the parking laws.