A Safer Walk to School

It all started in 2015, when a group of fourth graders at T.J. Austin Elementary School wrote a letter to Mayor Martin Heines and former City Councilmember Ed Moore asking for sidewalks to be installed near their school. The letter convinced Moore the sidewalks were needed because the students were having to walk in the street and in residents’ yards on the way to and from school. Moore worked to see the children’s idea for a safer commute completed before he left office in May 2019. Two quarter-mile-long sidewalks were completed in April 2019, giving students and parents the ability to walk through the neighborhood. The sidewalks are located on the west side of Moore Street, from Franklin Street to Cochran Street; and on the west side of Palace Street, from Franklin Street to Queen Street.

T. J. Austin Elementary School Principal Brandy Holland told CBS-19 about a third of the students at the school walk to school and back home every day. She also said students and their parents had to walk on private property or in the streets before the sidewalks #TimeToBuild were built. The Neighborhood Services Department named the project its major public facility project in 2018. The $280,000 project was funded through the Community Development Block Grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. PUBLIC WORKS