Altadena Trees (Photo – Jennifer Hall Lee)
This week Altadena residents will see an unfamiliar sight: hundreds of students walking to school to raise awareness of California Clean Air Day, which coincides with National Walk to School Day.
By News Desk
On Wednesday, Oct. 4 and Thursday, Oct. 5, students will walk to school along with parents, school administrators, and community leaders: Altadena Town Council Members (ATC) Dorothy Wong, Nic Arnzen, Veronica Jones and Pat Sutherlen will attend, along with Board of Supervisors District 5 Deputies Sussy Nemer and Anish Saraiya, representatives from Los Angeles County Public Works, LA County Parks & Recreation and LA County Public Health. U.S. Congresswoman Judy Chu and District Representative, CA State Senate Dominick Correy are scheduled to address the students gathering at the Altadena Main Library.
Students from seven schools will walk to school from three hubs: Loma Alta Park-Palm St; Farnsworth Park Parking Lot and the Altadena Main Library. Classmates will gather at the hub closest to their school and walk along a predetermined route. California Highway Patrol will be on hand to direct traffic as needed.
Many students made Clean Air Day signs and chalk art at the Altadena Libraries in preparation for the walk.
Dorothy Wong , Town Council rep for Census Tract 4603.01 which encompasses Loma Alta Park, said:
We are excited that so many schools chose to participate in CA Clean Air-Walk to School Day this year. This event demonstrates the desire to walk to school in support of active transportation and healthy communities, however, the lack of safe space for all road users such sidewalks and crosswalks makes it challenging for our students to get to school and to the park safely.”
Walk to School Day events raise awareness of the need to create safer routes for walking and bicycling and emphasize the importance of issues such as increasing physical activity among children, pedestrian safety, traffic congestion and concern for the environment. The events build connections between families, schools and the broader community.
The walk was organized by the Altadena Town Council Traffic Safety & Mobility Committee and the Altadena Library District in collaboration with the Clean Air Coalition. The focus of this year’s event is on Safe Routes to School and young people advocating for clean air in California.
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Our community full of NASA engineers decided the most effective way to move their children to and from their homes is in luxury SUVs. I welcome events like these to demonstrate a smarter and healthier option
It’s great for students to get involved in environmental issues, and I hope this day is a success.
We should not forget, though, that the reason the walkers are meeting at (and likely being driven to) hubs is because PUSD has closed the majority of neighborhood public, non-charter elementary schools in Altadena. Two of the remaining Altadena schools–Webster and Jackson–are too far from the hubs for students to walk.
Years ago, then Superintendent Vera Vignes told me that she thought Edison, which my younger children attended at the time, had been ignored by the district. (She also said that if I repeated that, she would deny it.) I think the same could be said of the district’s attitude towards Altadena public, non-charter schools in general.