I hope everybody saw the announcement from the county mayor and the County Commission telling us where the new schools are going to be without any real debate in front of the public. I feel sorry for the parents and students at CSLA, a great school with a crumbling building and kids in the overcrowded East Hamilton.
The correct decision would have been to fund the building of all of the schools, not just the ones that the mayor and the head of the Commission picked out. The way this matter was handled was a disservice to the people of this county, a violation of the Sunshine Law and should not be passed by the Commission.
John Allen Brooks
Chattanooga
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I agree wholeheartedly that CSLA needs a new facility. The building is ancient and unattractive and its location is a menace for drivers who must pass by each morning and afternoon. Parents of students think it's perfectly okay to sit in the middle of Vance Road and hinder other traffic from getting past while they wait to drive their students up to the back entrance of the school or to line up out front. I can't think of any other place in the city that allows cars to sit idle, in the middle of city streets, while drivers wait for school to open and for the school day to end each afternoon. Parents line up well before students are dismissed and even block the intersection of East Brainerd Road and Vance Road until someone lets them across to line up in front driveway of the school. This backs traffic up on East Brainerd Road and makes transit on Vance Road unnecessarily difficult.
This selfish behavior should be stopped. It would be far better for a new school to be built to get this traffic problem solved. Alternatively, and I'm sure this would be cheaper, the city should position police to write citations until the selfish behavior of parents going to CSLA is corrected. I wonder if this is a coordinated strategy by parents at CSLA to create such a traffic mess that the county would relent and give them a new school; if so, they have failed.
If you doubt what I report here, I encourage you to visit CSLA about 4 p.m. via East Brainerd Road headed toward Lee Highway and then attempt to turn right and drive down Vance Road.
John Johnson