By Scott Landheer
City Times
The San Diego City College/East Village Community Traffic Safety Project’s Enforcement Operation took place on March 7 at the San Diego High Educational Complex.
Officers from the City of San Diego, City College and the high school arrived on foot, on horseback, in cars and on motorcycles to make their presence known, issue warnings and enforce traffic safety laws.
During the operation, about 26 citations were handed out, along with 24 warnings.
“Today we want to support law enforcement operations and raise awareness,” said Shontey Hambrick, community organizer for the Institute for Public Strategies, as she waited for the high school students to be let out at 2:50 p.m. “Given the perils students face every day with speeding traffic and jay walking, we want to help them to change their habits and behaviors.”
Volunteers handed flyers to students as they left school to inform them on ways for pedestrians to be safe and how to participate in making the area safer. The flyer can be redeemed for a free gift at the pedestrian safety table in the Quad at the high school on April 11.
Volunteers included high school seniors that are part of the LEADS (Lead, Explore, Achieve, Discover and Serve) Academy, which focuses on post-secondary education and students’ roles as leaders in their community.
Members of City College’s Outreach Program, including real estate major Ilda Castrejon and America Molina, undecided, were posted on corners to hand out flyers to students passing by.
Pairing with the LEADS students was a perfect fit for Castrejon, who said she joined Outreach to “help with student retention, get students to stay in college and come to college.”
City College Student Ambassador Larry Byrd has been involved in student government and has spent the last couple of years working in prevention. He said he wanted to get on board with the pedestrian safety project after seeing a lot of accidents around campus.
“As a bicyclist myself, I have seen a lot of things going on that aren’t safe,” Byrd said. “I just want to see our kids safe.”
News crews from KUTV, KFMB, KBNT, KUSI and City College’s Newscene came out to cover the event.
The project is facilitated by the Institute for Public Strategies and is funded by the California Office of Traffic Safety.
As traffic continues to increase along with the number of students enrolled at City and downtown development near campus, the vision for the project is “a City College/East Village environment that is safe, welcoming and accommodating for pedestrians, bicyclists and persons in wheelchairs.”
To volunteer or learn more about the project, please contact Shontey Hambrick at [email protected] or (619) 296-3311, ext. 26.
