LansingCurrent.com / Parking on Hithergreen splitting neighbors, school

Archive for Thursday, January 17, 2008

Vehicles line the street on Hithergreen Drive, just south of Lansing Intermediate School. A group of Hithergreen residents has asked the Lansing School Board to come up with a way to try to limit parking by students on the street.

By Nicole Kelley

January 17, 2008

Photo by Nicole Kelley

Several residents of Hithergreen Drive are pleading for help from school board members to relieve the parking problems along their street being caused by Lansing High School students.

Joe Sparks, who lives along Hithergreen Drive, asked board members at their meeting Monday, Jan. 14, to imagine their own streets filled with 20 to 35 additional cars and what a headache that would cause.

"We have patiently waited for nearly two years while Lansing school students parked their vehicles during school days along our residential street," Sparks said as he read from a petition that was signed by 43 other Hithergreen residents.

The petition listed "major problems" from the excess cars, which included overcrowded streets, safety risks, blocked driveways, mailboxes and fire hydrants, damage to lawns from tire tracks, increased littering and a "growing negative resentment toward the Lansing School District and Lansing High School for failure to favorably resolve this problem."

Hithergreen Drive is just south of the Lansing Intermediate School.

John Bennett, another resident of Hithergreen Drive, said he was told the parking problem would go away after the first year of construction on the high school's new auditorium. He said that promise was never fulfilled and now two years later the residents are still waiting.

"This folks has got to stop," he said. "We think you (the board) have the talent and leadership to do it. We really think this could be resolved in the next couple days if you saw fit to do it."

Randal Bagby, superintendent of the school district, said parking spots did open up for students after the first year of construction but students were just choosing not to park there. He said he spoke with an attorney, who told him that the school board has "zero authority until those students show up on school district property."

Steve Dike, LHS principal, agreed that many students were just choosing to park on Hithergreen because of the convenience. While it may not be closer to the school, he said, in the afternoon students like to be able to jump in their cars and get out quickly without having to fight bus and parent pick-up traffic.

Bennett said during the first year of construction, he would call the school and the school would send the student to move the car. In the second year, however, Bennett said the school told him it wasn't its problem so he started calling the police. Even the few citations the police have written haven't deterred the students, he said, because it's become the "in vogue" place to park these days.

If permanent "no parking" signs were to be installed, Bennett said residents of Hithergreen would be punished as well, which isn't fair. As an idea, Bennett suggested bringing together a group of students and asking them how the problem should be solved.

Gowdy said she thought that was a great idea.

"Let the kids have some responsibility and input," she said. "Let them lead each other to have a favorable outcome for everybody."

Dike said the school speaks with students at the beginning of the year about where they should be parking but he was willing to "take another stab at it." He said bringing together Leadership students with some of the residents of Hithergreen might be a good way to the get the message across.

In the meantime, Bagby said he would meet with Mike Smith, city administrator, and Steve Wayman, Lansing police chief, about what other options are out there.

"We can find a resolution if we put in an effort, and that's what we'll commit to do," Bagby said.

Discussion

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17 January 2008
at 9:34 a.m.

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lansingboi332 (Anonymous) says…

I think that the people of Hithergreen should calm down. It's not like we have anywhere else to park. Nobody likes parking way behind the football field and we can't park in the teacher's spots either. They should just wait it out because next year we won't have to park there. We like the orange signs, it really brightens the streets.
17 January 2008
at 5:24 p.m.

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lansinghighgirl (Anonymous) says…

Chill out hithergreens. I park in the parking lot myself but your street is public parking…you need to get used to it. High school students are people too…and since it is public parking it means ALL people can park there.
17 January 2008
at 5:42 p.m.

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lansinghighgirl (Anonymous) says…

By the way working with leadership won't have any effect
17 January 2008
at 6:30 p.m.

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lansinghighschooler (Anonymous) says…

Leadership is to look out for the students NOT the people who complain about the students. BOOHOO you live on a street with PUBLIC parking…so do I.
18 January 2008
at 9:27 a.m.

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lansingboi332 (Anonymous) says…

It doesnt affect you that much anyways because most people leave in the morning to go to work anyways and when they get home we are gone. We also dont park in front of mail boxes and in front of driveways. I think that 25 to 30 cars is an exaggeration most of the time theres only 10 cars and we also dont park in the lawns. You live by a high school so if you dont want people to park by your house than move. Because untill the construction is done we will park there.
23 January 2008
at 1:35 a.m.

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lansinggrad (Anonymous) says…

First I must say it does seem the residents are overreacting a small bit. As long as they are not blocking mailboxes, trashcans or driveways, and not parking on the lawns, there really isn't much that can be done. If these are problems, then they have every right to ask for something to be done. I'd even say that the next resident to find a student's car parked in such a manner should be towed at the owner's expense. I also believe that the students should show more respect. Yes, it is a residential area. Yes, construction (of an auditorium that is not needed and where money would be better allocated toward repairs rather than new stuff) has cut back on your parking. And yes, as long as you are not blocking anything, you should be ok. But would you want a bunch of kids parked in front of your house on a regular basis? Would you want the extra traffic making it difficult getting to and from your home? And not everyone is gone by that time in the morning. Nor does everyone park in the driveway. I'm sure there are some residents that prefer to park on the roadside, where the students now are taking up space. Lastly I also believe the school should have thought ahead better and worked out a better plan for where to place the cars that would have otherwise had spots if not for the construction. There are plenty of areas around the school that could have be utilized for parking. I think the school could do much better than they are now.
I think both sides need to try harder to come together on an agreement on the matter that will work for the best until construction is finished and more parking spaces are made available.
24 January 2008
at 9:14 a.m.

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lansingboi332 (Anonymous) says…

thank you hithergreen for geting me a ticket for parking in your neighborhood. it sucks when you park on public property and still have to pay.