After learning that officials from the New York State Dept. of Transportation ruled that the intersection of Nassau Boulevard and Stratford Avenue would not qualify as a Child Safety Zone, the Village’s Traffic Commission was expected to make a recommendation to the Garden City Board of Trustees at last night’s meeting to assign a crossing guard to that location.

“Upon receipt of the Traffic Commission’s recommendation, the Board of Trustees will make a determination as to the assignment of a crossing guard to the intersection,” according to a Village-issued press release. “The Village will seek the School District’s assistance in making notification to area residents and will continue to press Nassau County for additional improvements to signage and the walk/don’t walk signal.” The crossing guard is expected to be assigned during the morning and afternoon hours to assist students walking to and from Stratford Elementary School. The crossing guard will cost the Village $7,500, plus holidays, according to Village Administrator Robert L. Schoelle, Jr.

Since September, when they discovered that their children would no longer receive busing because they lived less than one-half mile from the school, parents have been trying to get a crossing guard assigned to the intersection. Parents Susan Sonner, Susan Walsh and Liz Galzerano formed the Nassau Boulevard Safe Passage Initiative to work toward that end.

Sonner told The Garden City News via e-mail that she was hoping the Board would finally take action at the Thursday evening meeting. “As representatives of the group spearheading the Nassau Boulevard Safe Passage Initiative, we speak for all parents and children involved when we say that we are thrilled and relieved to hear the Board of Trustees of our Village plan to act in the best interest of our kids by electing to place a crossing guard at Nassau Boulevard and Stratford Avenue.”

Up until now, the Village had contended that according to their calculations the intersection qualified as a Child Safety Zone. These zones, which are explained in the Child Safety Transportation Act of 1992, provide the one exception to the district’s mileage-only criterion.

School districts do not have to follow a mileage-only criterion if the area in question is designated a Child Safety Zone due to extremely hazardous conditions. Points are assigned to various types of hazards, which fall into three types: highways without sidewalks or adequate shoulders, highway intersections and highway-railroad grade crossings.

Since the Village and school district could not agree, Traffic Commission Chairman Donald Brudie announced at the Nov. 19th meeting that the Village would ask the Automobile Club of New York to conduct its own independent analysis of the intersection. The automobile club declined, and the Village then turned to the state transportation department.

The school district argued, and the DOT concurred, that according to their calculations it is not a CSZ. At the Dec. 15 meeting of the Garden City Board of Education, before learning that the Village would be considering a crossing guard, Superintendent Dr. Robert Feirsen commented on the state DOT’s decision. “We are interested in continuing to work with the Village, the county, and anyone who has any impact in that area to make it a safer place to go back and forth to school, and at any other time,” he said.

He told The Garden City News via e-mail that he would have no further comment upon learning that the Village was now considering a crossing guard.