It was hats off and a round of smiles as the City Council and the Board of Education met jointly the morning of April 8, right before the kickoff of the annual Rye Little League Parade.
By Sarah Varney
It was hats off and a round of smiles as the City Council and the Board of Education met jointly the morning of April 8, right before the kickoff of the annual Rye Little League Parade.
Board of Education President Laura Slack led off with a bunt, thanking the Council for making good on its pledge to increase crosswalk coverage for Rye High and Middle schools. “We want to publicly thank you for the additional crossing guards.
They have made a huge difference. We really appreciate it,” she said. Since September, there have been two crossing guards posted on Parsons Street, along with another posted at the intersection of Apawamis Avenue and Milton Road.
“That’s one of the busiest intersections in the city. The crossing guard there does an excellent job. I see fewer ‘bailouts’ on Milton Road,” said City Manager Scott Pickup.
In line with these improvements, the City and the District have been working on a plan that will add an exit from the high school parking lot once construction on the science wing is completed. The original plan was to have an exit directly across from the Apawamis/Milton intersection. The new plan will move that exit approximately 200 yards south, and the existing exit will be pushed north. Pickup lauded the efforts of the District’s building manager, Sam Carter, along with City Engineer Ryan Coyne to make the exit changes possible.
The meeting was rounding third by the time community activists Shari Balaish, Kristin Jautz, and Lisa Chen rose to announce the rollout of the Rye City Civility Initiative and the debut of the group’s new marketing campaign and website. “We need everyone to be involved in this to make it matter. Even small improvements add up,” said Jautz. “Whether you make a promise to yourself not to yell at the opposing team’s coach or simply refrain from posting a rude, anonymous comment on an online forum, it all makes a difference,” she added.
And with that, the group hurried off to the parade.
Rounding the bases and heading home.
