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<br />3 <br /> <br />OCHSA building), preventing student pickup along Sycamore, in the OCHSA parking lot, and <br />on Main St. Instead, plans call for student pick up and drop off in a narrow lot immediately <br />south of the Perfonning Arts building. The proposed driving pattern calls for two-way traffic in <br />this lot so that students dropped off by eastbound cars on the south end, must walk north across <br />westbound cars in the same lot to reach the campus. <br /> <br />All students must then again cross Tenth St. to access the OCHSA campus. This dangerous <br />situation on public property is repeated in reverse when school is out. Moreover, since OCHSA <br />enjoys an extended day program, several hundred students will be exiting the campus and <br />attempting to traverse south across Tenth St. at the end of the workday when thousands of <br />tenants and employees at OBP will also be attempting to exit OBP using eastbound Tenth Street. <br /> <br />These plans pose a severe hazard for the safety and well being of the students, which is both <br />foreseeable and preventable. <br /> <br />Inadequate and Dangerous Bus Loading. As explained by Mr. Harrah at the June 14th <br />meeting, the existing plans call for school buses to stop eastbound on Tenth St. adjacent to <br />OCHSA to load and unload passengers. Parents were nonplussed by this proposal inasmuch as <br />current law requires all traffic to stop during school bus passenger loading and unloading when <br />red lights flash. Thus, all eastbound cars-including OCHSA parents who have just dropped of <br />students in the "official" drop-off lot south of the Perfonning Arts building-will be required to <br />stop and wait for bus loading and unloading. This will cause traffic to back up on Tenth St. and <br />southbound Sycamore St., creating a further safety hazard for students attempting to cross Tenth <br />St. at Sycamore. Additionally, since buses will remain stopped with lights flashing until full (or <br />empty), this delay could be significant-particularly in the afternoon. <br /> <br />Moreover, since bus doors are located on the right-hand side of buses, even if buses are parked <br />on the left curb of the one-way, eastbound Tenth St. (as proposed), students must walk into the <br />adjacent traffic lanes to enter and exit the buses, creating a clear and undeniable safety hazard, <br />since it is reasonably foreseeable that not every driver will actually stop when the bus's red <br />flashing lights are on. (In fact, Mr. Harrah, himself, seemed shocked to learn that this was the <br />law when this dangerous flaw in the plan was pointed out to him by OCHSA parents.) Again, <br />however, this dangerous condition can be easily eliminated by the closure of Tenth St., allowing <br />access only for emergency vehicles and school buses, as currently exits. <br /> <br />Construction Hazards and Debris: The construction of a 37-story building and 8+ story <br />parking garage is no small operation, and to pennit this to be done within shouting distance of <br />four public schools is unprecedented, if not appalling. Even with temporary construction <br />fencing, falling dust and debris as well as the constant traffic of huge heavy machinery and <br />trucks is dangerous to any pedestrian, let alone hundreds of young people. Moreover, the noise <br />levels of heavy machinery and other construction equipment during school hours-which is <br />expected to last for several years-is hannful to those nearby and is extremely detrimental to <br />adequate concentration and learning. The current development agreement does not mandate that <br />noisy pile driving be perfonned while school is not in session; it does not call for a clear plan to <br />keep construction traffic away from students and other pedestrians, and even with tarps wrapping <br />each floor during construction, things will still fall off. A screwdriver (or even a few nails) <br /> <br />75E-58 <br />