[special snark edition] CWC does not take safety concerns seriously. How can we take them seriously?

[Advisory] Generally, I take the situation caused by the CWC co-location very seriously. However, I'm well aware of the absurdity and comedy of the situation. Stoners vs Citizens, a mainly minority school vs a mostly white school, poor working vs well off...sometimes it sounds like a bad joke and you just have to laugh. And so today, I'm presenting a extra special snarky edition of the blog.Yes, there will be rudeness. Yes, there will be mockery and condescension in today's post, but today is a chance to step back and laugh at the comedy of errors that is this co-location. Please, be advised.
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Considering the graffiti this month and that my family was almost run over by a CWC parent, I wanted to see what CWC was telling their community about the gang and traffic safety issues. I made a California Public Records Act request and was , frankly, not surprised to see that CWC was minimizing the gang problems and placing blame for traffic/safety problems on  "A neighbor" and not on the actual unsafe driving by the CWC community, but we'll get to all that in a second.

   This letter was sent out to the CWC community by the CWC Executive Director on April 8, 2014. A JPG of the document is below if you'd like to see the original released document. Here on the blog, we are going to go through this document line by line and adding some annotations in red.
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Hi all,

Hope you are doing well! Writing with a quick update about the graffiti on the fence banner and with some traffic safety reminders. (I hate to start off being picky, but this is a fragment sentence and this communication is very informal. Is this really an official communication from a professional educator?) Wanted to let you all know that, thanks to amazing parent volunteers, we're painting over the graffiti right now. I know it's troubling to see. We reached out to LAPD and they came by this morning (What took CWC so long? We contacted LAPD on 4/7 in the morning. In the evening on 4/7, LAPD told us CWC had not yet returned their calls and were not available when they went by campus twice that day.) and said they'd be having additional evening patrols to try and deter this in the future (When I spoke with LAPD, they strongly recommended removing the fence covering. Why no mention of that option, considering it is the option CWC ultimately chose?). We have seen this at other locations and LAPD definitely mentioned there's tagging in the neighborhood generally. (Yes, there is definitely tagging in the neighborhood, but in my four decades in the area, I've never seen a direct "F--- You!!!" written in a tag. The graffiti does not look like your general run-of the mill tagging. This was definitely a message to the people behind the fence. I would not take this message as a general message.) We will be looking at other measures we can take from installing cameras to moving the banner to the interior of the fence (Really? Why because spray paint won't go through a chain link fence?). More to come on all of that.

In other news, wanted to let you know that in addition to Alison and Jim (Principal of Stoner) (This took me aback. "Jim?" Again, is this really an official communication from an education professional? Or maybe "Jim" is just cool with all the CWC community like that...)  meeting regularly, the liaison groups established with Stoner (small groups of teachers and parents from both schools) are meeting and collaborating as well (except that the CWC parents have cancelled the last two meetings and the group has not meet in close to two month, which is very upsetting since there are serious safety issues that need to be addressed. See: link). We're also working closely with the neighborhood council and their education committee that created an ad hoc committee specifically devoted to resolving the co-location/ community tension (The local community is boycotting the ad hoc meetings since the DRNC is not representing its concerns on this issue.).

I also wanted to remind everyone to please drive safely at all times around the school. A neighbor is repeatedly photographing and taking videos (Yes, that's the problem "A neighbor" is taking photos & video, not the actually unsafe driving by the CWC community. Also, I wonder how they concluded it is only "a neighbor" since many neighbors are upset and are taking pictures and video. As a community, we are only starting to get organized about collecting this evidence. Also, why is CWC placing the blame on one person and thus making them a target? We have seen the CWC community make targets out of our community members before. Instead of dealing with issue, they blame the people who bring attention to the problems.) of cars running stop signs, backing up into intersections, blocking driveways, parking in red zones or in front of hydrants (It's sad that she doesn't even mention the incident that sparked this reminder, that my family was almost run over in a crosswalk by a CWC parent driving backwards down the street) . Mornings in particular are harried times, please take care to drive extra safely especially when running late. While we definitely aim to start on time, it's better for folks to be tardy than to risk an accident (and run over a whole family). Thanks for your help with this. 

Thank you, as always, for your patience and steadfast support in the face of what is

definitely a frustrating situation. We do know from other charters that they have

faced this too and in time it has passed (It's upsetting to see how the CWC administration minimizes the problem and says that it is a passing thing.  The local community and Stoner ES community are not a passing things.  This is where we live and we aren't going anywhere.) Definitely come grab me in the office or shoot me an email if you have any questions or specifics you want to connect about.

CWC parents throw spikes in the street around Stoner ES

CWC parent removing graffiti filled fence cover

   This last week was Spring break and school was out, but this doesn't mean CWC stopped creating safety issues in our community. Based on the orders of CWC administration, a group of CWC parents threw spikes on the sidewalk and street around the Stoner Elementary School campus**. If this sounds too crazy to be true, then please read on.

    On Tuesday, April 22 around 6 pm, a crew of 3 Citizens of the World Mar Vista parents (and two children) were seen removing the tagged up CWC fence covering. An hour later, the fence covering was down, but the removal started a multiple day safety issue in our neighborhood.

CWC spikes picked up on April 15

   That evening, I went to check out the removed fence covering and began to notice some of the metal brackets that were used to secure the fence were lying all along the sidewalk and in street. There were scores of brackets all over the place. This was a very dangerous situation.  These brackets created a serious safety issue in that they could pop a car or bike tire, topple a scooter or skateboard, or even puncture through a shoe.
   My wife, a neighbor and I spent an hour cleaning up the spikes. We picked up all that we could find on the sidewalk and street, but could see many more spikes inside campus that we could not reach.
   I alerted CWC (and cc'd LAUSD) to the danger and asked that CWC come an clean up the dangerous situation that they created. I received no response.

More CWC spikes April 18

    On Friday, my wife was walking past the CWC entrance when she heard a "clink, clink" at her feet.  She looked down and found that there were still spikes around the school. She picked up all the spikes she could find.
   On Saturday morning, I emailed CWC to follow up and demanded that they clean up this safety issue immediately.  These spikes should have never been in the street in the first place and should have been immediately removed when CWC was notifed of the danger on Wednesday morning.
    The CWC principle responded that she would deal with problem in a day or two. A concerned LAUSD administrator immediately responded to the principle's email saying that if CWC could not be there that day, she would go herself.
    An hour later, I get an email from the CWC principle saying that she inspected the area and didn't see any problem. She also thanked me for alerting her to the problem (but not for cleaning up their dangerous mess that CWC created, but just for alerting her to the problem; a problem that she did not see as serious and thought could be addressed in a few days.) An hour after that, I received an email from CWC director stating that she had just been to the area and there was "not much to speak of" and that she cleaned up a few remaining brackets.

More CWC spikes found April 19 using magnet

   Ten minutes after receiving the directors email, I went to inspect the area myself. I took a magnet on a string and went "fishing" for brackets with my daughters. We found another two dozen brackets in the street and on the sidewalk.

    These brackets left on the ground are basically spikes that could cause serious injury. These brackets were left on the ground by the CWC parents who removed the fence covering. These spikes in the community are an example of the problems that occur when volunteer parents are performing the functions and duties of paid professionals. As such, these "helpful" parents end up creating more problems for all involved.
 
    This is another disturbing example of the safety issues CWC is bringing to our campus and neighborhood. It's troubling that even when a safety issue is pointed out to CWC administration, they either do not see a problem (principle) or try to minimize the extent of the problem (director). These spikes should have never been left on the street and sidewalk in the first place, and should have been addressed and cleaned up when CWC was first alerted to the danger, not days later after multiple complaints.

**Just so I am clear, I'm not saying that CWC directly ordered parents to throw spikes in the street, but CWC's reckless order to have volunteer parents remove the fence covering resulted in the spikes being thrown in the street. Therefore, based on the orders of CWC admin, CWC parents were throwing spikes in the streets.

Traffic & safety woes continue at CWC Mar Vista

Yesterday after school, my wife, infant daughter and nephew, who attends CWC, were almost run over in a crosswalk when a CWC parent drove in reverse out of the Lindblade Place cul da sac and continued in reverse through the pedestrian crosswalk on Lindblade Street. The car came so close to them that my wife hit the car’s trunk with her hand to alert the driver to stop. The driver stopped and turned around with an annoyed look. When he realized what happened, he gave an embarrassed shrug before speeding off.

Embarrassed? Really? What is wrong with these citizens? Yes, how embarrassing would it be to have run over my wife, infant daughter and nephew in a crosswalk while driving reverse? When you almost run over someone because of your recklessness, a shrug is not the correct response. A mea culpa for this dangerous behavior should have been in order, but this shameless behavior from the CWC community is not surprising.

CWC has a culture of entitlement that manifests itself as disrespect to the community and a flouting of the law when they are in our neighborhood. During drop off and pick up times our quiet residential street turns into a lawless land where people do whatever they want: drive in the middle of the street, park in the red, block driveways and even drive in reverse down the street among other offenses. It’s not surprising that we are still seeing traffic issues on Lindblade and that the problems are becoming worse.

 Let’s look at few examples from just yesterday:

• Here is a CWC car parked at 7:43 AM in the bus loading zone which begins at 7 AM*

*The CWC father and child entered campus through the Stoner gate and not the CWC entrance.

• Here we have a CWC car parked in front of a driveway

• …and the worst one:

Below is a video sent to me today by a community member, that shows almost the exact same behavior that scared my wife yesterday afternoon, but this incident happened earlier that same day at another intersection. In the video a CWC community member:

• Doesn’t stop at stop sign going south on Stoner Ave.
• Parks in red zone in front of fire hydrant
• Reverses into an intersection
• Drives through a cross walk
• Does not stop at stop sign going west on Lindblade St.*
(*This may not be illegal since he was technically never behind the stop sign because he drove through the crosswalk…oh, right.)

What makes this most infuriating is that this citizen is illegally parked just few feet away from the loading zone that was created for CWC and that upset local residents by taking away parking spot from the community. Why would someone feel so entitled and exempt from the law that they think that this behavior was acceptable? Is this how these worldly citizens behave in their own neighborhood or just ours?

The traffic safety has been an on-going issue with this colocation. On October 16 2013, the Argonaut ran a story on the traffic problems caused by the colocation of Citizens of the World Mar Vista on the Stoner Avenue Elementary campus. It’s been 5 months and just like most all the other complaints against CWC, the situation has only gotten worse.

What can be done about this charter school’s community lack of basic citizenship and the safety problems that it causes? We don’t want to wait until we have a tragedy on the street like happened at CWC Hollywood until something is done about the safety in the neighborhood.

Yesterday, I was very lucky that my family was not hurt or worse. If CWC’s community behavior continues, someone else might not be so lucky.