Go-slow light asked
for school in Kailua

Concerned parents make their
demand after a crossing guard retires

A group of Kailua residents says it wants a blinking yellow caution light installed in front of St. John Vianney Parish School, whose crossing guard recently retired.

"There's been lots of near misses," said Drew Astolfi, director of the Faith Action for Community Equity. "The former crossing guard there used to complain about it all the time. Now, the crossing guard gets taken away."

About 20 members of the group, including the school's principal, protested at the city Department of Transportation Services' office yesterday, demanding to see Director Ed Hirata on the issue and saying the light on Keolu Drive had been promised under the last administration.

Hirata, though, is out of state.

And the protesters made an appointment to speak to him next week.

Hirata took funds for the light out of the most recent budget in favor of other traffic-calming measures in the area, according to a letter he sent to the principal.

Deputy Transportation Director Alfred Tanaka declined to comment on the cut but confirmed it had been made.

He also said new fluorescent signage had been put up near the school and a median installed to slow traffic.

The school has about 300 students from pre-kindergarten to eighth grade. It is one of four schools on Keolu Drive and the only one without a yellow blinking light.

The road has two lanes, and residents say speeding is a problem.

"Those flashing lights really do make motorists aware that there's a school. People see it and they do slow down," said St. John Principal Jane Ann Quinn, who added that she has been encouraging students to use the crosswalk at a nearby traffic light.

She also said parents have been, more and more, driving their children to and from St. John because the school's main crosswalk has no crossing guard or yellow light.