SAUGUS ― On Monday, the Board of Selectmen voted to make Highland Avenue a one-way between the hours of 7 to 8:30 a.m. and 1 to 5 p.m., as well as adding more crossing guards around Saugus Middle-High School due to safety concerns.
With school in session for only a week, traffic and safety issues have raised concerns with parents and neighborhood members. Additionally, the new school’s parking lot has developed a sinkhole over the last two months. This has affected more than 50 parking spaces for students and faculty, which has forced many to start parking on neighboring streets.
Along with the sinkhole, there is a nationwide shortage of buses. More than 600 Saugus students have been affected by this problem; as a result, parents have had to drive these students into school.
Residents of the Highland Avenue neighborhood have raised safety concerns, not only for the children but for themselves. Cars have been reportedly parking in front of driveways, blocking off the entrance to many elderly people’s houses, as well as parking on both sides of the street and making it too narrow to drive down.
One neighborhood resident, Richard D’amelio, expressed his concern for himself and neighbors by saying, “The police, fire trucks, and ambulances cannot make it down Highland Avenue. Safety needs to be put first.”
As for children’s safety when it comes to Highland Avenue, there is only one sidewalk and no indication as to where kids can cross the street. After school, kids have reportedly been walking through people’s yards to get to their cars.
“Over 1,000 kids in one spot, (and) Highland (Avenue) only has one sidewalk,” said parent Robert Camuso. “We need to take responsibility”
Police Chief Michael Ricciardelli told citizens that it’s going to take many things to fix this problem. “It would be great if we could all work together and figure this out,” he added.
When the board insisted on having a third detail officer onsite for at least one month, Ricciardelli expressed his concern about taking another officer off call for the rest of the town. With a shortage of police officers in Saugus, if something went wrong somewhere else there would only be a few officers available, he said.
The police will begin this week by giving out verbal warnings for illegal parking. They will then begin to issue tickets to improperly-parked cars.
The School Committee also attended Monday’s meeting to express their safety concerns for students and offer some solutions.
Committee Chair Tom Whittredge explained that the town has “a lot of after-school activities and programs coming up, as well as hopefully more buses coming in. We have the buses, just not the drivers.
“Also, people need to take advantage of early drop-off,” he said.
School Committee members sent out a message to all students and parents that they are guests to the neighborhood and have to respect people’s property and streets.
“Being able to hear the residents’ concerns about their neighborhood is always important,” Board of Selectmen Vice Chair Corinne Riley said after the meeting, adding “the safety of children comes first and we need to come together and try to rectify the situation.”