Pat them on the heads, tell them they’ve been good little boys and girls, but now it’s time for them to go to their rooms because the adults need to conduct real business.
In a story leading up to last night’s City Council meeting, I wrote with some measure of bitterness and disdain how the city pays lip service to the needs and wants of those who to prefer to use non-motorized means to get around town, but really finds it a waste of time to make it easier and/or safer for this mobility option. And I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised to discover during last night’s City Council meeting that council member Daphne Tenorio actually agreed with me on this — she, too, spotted the hypocrisy in language accompanying proposed ordinances to outlaw parking on one side of a couple of streets in Plum Creek, language that laughingly said these changes were needed because the current situation "is detrimental to the safety of pedestrians … traveling through this street." Tenorio asked Capt, Mark Schultz, who represented the Kyle Fire Department on these items before the council last night, "The ordinance states it’s about the safety of pedestrians. Shouldn’t it say it’s really for fire truck safety?" "Yes," Schultz replied. "I will remember that for next time." In fact, earlier in the discussion, when Mayor Travis Mitchell asked whether it would help to limit parking on the designated streets to residents only (it appears a number of Hays High School students park their cars in this area), Schultz replied "Residents only wouldn’t satisfy the need we have to provide the traffic flow that’s necessary for that area." And even before that, when Mayor Mitchell asked Schultz to explain exactly "why this item, is being brought forward," the assistant fire chief replied: "The road at this section is roughly 26 feet wide and when we have parking on both sides it makes it very difficult to get just one vehicle through much less two." See, it really is all about those in their cars and not those on their feet.
So, yes, Kyle’s hypocrisy in paying only lip service to pedestrian safety was exposed somewhat, even though council member Alex Villalobos, who is quickly becoming the Council’s Crown Prince of the Non Sequitur, babbled on about how this would protect kids racing out into the street between parked cars when, if he knew anything about the laws of geometry as well as pedestrian mobility, he would know that the move to switch the no-parking area in Agenda Item 10 from the park side of the road to the resident side, a change that was made to the ordinance last night, actually increased the danger for pedestrians there.
But the Plum Creek Parking Hypocrisy is over-and-done-with for the time being (and if Chief Schultz keeps his promise to Tenorio to "remember that for next time," it should not be repeated). My concern now is that notion of smiling, nodding of heads, mentions of "job well done," is going to amount to no more than lip service to the valuable, expert work being made public by no less than the Kyle Area Youth Advisory Commission (KAYAC). Last year, KAYAC presented to council a superbly researched study on sidewalks in the city, and, perhaps, this has more to do with what I have already illustrated — city government really doesn’t want to pay that much attention to the needs of pedestrians — than it does with KAYAC, but for whatever reason, I have yet to see any of KAYAC’s sidewalk findings being incorporated as policy by the council.
KAYAC, according to its website, is a "a 16-member committee that consists of youth ages 14-18, enrolled in ninth through 12th grade levels, and either reside in the city limits of Kyle or currently attend a high school in the Hays CISD school district or live in the city limits and are home schooled. KAYAC shall be advisory in nature and has been created for the purpose of providing a youthful point of view for the Kyle City Council on community affairs and issues. This commission shall provide the opportunity for youth in the City of Kyle to learn about municipal government and to advise Kyle City Council from the perspective of area teens."
Hopefully we have learned, not only from KAYAC’s presentation on sidewalks last year but through the evidence we’ve seen on a national level in the aftermath of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., that we need to pay more attention to the voices of our high school students. We can learn a lot from what they say.
Last night, KAYAC chair Benjamin White and Vice Chair Destinee Cabrera presented a fascinating and informative study on all-inclusive parks — areas and playgrounds that can be used by everyone, and, in this case, "everyone" refers to those with special needs. I had never really thought about this obvious fact until last night when White and Cabrera forced me to come face-to-face with the realization that I have never, in all my life, ever seen a person in a wheel chair enjoying the amenities at a city park — anywhere, at any time. White and Cabrera begged the question: "Why should these individuals with special needs be excluded?" Not only that, they illustrated quite convincingly how the city could make this inclusivity happen.
Sitting there last night listening to White and Cabrera, I couldn’t help be reminded of one of the best speeches I ever heard. It was delivered by former Texas Gov. Ann Richards and the thesis of her address that evening was simple: "When we help others, especially the disadvantaged, we often help ourselves in the process." She cited a number of examples to support her thesis, but the example I especially remembered and the one that sticks with me today concerned the Americans With Disabilities Act that was passed in 1990. And I recalled how much easier it would have been if the world in which I lived had ADA-compliant sidewalks back when my son was an infant and I was constantly pushing him in a stroller — how much easier it would have been not having to lift the stroller with the child over the curb. Those sidewalks were designed for those in wheelchairs, but, as Gov, Richards so wisely said, "When we help others, especially the disadvantaged, we often help ourselves in the process."
Now I hope Kyle city leaders think of those words. Now I hope Kyle city leaders don’t simply pay lip service to this incisive, well-researched KAYAC report on all-inclusive play areas. Now I hope Kyle city leaders don’t simply "Pat them on the heads, tell them they’ve been good little boys and girls, but now it’s time for them to go to their rooms because the adults need to conduct real business."
For the sake of the future of this city, for the notion that Kyle should be at the vanguard of acknowledging the humanity of all its citizens, here’s what I hope Kyle city leaders will do. I hope City Manager Scott Sellers will instruct Parks Director Kerry Urbanowicz or his designee (perhaps Facilities Manager Tim Cropley) to begin a series of meetings with White, Cabrera and their associates to begin the process of converting KAYAC’s presentation last night into long-range city policy.
"When we help others, especially the disadvantaged, we often help ourselves in the process." Last night KAYAC showed us the path to initiate that process. The city shouldn’t let it end there. They shouldn’t once again simply pay lip service to something that deserves attention and action.
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