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Deputies step up parking enforcement

If you're dropping off or picking up your little ones at Westchase Elementary School, be sure to heed the parking signs.

By JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK and STEPHANIE HAYES
Published August 28, 2005

WESTCHASE - Parents who park illegally on Westchase Drive while walking their children to class might find a ticket on their windshield.

Responding to complaints of cars in the grass and on sidewalks, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office has stepped up enforcement of the no parking zone on the road leading to Westchase Elementary School.

"There has to be at least 10 signs on that one road that say no stopping, no standing," community resource officer Jennie Matera told the Westchase Community Association board last week. "Why put up the signs if you're not going to enforce them?"

Even the two crossing guards hired to help children walk to school have parked right under the signs, Matera said.

People who live and work in the area said parent parking has been problematic since the school opened six years ago. But the school district ended busing for many of the children this year, and traffic on Westchase Drive has increased dramatically.

So have safety concerns.

"The reasons the signs were put there is to make it safe for kids," said Steven Silvers, owner of the nearby Kids R Kids preschool. "It doesn't seem to matter. The street is parked on, on both sides. I think it's dangerous."

He suggested that the school district build a parking lot under power lines on unused land just east of the school.

Nathan Lafer, who lives about a block away, said many residents have grown to accept the situation. An effort to change where buses enter the school, which might have taken cars off the road, failed when the buses could not make the turn, Lafer said.

The community has no room to widen or lengthen Westchase Drive either, he added.

"You've just got to live with it and, hopefully, people will be a little more gentle and not break the sprinkler heads," Lafer said. "My biggest concern is, God forbid, we need some sort of service for health reasons. Hopefully, they can get through."

School officials said they had not received complaints from the Sheriff's Office. Otherwise, principal Joyce Wieland said, she would have sent a note home asking parents not to disobey parking signs.

About 10 minutes after school let out Friday, Wieland went out to check the roadway and found it lined with cars on both sides. She said she would contact Matera about how to handle the situation.

PTA president Martha Stein said she is optimistic that parents will work out the problem themselves. Many have established carpools, she said. "It takes about three weeks for all of the traffic issues to settle," she said. Superintendent MaryEllen Elia has asked County Administrator Pat Bean to expedite construction of a new turn lane from Linebaugh Avenue into the school, and also to step up Sheriff's Office enforcement of speeding and aggressive driving on Linebaugh.

[Last modified August 27, 2005, 11:05:06]