Council and School Board Candidates go on the Record
Tuesday April 7th is Election Day. Two candidates – Allan Sharrock and Jason Thornhill - are competing for the Second Ward City Council seat. Barbara Hoppe (incumbent) and Rod Robison are competing for the Sixth Ward City Council seat. Two open seats on the School Board are being contested by Marc A. Bledsoe, Jeannie H. Craig, Greg Flippin, Dan Holt, Christine King, Bill Meredith, Sam Phillips, Michelle Pruit,and Adam Sorg.
To help you decide whom to vote for, we posed the candidates a series of questions, relating to PedNet's mission. Here are their responses.
City Council Candidate Questions
Question 1: Do you support the PedNet vision, consisting of a network of paths, trails, and multimodal streets throughout Columbia, enabling and encouraging people to use non-motorized modes for some journeys?
2nd Ward
Allan Sharrock
Yes, I also think you should have a ride a bike to school day in which PedNet provides extra adult supervision. If you want to change people’s habits you must start early.
Jason Thornhill
Yes, in large part I do support the PedNet vision. I hope the network is a realistic one with regard to funding the improvements, but I totally support the vision of making non-motorized transit accessible to everyone that would like to participate in it.
6th Ward
Barbara Hoppe
Yes, multimodal transportation will be increasingly important, for exercise and health, for reducing our carbon footprint, for reducing cost of living by reducing transportation expense. It also helps to create a vibrant, active community, which will have long term benefits in creating a community that people want to live, work and play in. This will also benefit the economy, as more people and businesses want be part of a well functioning, 21st Century Sustainable Community. It also contributes to a safer community, with more people and "eyes" on the streets.
I have been a long time member of the PedNet I am on the Active Living by Design Committee. I have co- host the Finale Event at Bike, Walk &Wheel week a couple of years ago when the Mayor was out of town, and I was a participant two years ago in the bike/vehicle competition during that week. I have participated in Bike, Walk and Wheel week for many, many years.
Rod Robison
No response received
Question 2: What are your thoughts about Columbia's $22,000,000 federally-funded GetAbout Columbia project, designed to expand non-motorized travel, and will you support efforts to continue funding this project in Columbia after 2010?
2nd Ward
Allan Sharrock
I am happy that Columbia was awarded the grant. However, I cannot commit to funding anything other than public safety at this point. We are in a budgetary crisis as I am sure you are aware.
Jason Thornhill
I do support the idea of connectivity throughout the city, but feel like a better job must be done at allocating funds via accurate bids so as to complete chosen projects within budget. I have read the most recent reports in the Tribune indicating that the estimates on the trail connector projects have come in considerably higher than initially budgeted. I don’t know if there is a way to avoid this, but it seems that putting in all the legwork to identify connectors and have those jobs bid, only to find that there is not enough money to build them produces a disappointing result for the efforts put in.
I’d like to learn more about what types of continued funding will be available to us for the future funding as the work that has been done by PedNet to this point has been very beneficial to Columbia and the work needs to continue. I would certainly support continued funding of PedNet projects.
6th Ward
Barbara Hoppe
I think it is great. Streets for vehicles are very expensive, so the more we can create ways for people to walk and bike, the less we will need to spend on roads. Also see my answer to #1 above. (Occasionally, a proposed trail needs to be revised or reconfigured for a better end result for both neighbors and users.) I am very much in favor of continuing funding for the projects and have voted to do so as a Council Member
Rod Robison
No response received
Question 3: Do you support Columbia's 2004 street design standards ordinance, which ensures new streets are built to accommodate pedestrians, cyclists, and wheelchair users as well as car drivers?
2nd Ward
Allan Sharrock
Yes, it is only logical to go ahead and install them the first time.
Jason Thornhill
I do support incorporation of elements that make it easier for all pedestrians to utilize the streets throughout Columbia. It is absolutely necessary to include all users in those plans. I am concerned about the sheer amount of impervious surfaces that these accommodations introduce to each new project, not to mention the additional cost of labor and materials that are required to produce the additional sidewalks etc. These can certainly become budget busters, as we’ve seen on various projects.
6th Ward
Barbara Hoppe
Yes, I was a member of the Street Design Standards Committee which met for about a year and drafted the standards and I supported and advocated for them in the committee.
Rod Robison
No response received
Question 4: Would you support a policy change that allows individual neighborhoods to reduce the speed limit from 30 mph to 25 mph, if they request it?
2nd Ward
Allan Sharrock
We would have to hold several public hearings before I would decide. I feel the role of a councilman is to be a steward of the people.
Jason Thornhill
I attended a Homeowners Association for the Vanderveen subdivision where Robert Stone, a traffic study engineer with the City of Columbia spoke about traffic calming and speed limits. He claimed that speed studies don’t specifically support reduction of speed limits to 25 mph because the adherence to that speed versus, say a 30 mph limit is negligible. While I don’t necessarily oppose the reduction in speed, I’m just not sure it works. With that said, it couldn’t hurt to allow a neighborhood to request a change in speed limits if enough folks support it via a signed petition.
6th Ward
Barbara Hoppe
Yes, as a Council Member, I proposed the 25 mile an hour Neighborhood Pilot Project and am very much in favor of this. It will create safer residential streets for walking and biking to school and to other places in the neighborhood.
Rod Robison
No response received
Question 5: Do you believe bikes belong on the road with cars?
2nd Ward
Allan Sharrock
I have no issues with people riding bikes on the roads. They are tax payers also.
Jason Thornhill
Absolutely. We must continue to work toward creating a more cooperative environment for bicyclists and drivers. Continued education for both is necessary to make it work. As often as I see a car driver cut off or honk a horn at a cyclist, I’ll see a cyclist size-up a four-way stop where they’ve got an opening and blow right through the intersection.
6th Ward
Barbara Hoppe
Yes. I took the first, or one of the first, road bike courses that Robert Johnson teaches. I learned a tremendous amount about how to properly and safely bike on road. That really boosted me from a trail, sidewalk user to a road user. I feel in general much safer using the roads, than the sidewalks. It has been a liberating experience. We need to get more people taking the road bike course and learn the rules of safe biking. It would also be good to educate drivers to understand why it is safer for bikers to "take the road" at certain times, rather than stay to the side of the road. I have several ideas about ways to increase bike safety and education for chlldren, university students and adults. I will share those later with the PedNet.
Rod Robison
No response received
Columbia Public School Board Candidates
Question 1: Do you support the PedNet vision, consisting of a network of paths, trails, and multimodal streets throughout Columbia, enabling and encouraging people to use non-motorized modes for some journeys?
Marc A. Bledsoe
Yes! Yes! Yes! I would also like to see us encourage the use of smaller-motorized vehicles, but that is probably a separate issue.
Jeannie H. Craig
No response received
Greg Flippin
No response received
Dan Holt
Yes. I have a son who is wheel chair bound and appreciate the efforts in some parts of the city to make services more accessible to him.
Christine King
As someone who grew up in a neighborhood and community, for its time, that had side walks and encouraged elementary age children to walk and ride their bikes to school, I am in support of any method we, as a city, can put in place to make it safe and reliable for anyone to get around the community. Additionally, I am an exercise enthusiast and utilize our trails, sidewalks and the generous bike/commuter paths on some of our streets in order to run. When we first moved her in 1999, even then, Columbia was already a good commuter friendly town and it has even become stronger.
Encouraging our children to rely more on their feet, pedals and bodies will have long lasting impacts on their health and hopefully will lower childhood obesity. By improving their overall health, children will do better in schools. Further, a community which is friendly to its walkers, runners and bikers, is also a community in which people want to stay for long term and it draws more people in to the community.
Bill Meredith
No response received
Sam Phillips
Yes. I have been a longtime regular user and supporter of the many great trails in Columbia. Recently, my son and I have enjoyed safer crossings and better marked streets.
I continue to serve on the Steering Committee for a project to provide a safe bike/pedestrian lane across the Missouri River Bridge in Jefferson City. I am Vice President of the Missouri State Parks Foundation, which is the group that helped gather community support and bring together City and State officials ( from both DNR and MODOT) to assure that the bridge attachment will be built.
Michelle Pruitt
I grew up in a small town and walked three blocks every day through rain, sleet, snow, ice and heat (sometimes all in the same day!) to attend elementary school. On nice days, the walk home frequently took several times as long as the walk to school so I could kick fallen leaves in the autumn, slide on the ice in winter and smell flowers in the spring. To attend junior high and high school I walked three blocks in the opposite direction. It would be wonderful if every child could feel so independent, self-sufficient and at home with nature. But as a parent, I understand the concerns that parents have about sending kids out to walk to school in neighborhoods without sidewalks (like mine and many in Columbia), to cross streets without crosswalks and sometimes with poor visibility and speeding drivers.
I support making alternative transportation available to all neighborhoods, especially less affluent neighborhoods where families may not have access to multiple vehicles, or even one vehicle.
Adam Sorg
No response received
Question 2: How important is it to you to encourage more children to walk or bike to school and what ideas do you have for achieving that goal?
Marc A. Bledsoe
We encourage our children to walk every day – even when it rains/snows/whatever. It is so important to me that I agreed to let my daughter have a cell phone so my wife would feel safer about them walking to school. To encourage more students to walk/bike and release the restriction that only 5th graders can ride their bikes to school. It would also be beneficial to have non-school day bike activities: Perhaps a Saturday morning bike ride from Scott blvd to Flat Branch Park where parents can pick up the children or they could have lunch.
Jeannie H. Craig
No response received
Greg Flippin
No response received
Dan Holt
I feel that there is a great need to get back to more community level schools so that children and adults have safe and well marked paths to get to and from school. I am especially interested in making it to where students don't have to walk past a closer school in order to attend the assigned school because of district boundaries. This will create better habits for students to walk or ride their bike rather than seek motorized transportation.
There are several schools that don't have adequate sidewalks to get to/from the school easily. There are also too many routes that compete with morning commute traffic and that creates safety issues.
Christine King
As stated above, I am in favor of encouraging children to walk and ride their bikes to school. I think if we are able to tap into the Columbia Public School Volunteer program and possibly layer our resources, that may be a good way to start. For example, if an adult says they are willing to volunteer at West Blvd Elementary School 3 mornings a week, would we be able to have that person assist with a walking school bus? We could place these volunteers at various corners and intersections to help walk children to the doors. Could we also layer on to the PBS program and provide awards/incentives to children who walk/ride their bike so many days in a row? Although this does not directly relate to the PedNet, I would love to see Intramural Sports at the elementary level to encourage activity and a healthier way of life.
This area is definitely an area in which we need to brain storm with the community and make sure we have flexible programs to fit the needs of our schools.
Bill Meredith
No response received
Sam Phillips
Although my son and I don’t ride or walk every day, I think of riding bikes and walking to school as the obvious first choices. We ride to Grant School when my schedule permits. He also frequently participates in Walking School Bus. Thanks to PedNet and Getabout, my son has been quoted all over Columbia. He said: “I love Walking School Bus. It’s like recess before school.” Many teachers appreciate kids having that “recess” time before school. Columbia Public Schools should support your efforts to reach students and parents to coordinate more walking school bus opportunities at more schools.
Michelle Pruitt
Walking to school can build lifelong healthy living habits, and physical activity has been shown to aid learning and cognitive development.
Adam Sorg
No response received
Question 3: Would you support initiatives that reduce bussing costs and increase children’s physical activity such as (a) requiring children to walk to a single bus-stop on the edge of each neighborhood, and/or (b) dropping children off at a staging post so they walk the last half-mile to school?
Marc A. Bledsoe
I like idea (a) but not (b). As a side note: maybe it is just the PedNet organization only concerning itself with before and after school activity , but why don’t we have more time spent on physical activity during school hours. There should be more organized sports during recess to encourage children to be active and work in teams.
Jeannie H. Craig
No response received
Greg Flippin
No response received
Dan Holt
Yes, I would support these initiatives to be complied with students and parents voluntarily. A half mile may be a stretch, but certainly a quarter mile would be feasible. Again, some safety concerns in certain parts of the city with regard to traffic, lighting and distractions.
Christine King
All along in my campaign I have said that we always need to concentrate on the three goals of our BOE, and we need to measure and anticipate what we expect our achievements and results will be. If we are able to communicate adequately to the public the benefits of increased activity (lowers health risks and increases alertness/brain activity) and the lowering of bussing costs, I firmly believe this town will support the change. But this change, as much as I am in favor of something similar to this, needs to be communicated to all parents and community members - and we need to take the time to listen to all feedback, and find alternative ways to reach people. As with any program, it is good to view all sides and obtain as much information, positive and negative, in order to make informed decisions that are aligned with our BOE goals.
Bill Meredith
No response received
Sam Phillips
I like the concepts, but I would want to consider potential logistical concerns on the days that bad weather really makes it difficult to drop kids off away from the school. And, I think the district would need to take the pulse of the community to determine whether parents would support longer walks to school.
Michelle Pruitt
I support voluntary "walk to school" initiatives like the Walking School Bus since they provide supervision and the experience of enjoying the great outdoors rain or shine. I think the idea of "staging" posts for bus pickups with adult supervision might work if buses could communicate with parent volunteers when they might be delayed, especially in bad weather. I am not enthusiastic about dropping children off before they reach the school because of the added supervisory burden on schools receiving children in the morning and traffic problems, and, frankly, a taint of a "forced march" for the kids.
Adam Sorg
No response received
Question 4: Would your answers to Q. 3 change if the walks were supervised by adult volunteers like the Walking School Bus?
Marc A. Bledsoe
No. If there are children on the bus, take them all the way to school. In my view, the logistics would/could be problematic.
Jeannie H. Craig
No response received
Greg Flippin
No response received
Dan Holt
Again, given my child safety concerns I would need to know more about these volunteers. How are they identified and how often do they rotate? Kids need to be familiar with these adults and the adults need to have a similar degree of familiarity to know if something is wrong and who to report suspicious behavior to.
Christine King
The only way my answer may change is in this way. For some parents, having that adult supervision may be the selling point. The other point which would need to be addressed is who supervises the adult, who is responsible to ensure we have safe, reliable adults and the continuity remains stable for our children. Again, as positive as it appears at first, we need to view all sides and make sure we have weighed the pros and cons of any program. Our children's safety is our utmost concern.
Bill Meredith
No response received
Sam Phillips
Coordinated parental involvement in the project would undoubtedly encourage more parents to support the idea.
Michelle Pruitt
No response received
Adam Sorg
No response received
Question 5: What do you see as the advantages and disadvantages of small neighborhood schools versus larger school campuses on the edge of town?
Marc A. Bledsoe
This is the question I ask right now: Will my daughter be able to walk to school during the rest of her education? Small neighborhood schools would allow that.
On the flip side, there is a certain economy of scale when you have one (or two) large schools. It is easier for the district to maintain the facilities.
There are probably others, but I would need to investigate.
Jeannie H. Craig
No response received
Greg Flippin
No response received
Dan Holt
Most big cities started out as a small town and finding affordable land for school construction is key. I prefer small schools, but the economies of operating more and smaller buildings make many aspects prohibitive. Columbia is a classic example. Older buildings in need of repairs, or land-locked so that expanding is not feasible are realities that are unintended consequences of decisions and design. While Columbia has some aspects of urban sprawl, careful planning may allow us to avoid some of the pitfalls that other growing school districts have faced.
I think Stephens Lake Park would have been a great location for our 3rd high school. Many of the park attributes could have been retained and even more public good utilized from that land. There's just so little open land within the city limits that lends itself for this type of use. Thus urban sprawl becomes the best option.
Christine King
This is a very good question and really falls in line with some of the work I have done since deciding to run for BOE. Since February I have visited or am scheduled to visit about 80% of our schools. I will see all the Middle and Jr High schools and hopefully will get into the one HS not yet visited. There are pros and cons to all schools, and depending on someone's view point, a pro to one is a con to another. So I would rather term these as just a difference in our schools, or possibly a chance to change techniques to fit the needs of the school.
In our smaller Title I schools, I saw the ratio of teachers/assistants to the students to be more in favor of the children. Because those schools were smaller, they had some additional flexibility with utilizing resources in the building. They also had flexibility in trying new things that may be more challenging in a larger school. For example, I observed West Blvd Elementary experimenting with keeping kids with the same teacher for two years, and some experimenting with teaching a subject by separating boys from girls. The smaller schools may tend to have a better sense of community, but the challenge to that is preparing the fifth graders for the environment they will enter into for middle school. Again, not necessarily a negative, just a difference. In Columbia we are supportive and we try to accommodate a parent who may want to move their child from their home elementary school to another school. The challenge to that is this: if the families who want to move from their home school are engaged and involved parents, and their home school is lacking in that area, we are missing a great opportunity for that family who moves to another school, to give back and be part of their home school.
For some of our larger school, the size alone creates challenges. If recess is cancelled due to weather, where do the children play and burn off energy? With a large number of children, the gymnasium is usually in use. With a larger school, a child may be overwhelmed or may get lost. Therefore teachers need to be trained on how to ensure all children are engaged and not lost. This may happen to children who may not speak English well, who are one of the children who receive free and reduced meals in a school where that percentage is low overall. The other challenge that may occur in a larger school is the relationship parents have with teachers and staff. My personal experience with this has been very positive in our school (Paxton) and I have heard the same complaints from other families who attend a small school - so the relational issues may exist at any size school.
Many or our smaller elementary schools are also older buildings which bring challenges of upkeep and maintenance. We want our families, students, staff and community members to be proud of all our buildings. If a school is not properly cared for, that may translate into a lack of concern, care or respect by the District. Also, we want everything to be working properly. I think there is a perception the older buildings may not be functioning as well as newer. However, from what I saw, I am confident we are doing everything we can to properly maintain our older buildings in a financially prudent manner.
Overall, all our schools, even if you compare two schools with similar number of children, presents their own challenges and each year those could change. However, every school has a great opportunity to help our children learn and grow in a loving, nurturing environment. Based on my observations, our staff will do whatever is necessary to reach our children and they view those obstacles as a way to become better teachers.
Bill Meredith
No response received
Sam Phillips
Planning for school placement to assure easy access for cycling and walking students is both logical and important. The school district should work closely with city and county officials and planners, as well as private developers to work toward walkable neighborhoods and school boundaries. But, especially in these difficult financial times, the school district must consider the cost of all projects. And, Columbia has been committed to creating school boundaries intended to assure diverse student populations. That effort is sometimes counter to the goal of making purely neighborhood schools, but many believe that it creates better schools. Having diverse schools is a value that Columbians support.
Michelle Pruitt
I attended a small neighborhood school, and knowing all my schoolmates (and their brothers and sisters and parents) was certainly an advantage. However, for secondary students especially, smaller schools do not offer the same range of academic subjects and extra-curricular activities, so I think there is a trade-off. Columbia's system of many smaller elementary schools which feed into larger secondary schools seems to recognize this and strikes a good balance.
Adam Sorg
No response received
