SOUTH GATE : Police Asked to Curb Traffic Near School

The way Alberto Guijarro sees it, a potential disaster lurks just outside Bryson Elementary School.

“We’ve just seen conditions get worse and worse, and it’s about time the authorities do something about it,” Guijarro said.

Guijarro, who has lived across the street from the school for four years, and his neighbors say children’s lives are endangered each day when parents drive down Hunt Street to pick up their children at Bryson. Drivers double-park and clog up the two-way artery in front of the school, they say, inviting a serious accident.

The daily jam fills the block of Hunt Street just off the busy intersection with Tweedy Boulevard. Because parking is not regulated on the 30-foot-wide street, visitors’ vehicles quickly join residents’ cars parked along the sides of the street. The air fills with a barrage of honking horns and squealing tires. Dangerous blind spots abound between cars.

“We’ve seen cars back up 80 to 100 feet and hit other cars. We’ve seen cars jump over curbs and drive over lawns,” said resident Jim Anderson, who has complained to the City Council about the problem.

“Fortunately for the kids at Bryson, about the only thing we haven’t seen is an accident in which one of them is hit by a car.”

Guijarro and Anderson met with Vice Mayor Henry Gonzales and Police Chief Ronald George last week to find solutions.

Bryson Principal Don Fisher attributes part of the problem to overcrowding in the city’s schools. Bryson, a school with 1,400 students, was built for 600 to 700.

Police Chief Don George said he would beef up police presence around Bryson and ask his officers to step up writing of traffic citations to clear Hunt Street of double-parking and blind spots between parked cars.

“I don’t want anyone to expect miracles . . . but we will do the best we can,” George said.

Guijarro agrees with George’s initiative: “The best thing to do is to get some more cops over here enforcing the law. That’s all we’re asking for.”