MEETING TARGETS STUDENT PARKING IN NEIGHBORHOOD

Residents of the Central High School neighborhood met with school and police officials Friday to discuss concerns related to off-campus student parking.

Dan Rau organized the meeting, which was attended by Cape Girardeau police Sgt. Steve Strong, traffic director Sgt. J.R. Davis, school resource officer Cpl. Barry Hovis and Central principal Randy Fidler. Rau, who lives on Luce Street, said he timed the meeting so officials could witness some of the problems caused by parking shortages on the high school campus.

"The point isn't that we're against kids; the point is that we live in a parking lot," said Rau. "If the street wasn't used in the manner that it's used, I don't think we'd have the types of problems we're having."

Rau and neighbor Scott Geringer described numerous incidents involving blocked driveways and rude confrontations with students. They said the situation is worst before and after school when students often loiter around their cars to smoke and talk before leaving.

The overflow student parking on Luce and neighboring streets restricts residents' access to their driveways and results in numerous traffic and other problems, they said. Traffic also is legally restricted on the south side of the street, which often results in residents losing access to parking near their homes during school hours.

"We appreciate the effort you guys are doing and the police officers are doing, but what we've got is a situation where the kids will concentrate and loiter in our area," said Rau. "We'd like to see some regulations or limitations along these streets."

Fidler and Hovis said many issues were being researched to alleviate problems associated with off-campus parking, including the possibility of having side easements granted that would allow school officials to regulate parking on residential streets within the neighborhood. This method has been adopted with some success in certain St. Louis area schools and might be effective in Cape Girardeau, they said.

"We're still researching it, but that might be a win-win situation for everybody," said Fidler. "The problem is, for the most part, the better students park on campus, and the students who don't always want to follow the rules want to get as far away from us as they can. Unfortunately, you're seeing the small percentage of our students who are not making the right choices."

Hovis said he works with police officers and school officials to patrol the area regularly and addresses parking issues during class presentations. He said the addition of a second school resource officer within the district would provide more patrols in coming months, but he was unsure how much more regulation legally could be performed.

"We do try to address the issue with students, but still yet it's up to the students to do it," he said.

Davis encouraged residents to continue contacting school and the police whenever they see a potentially criminal violation. Regardless of which authority is contacted first, the two groups will work together to get the problem fixed as soon as possible, he said.

"If it's important enough for you to call, it's important enough for us to take care of it," he said.