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A spirit that is not afraid

Council presented with traffic concerns at Auburn Junior High School

<p>Auburn's City Council meets in the City Council Chamber at 141 N. Ross St. on May 4, 2021.</p>

Auburn's City Council meets in the City Council Chamber at 141 N. Ross St. on May 4, 2021.

During Tuesday night's City Council meeting, Police Chief Cedric Anderson addressed the Council during the Committee of the Whole about a traffic concern at Auburn Junior High School. 

City Manager Megan Crouch explained that citizens had safety concerns about the school pick-up traffic for AJHS on Terrace Acres Drive. Many parents had been parking at Terrace Acres and letting their kids cross the street to get to school. 

The City requested 30 days to evaluate the situation with the help of the Auburn Police Division. During this time, Chief Anderson explained that officers were posted on Terrace Acres Drive to observe and control the situation. 

Police monitoring the area have prohibited parents from parking, but parents are now stopping long enough to pick up their children and drive off before an officer can make contact with them. 

“As long as we are there and are monitoring, there is no issue, but the minute that unit leaves, the parents will roll through, pick up students and drive off,” Anderson said. 

According to Anderson, parents show up 30 minutes prior to school ending and used to park on Terrace Acres Drive where there is one “no parking” sign. Now, with a patrol in place, parents will circle the neighborhood until their student arrives at the neighborhood. 

Anderson explained that APD has discussed with the school how to better improve traffic on Dean Road to prevent parents from finding alternative pick-up methods. 

The junior high, which used to be the old high school, has two large parking lots which Anderson suggests the school use to alleviate traffic. 

“We’re hoping eliminating some of those cars on the roadway will take away the need for people to park over on Terrace Acres or stop,” Anderson said. 

The City has seen significant improvement since the start of the school year and the number of complaints from Terrace Acres residents has decreased. Crouch and Anderson are aware that once patrol of the area stops, parents may return to stopping in the neighborhood. They will provide reports of updates on the area. 

Ward 3 Council member Beth Witten announced her commendation of the new parking app for downtown Auburn. A communication from the City went out about the new parking app in collaboration with ParkMobile that will allow drivers to make contactless parking payments. 

Crouch joked about one of the City’s financial advisors having a flip phone, but she reasoned that most people have a smartphone that would allow them to use the app. Drivers will still be able to use the kiosks located around downtown if they prefer.

“Instead of having to walk to a kiosk, you could have the ParkMobile app, put your space in and pay for your parking right from your phone,” Crouch said. 

Crouch said that the kiosks can be challenging and that the City is working on making it easier to park downtown. QR codes will be available around town to use for people that may not be aware of the app. 

ParkMobile signs have been placed in downtown parking areas with a zone number, which is used in conjunction with individual parking space numbers to track for how long a car has been parked.

The app works everywhere in downtown Auburn except for the Wright Street parking deck, which will continue to use tickets that can be paid at kiosks or at the gate on the way out of the parking deck.  The City plans to offer mobile payment for the deck in the future.

The app charges a fee because ParkMobile charges the City a fee for each transaction that is carried on to the user and will not dip into tax dollars to pay for it. Crouch said that residents are gladly paying that fee for the convenience of the app. 

“It’s been well-received today,” Crouch said. “I’ve been pleasantly surprised about how much attention it’s gotten.”

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The Council meeting ended with the Citizens’ Open Forum, with Robert Avery, from Gadsden, Ala., representing the Southern Regional Economic Roundtable. Avery urged Council members to use funds from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 to fund community programs such as Boy Scouts and youth sports. 

The plan, also referred to as the COVID-19 Stimulus Package, provided $1.9 trillion to aid the United States in economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“We ask that you work with the community and nonprofits, scouting and all of the people who need these funds to uplift their community,” Avery said. 

Mayor Ron Anders said that the City is waiting for final guidance on the American Rescue Plan Act. He said his staff is actively pursuing updates and will be ready when the final guidance comes, which may be the end of October. 


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