Editorial: Put a priority on cross-walks

Friday, Dec. 30, 2005 | 7:15 a.m.

Bob DePalma, a crossing guard at Decatur Boulevard and Pennwood Avenue, has an important job: making sure that students find their way safely to nearby Elaine Wynn Elementary School. DePalma told the Sun's Emily Richmond that he has been trying for years to get crosswalk lines repainted there, but to no avail.

The Clark County Public Works Department says the crosswalks at Decatur and Pennwood are the responsibility of Las Vegas. The city's traffic engineering division says its crews went out in September to repaint the crosswalks to the east of the intersection, but those crosswalks to the west fall under the county's jurisdiction.

Erin Breen, director of the Safe Community Partnership, says that for the most part the city is quick to repaint crosswalks and that the county, while not as fast, generally is responsive. Still, Breen says that De-Palma's struggle to get the crosswalks repainted illustrates how bureaucracy can hamstring even the most simple of requests to ensure pedestrian safety. "How insane -- to put territory boundaries above people's well-being," Breen says. Indeed.

All of the public works departments in the metropolitan area should be actively working together on a system that identifies which school zones are in need of better pedestrian safety measures, including the repainting of crosswalks. Because the border between the city and Clark County meanders throughout the valley, there are plenty of other instances involving pedestrian safety that vividly point out why teamwork -- not turf battles -- should prevail.

The reality is that too many people in the valley speed through school zones -- sometimes with tragic consequences. The Clark County Commission and the Las Vegas City Council need to make sure their public works departments have enough resources -- and clearly understand the need of working with other governmental entities -- for this critical responsibility. Ensuring the safety of students who walk to school should be of paramount concern.