From Mayor Bill Finch:
On Tuesday, Mayor Bill Finch joined Superintendent of Schools Paul Vallas and Police Chief Joseph Gaudett to announce the “Safe Corridors” program, a new initiative to help keep students safe on their way to and from school.
The Safe Corridor program was developed jointly by the Board of Education and the Bridgeport Police Department. The program creates blocks-long perimeters around Bassick, Central and Harding high schools that will be marked and monitored by police, trained volunteers and cameras.
“Feeling safe and secure in one’s environment is a catalyst for learning, creativity, and community building. This program will help ensure our students’ safety inside and outside of school, which will have an impact on their performance in the classroom,” said Mayor Finch. “I applaud the volunteers that will be involved in this initiative. Without the support of our community organizations, such initiatives are not possible.”
Central High School’s corridor will be bounded by Capitol, Madison, North and Park avenues. Bassick High School’s corridor includes Clinton, Fairfield Avenue and State Street, and will extend to nearby Batalla and Bryant schools. Harding High School’s corridor is bounded by Boston, Seaview, Grant and Mill Hill and will reach out to nearby Marin and Edison.
Plans are already underway to expand the Safe Corridors program beyond the high schools, with the goal of creating corridors for all Bridgeport public schools.
Vallas, Finch and Gaudett. Seriously?
Volunteers report seeing an incident. Police take 45 minutes to respond. Safe corridors, my ass.
Gaudett is really Finch in drag.
Vallas is Vallas in drag.
Are safe streets the same as safe corridors? If the streets were truly safe, would you need a “safe corridor” program? Why are high school students served first? They are not the weakest and most vulnerable, are they? The article does not really address the issue of what makes for safe corridors, or am I not paying attention? Police. OK but the same number of police are on each shift, right? No additions to 21 per shift? Nothing new there. Cameras, and who is screening them routinely and regularly? And what is the protocol for response if they see something worrisome? And volunteers? Now I need some real info on who, when, training, etc. in order to see if this is not just one more photo op by the City coordinator of “good news,” Elaine Ficarra. All “good news” must pass through her. And that means all of this is part of the Mayor Finch show, doesn’t it? Will it work? Is it sustainable? What do kids and parents think? Accountability? Time will tell.
*** What happens when the corridors are no longer safe and the alarms go off in all three high schools after school? Let’s hope there are plenty of cameras working to identify the bad guys and get them later. As long as you get them and prosecute to the full extent of the law, the message will start to get around and the changes will be noticed. However depending on the incidents, the usual slap on the wrist or in-house detention is “not” going to solve the problems. ***
They should use Seaside Park as their base camp. All the police in their yellow shirts, ATVs, cruisers parked at the ticket booths and horse patrols can just march into Bridgeport and take over.
Just one question, who is going to give the residents of Bridgeport a safe corridor from these guys???
Off topic–the CT Post today has features on all nine candidates running for BOE seats. They even mention the forum set for Aug 22. They did not mention WFP is boycotting that forum. Yet that info has been on this blog for days. Is the boycott still going to take place?
And what is everyone’s thoughts on those running for BOE of BPT public schools–but have their children in private schools?
On subject … Finch and his minions are still trying to block the Boys and Girls Club from rehabilitating its Madison Ave location by withholding $2.8Million. That location and the Orcutt on Park St. on the East Side are TRUE safe havens for the children of Bridgeport.
There was a federal grant which can be used for creating a network and installing cameras. They were able to couple with an outreach program that includes volunteers to at least TRY to help the areas that have the greatest problems and that is definitely around the high schools.
Although they will have the capability to monitor live, the best thing is incidents will be recorded. Hopefully this initiative will help reduce some of the problems that have affected the areas especially when school gets out.
In reality it’s just another tool … and since it’s being paid for by federal and state dollars, what’s the BFD?