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Parents, school trustees press Bakersfield council for more crosswalks, speed humps after student deaths
Summary
Trustees and grieving family members urged the council to expand traffic-calming measures, lighting and enforcement around schools. Trustees asked for a traffic study and at least one speed hump in memory of a child killed near Roosevelt Elementary.
Multiple speakers, including Bakersfield City School District trustees and grieving family members, urged the City Council on May 14 to accelerate pedestrian-safety improvements near schools, including crosswalk lighting, speed humps and increased enforcement.
Dr. Chris Cruz Boone, a trustee with the Bakersfield City School District, told the council that “we as a community need to take more responsibility in lighting our crosswalks and making sure that they're visible and making sure that speeds are displayed so that mothers like me don't have to worry.” Trustee Brooke Malley Alt, representing Area 5 of the district, said 328 parents and community members signed a petition asking for crosswalks near Roosevelt Elementary after an 8-year-old student, Richie Aguilar, was struck and killed while walking home.
Trustee Alt said the crosswalks called for in the petition have been completed and an additional crossing guard placed near Roosevelt, but she urged the council to begin with a traffic study at First and A Street and to install “a single speed hump in honor of Richie.” She said speed humps cause drivers to slow and asked the council to prioritize equity by extending measures to neighborhoods that have historically received less infrastructure investment.
Parent speakers Josie and Jasmine described multiple local pedestrian deaths and requested more lights, crosswalks, sidewalks, speed bumps and law-enforcement presence near schools. Josie said community advocates had to press for change: “It actually took two children to die for us to get something done there.”
Council member Gonzales expressed sympathy and repeated a council commitment to pedestrian and bicycle safety, noting past efforts including a neighborhood traffic-calming handbook and a multimodal transportation committee. Smith and Gonzales both said traffic calming should be treated as a public-safety priority; Smith observed that a council subcommittee (Public Safety and Vital Services, PSVS) had recommended not to include traffic calming in certain PSVS-funded items, a point confirmed in the meeting record.
No formal ordinance or funding decision was made at the meeting. Trustees left petitions and asked staff for traffic studies and local site work. Council members said they would pursue budget lines and policy options and asked the community to continue to engage.
What happens next: Trustees requested a traffic study for First and A Street and the installation of one speed hump as a starting point; staff follow-up and any formal funding decisions will require later council action.
