Among several proclamations and presentations at the Monday, Sept. 23 Riverbank City Council meeting, Crossroads Elementary School Principal, Tedde Vaupel and Assistant Principal, Beth Weston received a certificate presented by Mayor Richard O’Brien, that Wednesday, Oct. 9 will be recognized as Walk to School Day.
“Families are encouraged to walk their children to and from school on Wednesday,” stated Vaupel.
According to the Walk and Bike to School Day website, the first National Walk to School Day was held in 1997 called Walk Our Children to School Day. The website also states that through annual surveys, local Walk to School Day coordinators across the country have advised how a simple one-day event has led to great changes such as long-term walking and bicycling programs, new sidewalks and pathways, enforcement of unsafe driving behaviors and needed policy changes at schools and in communities.
“Thank you so much for recognizing Crossroads Elementary School and our endeavor to make our community safe for our children and encouraging our students to walk to school with their families,” said Vaupel. “We currently have a lot of families that walk to school but we would like to encourage more to do that.”
Rideshare Week was proclaimed to be observed from Oct.7 through 11 and Carlos Yamzon, Executive Director for the Stanislaus County Council of Governments received the certificate and offered a few words of thanks and information regarding that event.
Pamela Floyd gave the council and attendees an overview of what the Sister City Committee is and let everyone know that they are open for new members.
All city council members were in agreement to have three “No Parking Anytime” signs installed on Highway 108 between Topeka Avenue and Eighth Street. The resolution passed 4-0 at the Monday night meeting along with the other items on the consent calendar. The signs will be placed along the east side of the highway to protect pedestrians and the motoring public.
The council also recognized former councilwoman Dotty Nygard at the session, presenting her with flowers and other items in thanking her for her service. Nygard resigned her seat due to a move from the area. Nygard thanked supporters and volunteers in the community she has worked with, on events including the Riverbank Community Garden Project, the Farmers Market and Beyond Earth Day.
Also on the agenda was a request to consider possibly having council meetings on a different day and have Mondays be meeting free. The recommendation was for the city council to discuss the proposal of a new meeting day and adopting a new day of the week for council meetings.
“This is a business meeting and preparation sometimes takes longer than what we have,” said O’Brien. “If we keep Monday free, meeting free…other communities have used those days as a family day.”
O’Brien was in favor of selecting a different meeting day. Councilmember Cal Campbell said he was flexible on another day except for Tuesday nights due to a long-term commitment. Councilmember Darlene Barber-Martinez stated that Monday night works fine for her but she would consider Tuesday and Councilmember Jeanine Tucker also stated that Mondays work fine for her but not every Tuesday would work. Since the council could not find a day that would work for everyone, there was no action taken so the second and fourth Monday nights of the month will remain as the night for the regular City Council meetings, for now.
