To the editor:
The Wake Forest police department has placed everyone on notice of the requirement to park in the direction of the flow of traffic. Though at times less convenient, it does create an overall safer environment for traffic, pedestrians and the occupants of the vehicle.
Enter Franklin Academy and the proposed Thales Academy on E. Wait St. (Hwy. 98 East ).
On school days S. Franklin St. and contiguous streets, twice daily, have cars parked in the correct direction for several blocks as parents wait to drop off/ pick up students. These streets are literally reduced to narrow pathways, requiring motorists and first responders from the nearby rescue and fire stations to ease their way down a major ingress/regress for the town business district. Fire trucks have been seen straddling the median curbs at these times. Adding to this confluence of privilege and diminished emergency response is the total disregard for the town’s much-touted bike lanes that are rendered non-existent for these hours of the day.
When Thales Academy, sister school to Franklin Academy, is built on Hwy. 98 East, will these public safety and recreational amenities be usurped again? Orientation of parked vehicles, notwithstanding
Mike Webb
Wake Forest
(Editor’s note: Wake Forest Planning Department Director Courtney Tanner told the Gazette in an email that the Thales Academy on East Wait Avenue has sufficient room on their property for all the queuing. However, that does not solve the problem on South Franklin Street at the Franklin Academy or the Thales Academy on Heritage Trade. There is also spillover of the Franklin Academy parent traffic on East Holding Avenue and on South White Street.)
