My daughter, Idania Rodriguez, is a Cadette Girl Scout with the Tropical Council. She is working on her Silver Award project to help her school and community in addressing the following:

The City of Miami has re-located a metro bus stop at the main entrance of her school, Young Women’s Preparatory Academy, very few steps away from the main school door. It is very unsafe for the students, especially since this is an all-girl school, to have the constant present of any type of people waiting for the bus. Due to this situation the main door cannot be used. All the classrooms and offices are exposed to the public eye through its clear big windows facing the street and therefore the bus stop. The girls feel constantly watched and unprotected. School officials have called before the police to report lewd and lascivious conduct from individuals pretending to wait for the bus. No child should endure such conditions.

The bus stop also creates traffic issues for the school, parent, students and community during drop off and pick up times. The line of cars going to our school obstructs the regular traffic on 1st street and 12th Ave of the Southwest since parents cannot use the bus stop lane. School buses cannot use the main entrance for drop off or pick up, they will have to use the back of the school. However, the back of the school coincides with the front of an elementary school (Riverside Elementary School) that also has a high traffic of parents and school buses.  Residents of the area are having a difficult time due to the traffic and poor logistics of it. It is very unsafe for kids and pedestrians in general to walk to school.

The bus stop creates unsanitary conditions for the school and the community. The school personnel are constantly removing garbage, human waste, cigarettes, unidentified substances and else to keep school front clean and sanitized. Nevertheless, conditions deteriorate quickly. This is a focus of contamination and a hazard to our children’s health.  

We need the City of Miami to remove this metro-bus stop from the entrance of our school. This will improve the safety of students, the traffic hazard and the cleanliness of our environment.