KINSTON, N.C. (WNCT)- It’s a sidewalk that's supposed to make getting to and from school safer for kids. But the City of Kinston is using thousands of dollars in federal grant money to build a sidewalk some parents say they won't even let their kids use.
Kira McCoy's daughter will attend Northeast Elementary in two years.
"I'll probably drive her,” said McCoy.
She and her neighbor Tanzania live less than a mile from the school but neither would let their kids walk.
"This is very dangerous,” said Tanzania Boomer, who’s niece goes to Northeast. “That street, there's a little curve and kids love to play in the street and then they wouldn't be able to see the car, boom! Dead."
"Would be nice to see a lot of kids walking and using it…maybe that will come,” said Kinston Public Services Director Rhonda Barwick.
Barwick is using federal grant money to build a sidewalk. It will run from Highland Ave. at Summit Ave. up to Northeast Elementary.
The dot's federal grant program "safe routes to school" gave her nearly 77-thousand dollars to build it.
The director of transportation for Lenoir County Schools tells me even once the sidewalk is built here along Highland Ave. He'll still have to run a bus to these neighborhoods because he can't deem it safe enough for kids to walk.
"I'm excited about it,” said Pinkee Darden. “I can't wait to see it. I'm ready to see it."
Parents like Darden say the sidewalk will bring change for the better.
"It'd help a lot because my daughter is obese and she really need to walk so I think it'd be great for her,” she said.
"Getting more people out in our community and meeting their neighbors, being like the little hometown feel that we used to have and maybe sidewalks would help do that too,” said Barwick.
But some parents say it won't help. "No, I don't see it that way,” said Boomer.
They say crime is already a problem in the neighborhood and a sidewalk won't make a difference.
Kinston Public Services plans on moving forward with the sidewalk in May. The city is putting about $20,000 from its own budget toward the project to cover surveys, design and other costs.
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