Guest Column
Colin Archer
Parent responds to Peters Place resident’s complaints

It’s nice to see the "anonymous" resident is so concerned about the children who attend Red Bank Catholic and St. James schools. I appreciate anyone who looks out for the well-being of others. As a parent who has to go through the morning and afternoon ritual of two drop-offs and pickups, I can attest to what I see every day. I see teachers, volunteer parents as monitors, students as monitors, crossing guards, parking authority personnel, and Red Bank police assisting our children into and out of school each day. There is a lot of traffic, both school buses and private vehicles, that is present each day.

With the help of all the above and the students becoming used to the ritual, it becomes more efficient and, most importantly, safer. The school and its parents work hard to ensure it.

Now, the rebuttal. I am one of the few dads who has the luxury of a flexible schedule. I am there almost every day involved in the pickup and drop-off. I am there with the mothers who have strollers and little children not yet in school — in the cold, rain and snow, either living too close or too far for the luxury of school busing. We don’t complain — we choose to send our children here. Didn’t your anonymous resident choose to live on Peters Place? Choose to live in a busy downtown neighborhood?

I have heard from the mothers about a certain male resident who hawks the street and runs out to yell at the mothers. Threatens to call the police — nice. The drop-off and pickup routine has been changed in the two years since I’ve been there. This was done to fix a system that wasn’t perfect, and did inconvenience those residents on Peters Place. They did have legitimate concerns.

Your resident hits on all the key words to make Peters Place sound like a danger zone for kids, and that’s not true. He also states emergency vehicles couldn’t respond down that street if they had to. As a fireman in Newark, I’ve responded to fires on some of the city’s busiest and traffic-congested streets there are, and always get to where we have to. Boy, he couldn’t live in the city.

The truth is, he doesn’t like living on Peters Place, not with a school across the street. I bet he doesn’t complain in the summertime.

If the resident, whom the police and mothers know of, feels he’s so right, why won’t he state his name proudly? Anyone who is so safety-concerned should feel proud to stand by his point and his name. To him I say, don’t use our children’s safety as the cornerstone for your argument on the traffic on Peters Place. Worry about your temper and how you speak to the mothers of the students we pick up and drop off every day.

Proud parent, proud fireman, proud resident, and proud to use my name.

Colin Archer is a resident of Red Bank