School: MAX is an asset

While Milwaukie schools complain, one Portland school sings light rail’s praises

By Matthew Graham

The Clackamas Review, Dec 26, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (7 Reader comments)

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A Milwaukie light rail safety meeting last week started out with many of the same issues as the meeting in Portland a week before – surveillance, increased security staffing and other popular issues. But the meeting was soon dominated by local schools’ concerns –specifically those from St. John’s Catholic School and the Portland Waldorf School.

The schools’ representatives were concerned because three of the proposed stations – at Monroe, Washington, and Harrison Streets – would be within a block of one of the schools.

“St. John’s Church and School will be adamantly opposed to Monroe and Washington stations, and we will support Waldorf 100 percent,” said Jerry Foy of St. John’s school.

Cyndia Ashkar of the Waldorf school said the trains, which would run within about 40 feet of the school, would disrupt the school atmosphere and interfere with the children’s learning.

She said the noise from the train, especially if there are bells or other auditory warnings at crossings, disrupts the students’ neurological processes by pulling them psychologically from the learning environment.

“When rail vehicles go by, it rattles the building, so there is the students and the learning affect of that,” she said.

Ashkar referred to the “cumulative impacts” of tactile distractions from the vibrations, auditory distractions, and visionary distractions from seeing the train go by.

“There’s also the vision, which puts the brain more into the fight-or-flight, more primitive state of mind,” she said.

Foy also expressed concerns about the accessibility to and from trains, especially at the nearby high school.

“A major concern is people coming onto the campus and students being able to scurry off easier,” he said.

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