As a mother of seven and grandmother to many more, I understand the well-intentioned desire to ease our children’s lives in a frightening, hard world.
We would like to protect them from any perceived danger or discomfort as they negotiate an increasingly complex world. It would appear that offering our high school seniors assigned parking spots right next door to their school would be the best way to keep them safe and happy.
But the lesson this is teaching them is, in fact, paradoxically destructive.
They see us casually paving over a beautiful (yes, beautiful) green space with nary a concern for the environment. They are spared the bother of walking several blocks from an already established parking lot which isn’t in the middle of a residential block.
They will see the traffic nightmare and hazardous conditions this will create most obviously for the residents of Beach and Polo roads, but for the surrounding blocks as well— and see the lack of concern that was directed towards these residents. We want the best for our children.
But are we innocently, errantly creating a “this is coming to me” generation— and missing the opportunity to teach our young the value of selflessness, awareness of the very real needs of others, preservation of our world in a time of frightening environmental change….not to mention exercise?
Allowing our seniors to walk the several blocks from the Parkwood parking lot is not asking of them any more than what we were ourselves expected to do in our youth; I for one was taking public transportation and then walking from train and bus stops to elementary and high school in the 60’s and 70’s…. and I think it contributed to making me the productive, strong person I like to think I have become.
Great Neck offers its children a world-class education, and I am proud of that. I think abandoning the plan to build a large, dangerous, ill-conceived parking lot in the middle of our beautiful neighborhood would teach them another great lesson — and one that will help form them into the kind of people we want them to be.
Dr. Jessica Jacob
Great Neck
