George Peabody Elementary School on 7th Avenue
The city announced a new program today that will introduce new, lower speed limits of 15 miles per hour on streets near San Francisco schools.
The effort kicks off today with George Peabody Elementary School here in the Richmond District, located at 251 6th Avenue between California and Clement. The school also has an entrance and play yard on 7th Avenue.
“The children of San Francisco are our most precious resource, and we need to make sure that they feel safe traveling to and from school,” said Mayor Lee. “To help ensure this, I have asked City departments to prioritize actions, such as the new 15 miles per hour school speed limit zones, that will have a direct and immediate effect on making our streets safer and more livable for all pedestrians.”
The 15 mph school zone program includes 213 San Francisco schools from K-12 public and private schools and approximately 1,000 signs. The total cost of the program, $361,700, will be covered by local Proposition K sales tax funds and SFMTA operating funds. Approximately 100 schools will receive the 15 mph speed limits signage during this school year with installation for the second hundred continuing through the Summer for a planned completion by December 2012.
Sarah B.
Thanks for sharing – I noticed a sign on 7th yesterday … I’m not sure that it will stand out to the people driving down the street though. The biggest traffic challenge comes at pick up from the afterschool care – all the parents double parked, makes Muni #44 and others have to drive around them.
anyonne know who this school was named after? George Peabody have been a great guy if they did that. Be nice to remember him and the good things he did.
I just searched 5 pages of internet references re: Peabody school — and not a single one bothered to mention who the school’s name honors.
I suspect it is this George Peabody — one of the greatest philanthropists in Britain AND th U.S. I have included some info below — here is the Wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Peabody
“George Peabody is the acknowledged father of modern philanthropy, having established the practice later followed by Johns Hopkins, Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller and Bill Gates. In the United States, his philanthropy largely took the form of educational initiatives. In Britain, it took the form of providing housing for the poor.
George Peabody is known to have provided benefactions of more than $8 million, most of them in his own lifetime. Among the list are included:
1852 The Peabody Institute (now the Peabody Institute Library),[11] Peabody, Mass: $217,000 1856
The Peabody Institute, Danvers, Mass (now the Peabody Institute Library of Danvers):[12] $100,000 1857
The Peabody Institute (now the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University), Baltimore: $1,400,000 1862
The Peabody Donation Fund, London: $2,500,000 1866
The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University 1866
The Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University: $150,000 1867 The Peabody Academy of Science, Salem, Mass: $140,000 1867
The Peabody Institute, Georgetown, District of Columbia: $15,000 (today the Peabody Room, Georgetown Branch, DC Public Library). 1867
Peabody Education Fund: $2,000,000 1875
George Peabody College for Teachers, now the Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee. The funding came from the Peabody Education Fund 1866
The Georgetown Peabody Library, the public library of Georgetown, Massachusetts 1866
The Thetford Public Library, the public library of Thetford, Vermont: $5,000 1901 T
he Peabody Memorial Library, Sam Houston State University, Texas
they put up a warning sign on 6th too. seems a bit odd- the limit was already 20 and the only people who speed up that street are cops going back uphill to the station from california st. it’d be safer if they enforced double-parking along 6th and 7th near the school, esp 6th so the 1BX and the 44 can get around or travel easier. I dunno…
My kids go to Peabody and speeding has been an issue. I’ve witnessed many cars zooming past the school at 30 mph on the 7th Avenue side – very dangerous for kids and adults. So, I’m glad they’re lowering the speed limit. Aslo, the school does educute the students on who George Peabody was. They even have a philanthropy program for students to participate in.
I am honestly surprised that with SF being such a progressive city that this speed limit was not in place before now, particularly around K-5 schools.
The most dangerous traffic near Argonne School is the parents themselves, at 8:27 AM. Double parking, triple parking, people turning every which way, and a handful of parents walking their kids across the crosswalk. Terrifying. At 8:33 AM, crickets. Would be a lot safer to prohibit school dropoffs within a 1 block radius of a school.
Well, gotta balance that budget somehow, i suppose. But, if children *are* our most precious resource — not that i’ve noticed a shortage of them, exactly — then, if 15 is safer than 25, surely 5 would be *even* *safer*? C’mon, people, think of the children!!
Dear Ben, you’re right about the parents being dangerous. One out of 5 stops at the stop signs surrounding the school during morning “drop off.” (maybe we should get the SFPD to sit out there for a day or two?)
The school website does have a section on George Peabody the man. He was a philanthropist. I believe the Peabody Museum in Essex, MA is also named after his family. A couple of years ago the school began implementing a program to honor it’s name source.
Police have been patrolling the school on and off since last year, particularly during drop off hours. They have gone after drivers who are driving through crosswalks as children and their parents are crossing. Also, the school is continually sending out reminders about safety to the parent community, particularly regarding their own bad parking habits at drop off times. Hopefully between the school, the parents, and the new 15 mph law everyone in the neighborhood (including the Muni 44) will be safer.