CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — In late April, after parents complained to KRIS 6 News about safety issues outside Tuloso-Midway Independent School District schools, we did a story on the lack of sidewalks near the district's middle school.
Just this week, construction began on one section of sidewalk that will make it safer for kids to walk to and from the campus.
"I think it is a good idea that they make the sidewalks more accessible and just for the extra safety when they’re crossing the streets," Alina Flores, mother of a Tuloso-Midway High School student, said.
Daughter Aerabella Flores rode the bus when she attended TMMS and didn't encounter safety problems.
Still, she's happy to see the recent efforts to make improvements.
“I think it’s always good to improve all of that," she said. "Because people could get hurt."
Safety concerns near TMISD schools aren't something new, Corpus Christi District 1 City Council Member Billy Lerma says.
“We’ve had a big issue out here for a long, long time," said Lerma, who previously spent 26 years on the TMISD School Board. "And I’m glad to see that the city’s decided to come out and help us once we brought it to their attention."
Lerma says there are a number of schools across the entire city that need similar safety improvements.
He's hopeful that voters will be given the chance to green-light some of those projects in a future bond election.
"We’re looking into putting it into the possibility of the 2022 Bond," Lerma said. "We’d like to put monies there, so we can go out and do this throughout the City of Corpus Christi in other school areas.”
