With school about to open, neighbors around St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute will discover there are parking spaces on their streets.
St. Joe's is like many high schools, public or private, which don't have enough parking on the campus so they park in nearby streets. As with many communities which see their parking spaces out front disappear to those who don't live there, it's a problem.
St. Joe's President Robert Scott said the school is dealing with the problem by taking a building and parking lot across Kenmore Avenue in Buffalo. Scott said demolishing the building will "take young people off of the side streets and give our neighbors...a little bit of freedom from young people and give our young people more security and more safety."
Scott hopes to find a benefactor who will agree to pay for a more elaborate parking lot in keeping with the high school's facilities. The lot is flanked by a new STEM lab.
One complication developed during the process. The lot sits across Kenmore Avenue in the City of Buffalo, forcing school officials to abide by the city's new Green Code.
"We wanted to make sure that we did that (complied with the Green Code) so we eliminated eight spaces and now we'll have 60 spaces in that lot," Scott said.
