ST. JOHNS, Fla. – Neighbors in Durbin Crossing said that for about five years they were trying to get something done about parents parking their cars in the neighborhood during school pickup at Creekside High to avoid a long line.
It wasn’t until Spar-Kelly took action that something happened.
“I made my sign and got dressed up and people noticed,” Spar-Kelly said. “Finally, people noticed.”
The sign drag queen Spar-Kelly holds reads simply: “THIS IS NOT STUDENT PICK-UP, HONEY.” She held the sign in the neighborhood for three days.
“If what it takes is just me standing here and telling people to move along, I’ll be a diva and I’ll tell someone to move right along,” Spar-Kelly said.
She and her neighbors say dozens of Creekside High School parents have been parking down the street during school pickup to avoid the long line to the school on Longleaf Pine Parkway.
“They are blocking inside the cul-de-sac, they are coming in, parking around the whole loop, basically creating a whole new pick-up site and blocking people’s driveways, mailboxes, etcetera,” Spar-Kelly said.
Neighbors feel it’s an accident waiting to happen.
“My own daughter was actually in an accident when she was pulling off our streets,” an anonymous neighbor said. “The cars were parked and another car pulls around the parked cars and t-boned her.”
On Wednesday, Spar-Kelly’s initiative paid off. A deputy showed up to patrol.
Commissioner Christian Whitehurst said he is now working with St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office to get new “no parking” signs installed, showing that people can’t park in the neighborhood during afternoon pick up hours.
Spar-Kelly said she’s grateful her voice and her neighbors’ voices are heard.
Whitehurst said it’s unclear when they will install the new signs in the neighborhood, but he said he hopes to have a timeline by the beginning of next week.