Pico Rivera School Children Get Early Holiday Present; New Safety Improvements Include Painting New Crosswalks

--

WHO:        The Automobile Club of Southern California, the City of
            Pico Rivera, the Montebello Unified School District and
            the L.A. County Sheriff's Dept. put the finishing touches
            on many safety improvements to Montebello Gardens
            Elementary School. The safety effort is part of the Auto
            Club's pilot School Site Safety Program to partner with
            cities and schools to improve school safety.

WHAT:       City crews will paint redesigned crosswalks directly
            in front of Montebello Gardens Elementary School and an
            old crosswalk will be sandblasted away. Newly installed
            signs will be displayed along with increased law
            enforcement presence and educational materials in English
            and Spanish.

WHEN:       Thursday, Dec. 18 at 8 a.m.  

WHERE:      Montebello Gardens School, 4700 Pine Ave. Pico Rivera.

WHY:        As part of the Automobile Club of Southern California's
            on-going efforts to improve safety, the School Site Safety
            Program was launched in 2003. The program's goals are to
            assess and identify traffic safety problems in school
            zones, develop solutions, assist in reaching agreement on
            changes and improvements, provide Auto Club assistance to
            local agencies and organizations.

NOTE TO 
TV 
ASSIGNMENT 
EDITORS:    Visuals include children and parents walking to school
            (between 7:30 a.m. -- 8 a.m.), children crossing at new
            crosswalks, news conference, City of Pico Rivera crews
            paint new crosswalks and sandblast away old crosswalk
            (8:15 a.m.), and newly installed signs in day-glo colors.
            Speakers in English and Spanish will be available.