Shea Lazansky: Safety can be improved at downtown Oswego parades

On Sunday, Sept. 17, Main Street in downtown Oswego was lined with orange and blue for Oswego High School’s annual Homecoming Parade, celebrating the clubs, teams and extracurriculars at the school. It was a sunny day, and the community came out in force to support its students. Some took that literally, crowding into the street to get as close to the parade as possible. The cars turning onto and off of Main Street until the parade rounded the corner also made moving around difficult.

So I had a few questions: Why is Main Street not closed to traffic before the Homecoming parade, and why is parking allowed on Main Street during the parade?

When asked why Main Street is not closed to traffic for the parade, Police Chief Jeff Burgner noted that out of the four parades that the village hosts each year – Memorial Day, PrairieFest, OHS Homecoming and the Christmas Walk – the only one that is actually blocked to traffic is the Christmas Walk. Referring to Christmas Walk, he explained, “The actual event consumes the roadway just prior to and immediately after the parade.” To close the road to traffic before the parade would require the eventual removal of barricades to allow the parade to travel through, according to Burgner.

Burgner added that his department reviews road closure situations on a case-by-case basis, taking public safety, traffic flow and the effect on businesses and residents into account. The decisions are also made with the input of village departments and other government organizations as necessary.

As for street parking, Burgner said that the annual PrairieFest parade has no-parking signs along the parade route due to the number of attendees, but none of the other parades feature parking bans or road closure rules. The department blocks intersections while the parade is ongoing, and then assists with traffic flow after the event.

I can get behind those reasons, but when I stood at the intersection of Main Street and Jackson Street for the OHS Homecoming parade, I saw people crossing in the middle of the street, children playing in the street because of the parked cars, and drivers with zero regard for pedestrians in their way. I saw about six instances where someone was almost struck by a vehicle.

During the parade itself, several floats had to stop abruptly either due to the parade flow, or because the spectators had gotten close enough to touch the float or run in front of it. I believe it also would have helped if the individual who either was a member of the Citizen’s Police Academy or a community service officer had done more than stand by the Prom Shoppe and only block off one side of Jackson Street with cones once the parade turned onto Main Street.

Now, my safety concerns can easily be chalked up to parents who need to keep a closer eye on their children, or parents, children and young adults forgoing common sense in favor of a piece of candy. But it might help to have a stronger police presence during parades and other large downtown events to help keep the public out of the middle of the street, to help motorists actually pay attention to the speed limit and to keep people safe during the parade.