A new shadow now marks the Building 6 high school parking lot. The space, disrupted by the appearance of a large off-white brick rectangle, scores the blacktop.

Due to major construction projects, City of Fresno requested Peoples Church to bring buildings and grounds up to code. This included enclosing all trash bins and planting trees every three parking spaces, which will be implemented in the next few years in all parking lots.

With the construction of the new chapel the last of the construction projects, the city required the church to move the trash bins from the sidewalk to a permanent enclosure by early September. However, the church moved the bins prior to the upcoming school year.

Yet, this new placement hides a piece of the driveway from the view of drivers and creates a potential safety hazard. Even at 15 mph, an oncoming car could hit a person walking through the parking lot and the crosswalk.

“Our main concern is for the safety of both pedestrians and motorists,” Willard Neufeld, Peoples Church facility manager, said. “Please slow down, be alert, and obey the 15 MPH speed limit on the entire campus.”

Willard plans to paint additional arrows and install more speed signs to help control the speeding issue, specifically in and around the bin enclosure.

“I fear the someone will get hurt in an accident and pedestrians will be injured,” David Fujihara, ’08, said. “So I will slow down and be more careful.”

Other places were considered for the bins, but the city and the grounds staff both needed an accessible spot for both movement and placement of trash. There were not many options, so the spot was chosen for the functionality of both the trucks and the team.

“No location for this enclosure could ever be perfect, but it needed to meet many requirements by the city,” Neufeld said.

For more information contact the Peoples Church office at 298-8001 or the Fresno Christian office at 299-1695, ext. 5.