The following letter by Susan Bryan was published in the Almanac's April 4 print edition:

Editor:

Thanks for spotlighting Manfred Kopisch's crusade to keep Laurel School kids safe by banning parking on Ringwood from Coleman to Edge Road.

It is time for action along that 300-foot section of Ringwood. I know. I biked with two kids for three years along that treacherous stretch of asphalt.

Please continue to shine the light of glaring publicity on the county officials who have refused to do anything about our children's safety.

Your article reports that local officials -- the mayor of Menlo Park and the principal of Laurel School -- want a safer route. But county roads operations manager Lisa Ekers refused to even respond to your questions. She kicked the problem upstairs to her boss, David Clark, who pulled the old bureaucratic ploy of stalling your reporter.

Please keep your reporter on the story until the county bureaucrats have come up with a solution. County residents don't seem to count with these officials.

On February 14, I emailed Lisa Ekers and Supervisor Rose Jacobs Gibson, suggesting a temporary fix of banning parking only during the crowded 30 minutes before school begins and ends. I got only a short, vague response that indicated the problem was being looked into.

Please investigate what's behind the county's stalling tactics. Please send your reporter to ask the owners of homes on Ringwood if they're against signs banning parking for only 30 minutes before and after school. And please send your reporter to the head of that area's homeowners' association and ask if they are lobbying against banning parking along Ringwood. I suspect you've only begun to uncover the whole story here.

Susan Bryan

Blackburn Avenue, Menlo Park