Parents are holding a protest to raise awareness of the amount of children who walk through Rodgers Forge and the danger a Starbucks drive-through poses.
The demonstration is planned for 7:30 a.m. Wednesday on the corner of Regester Avenue and York Road.
The community paid for a traffic study to be done in the area. It found about 200 school-aged children walk through the intersection each morning to get to local middle and high schools.
The study suggests the Starbucks developer put in-ground triggered warning signs at the drive-through entrance and exit to alert walkers of vehicles, add crosswalk paint on those driveways and install fencing between the proposed Starbucks parking lot and the Christian Fellowship Baltimore lot to discourage kids from deviating from the sidewalk.
Parents formed a petition that has almost 500 signatures, urging politicians to meet with the community to listen to their concerns.
The community knows the Starbucks has county approval, and demolition is underway on the old bank building to make way for the coffee shop, but one community leader hopes they just make a small change... ditch the drive-through.
"A store which in this community is something we would love. Everybody walks, kids walk, high schoolers walk and want their coffee. There's lots of moms who take their kids to day care but a drive through is just going to bring so many cars and it's just not something that we think is going to help the community, it's going to hurt," Mother and Fourth Generation Rogers Forge Resident Karen Oakjones-Burgess said.
Councilman David Marks understands the community's concerns and said at a minimum, the Starbucks developer needs to implement the improvements the traffic study suggests.
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