Students Install Shelters

Jul 22, 2011 by Patrick

When you have a customer ask about the requirements and difficulty of installing Tolar Manufacturing shelters, I hope you will refer them to our experience in Lake County, and suggest that they hire a graduate of the Konocti Unified School District Career Technical Academy to install their shelters!

Lake Transit Authority has entered into a joint powers agreement with Konocti Unified School District to install Tolar bus stop shelters and benches at approximately 30 sites.  The Clearlake Rotary Club is also participating, making this a great experience involving the “old guys” from the service club, the students from KUSD, and some willing administrators and staff from the transit agency and school district.  There are many benefits to this.  We expect reduced vandalism because of student and community ownership, as well as heightened community pride because we are promoting the heck out of the contributions of the students.   LTA is benefiting from greatly reduced installation expense, paying only for supervision of the students and modest material expenses.  (We did donate a surplus bus for transportation of the students).

So, how do the students do?  Take a look at the attached photo.  Then go to http://www.konoctiusd.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=page&page_id=5057 to see a video of the students installing their first shelter at the new Veterans Administration Clinic in Clearlake.  By the way, the KUSD Career Technical program practiced by assembling their first shelter in the classroom.

The next shelter installation  is a joint KUSD/Rotary Club project across the street at the Clearlake Family Health Clinic.   These two installations are part of a “gateway” to the main street of the City of Clearlake.  Matching shelters will be installed at several more locations along this gateway street.

As a rural transit provider, I am lucky to work in a community where we value such efforts, but I think they could be equally as important in urban inner city school districts and communities.  Spread the word.  Send people our way if they want to learn more.

• Mark Wall
• General Manager
• Lake Transit Authority
• (707) 263-7868