Little Beginnings Childcare Center owner fed up with speeding drivers near Philadelphia business

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — The South Philadelphia daycare owner says she’s tired of speeding cars in front of her shop.

Erin Evers, who owns Little Beginnings Childcare Center on the corner of Water and Moore Streets, says the cars put children, parents and staff at risk on a daily basis.

“People don’t stop. They don’t stop,” Evers said. “The cars that come down here go at least 80 miles an hour. If it’s snowy and icy, I’m afraid they’ll come in.”

She is urging the city to address the issue after a car went off the road and struck an employee’s car Thursday morning.

The latest accident happened just a few meters from where children were playing in the day care center.

“If there had been a kid on that sidewalk, that kid would have been killed,” said Dawn Webber, an 11-year-old daycare worker. “It’s terrible. Terrible. You’re afraid to get out because there are cars flying around down here.”

After the accident, the driver never stopped, but the workers were able to find the license plate and file a report with the police.

Action news there as cars ignored the 25mph speed limit and parents scramble to pull out of the business.

According to Evers, that’s been an ongoing problem for the 15 years they’ve been in business. She says after several complaints to the city, they put up a crosswalk sign but no road markings.

“Every street along Water Street has a stop sign except right in front of our daycare,” Evers said.

But that could change soon.

First Ward councilor Mark Squilla told Action News he had contacted the highways department about the issue.

“They agreed to prepare work orders to convert this intersection into all-way stop controls and prepare corresponding work orders for signage and markings,” Squilla’s chief of staff said in a statement.