Manolo Garcia had been thinking about the faded crosswalk at Lakeside Ave. and Lovell Street for months. The 10-year-old crosses there with his mother on the way to school, and every time he did, the disappearing white lines bothered him.
Eventually, Garcia decided thinking about it wasn’t enough.
“I’ve been thinking about this crosswalk, but thinking won’t make it safer, so I’m speaking up today,” Garcia told the Worcester City Council on Sept. 15.
And speak up he did. In just 54 seconds at the City Hall microphone, the fourth-grader asked councilors to have the crosswalk repainted, telling them its faded lines made it difficult for drivers to see and left children crossing near school buses vulnerable.
By the time Garcia walked home from school the next day, the crosswalk was freshly painted.
“I was surprised because last year I spoke about the crosswalk near my school, and they never did anything about it,” Garcia told the Worcester Guardian. “But I had to try because it was the right thing.”
His mother, Nelly Medina, said the concern had been building since last spring. She and Garcia regularly use the intersection, where she said buses serving students from five schools stop during the morning and a WRTA bus stop and convenience store generate additional foot traffic.
Garcia said the faded markings made crossing there pretty scary.
“My mom and I cross the street on our way to school,” he told the Guardian. “It didnt feel safe crossing in the crosswalk because the paint was faded.”
What particularly stayed with him were children who crossed without an adult. Garcia said he always holds his mother’s hand and sometimes they wait for other children crossing the street. Once, he said, a younger boy asked Medina if she would hold his hand, too.
That helped shape the message Garcia eventually brought to City Hall: He wanted the crosswalk fixed “for the children who don’t have a hand to hold when crossing the street.”
From a pet rock to a petition
The trip to City Hall wasn’t exactly planned as a civics lesson.
On Sept. 9, Medina and Manolo were headed to the Worcester Public Library to make pet rocks when they found themselves with about 20 minutes to spare. They walked toward City Hall.
“I said, ‘Are you ready to submit the petition?’” Medina told the Guardian. “Manolo was ready. We happily hurried up the stairs at City Hall to the clerk’s office.”
Then they went on to the library, where Manolo named his pet rock Messi, after his favorite soccer player.
The petition Medina and Garcia submitted was straightforward: Repaint the crosswalk at Lakeside Ave. and Lovell Street. Before filing it, Medina said they had gathered input from nearly a dozen neighbors. Garcia talked with other neighborhood children, while Medina spoke with parents who use the crossing.
When the petition reached the Sept. 15 council agenda, Garcia stepped to the mic himself.
“Hi, I’m Manolo from District 5,” he began. “I want the city council to order the crosswalk at Lovell Street and Lakeside Ave. repainted because it’s not safe.”
He told councilors the lines were difficult to see, cars didn’t always stop and parents sometimes had to step into traffic with children.
“Please repaint the crosswalk; it will make everyone a little safer, especially children like me, crossing the street on our way to and from school,” he said.
Garcia was allowed three minutes. He needed less than one.
“I felt good talking,” he told the Guardian. “I wasn’t nervous ’cause I’ve spoken before. Anyone can do it if they try. I had three minutes, but I only used 54 seconds. I wish I had added on more so I could say more.”
Not his first trip to the microphone
It wasn’t Garcia’s first experience with local government.
Medina said her son previously spoke before the city council in April 2025 in support of recognizing Worcester Autism Acceptance and Awareness Day and later appeared before the school committee regarding Autism Awareness and Acceptance Month. That November, she said, he appeared before the Traffic and Parking Committee as a student representative in support of a school petition seeking another crosswalk.
That last experience was frustrating, according to both mother and son. Medina said the request received support but the crosswalk work was not completed, something she believes made Garcia hesitant to try again.
This time, he did.
Medina said the Department of Transportation and Mobility handled the repainting. She first saw a Facebook post indicating that work had been done but didn’t see the finished crosswalk herself until she and Manolo walked home from school.
“I was so proud,” she told the Guardian. “We kind of scratched our heads, then danced and celebrated.”
Garcia remembers the moment, too.
“My mom said, ‘Look at the crosswalk,’” he said. “She was happy, and I was so proud. We walked around the crosswalk and took a picture for my mom.”
Medina said Vice Chairman Khrystian King later called Garcia to thank him for his advocacy and told him he had done a good job.
For Medina, who works as a workers’ rights organizer, the experience also carried a larger lesson about allowing children to participate in decisions affecting their neighborhoods.
“Our children are aware of the conditions of our roads and streets,” she told the Guardian. “They see faded crosswalks and walk through trash on the way to school, and it affects them.”
Garcia isn’t declaring a political career just yet. Asked whether the experience made him want to bring other ideas to the city, he kept his answer considerably more modest.
“Yes, probably,” he said, “if something else happens near my home or near my school.”
For now, there is one less thing to bring to City Hall.
The crosswalk is painted.
Have a story tip, community concern, or insight to share? Email Editor Charlene Arsenault at carsenault@theworcesterguardian.org.
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