Safety is on the minds of kids near Toki Middle School. About a dozen kids who live in the Meadowood neighborhood have pounded the pavement and come up with ideas about what makes their neighborhood good and even not so good.

"I don't want cars to go fast because someone could get run over," said a young boy.

Kids who live in or near Toki Middle School shared their concerned Tuesday evening. The young kids have ideas of what would make their neighborhood safer. "I didn't like, like all the trash that was on the ground because while we were walking there was a lot of trash on the ground and there were a lot of cigarettes and beer bottles and stuff," explained Victoria Carter.

It's part of an effort by the public health department. Public health nurses have spent time walking throughout the neighborhood with the kids and seeing concerns through the eyes of 5th, 6th, and 7th graders. "As a public health nurse on the west side, I've seen the problems. I've worked with them daily, but I've also seen a lot of the assets in this area, the kids being one of them," explained public health nurse Kim Neuschel.

The kids spent a few weeks taking pictures of the things they didn't like and the things they liked. "You couldn't really see it, but they're working on the community garden right now," smiled Carter.

"People planting gardens and our friends around the neighborhood and our helpers in school," explained Ishmael James.

The students presented their thoughts to members of the community. "It's not good to break glass because someone could get cut," said a young boy. It's an effort to let kids have their voices be heard and bring neighbors together to create an even safer neighborhood for everyone. "We basically are hoping to continue to do work in the neighborhood and we are just open to hearing what the neighborhood would like that to be," said Neuschel.

The public health nurses say in order to have healthy neighborhoods, you have to have safe neighborhoods, which is why they spent some time focusing on safety concerns with the students.