Mother Has to Pay For Sign
September 19, 2006 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
Tamera Hansen’s request for a sign warning drivers of her autistic son’s presence was approved by the city of Mankato, Minnesota—-with the proviso that she pay for it, at an estimated cost of $75-$100. Hansen’s five-year-old son, Logan, is autistic; she is a single mother of three. “‘The cost of keeping my son safe isn’t the factor,” she was quoted as saying in today’s WCCO.com.
“‘We have put the signs up, and when we put them up, the effectiveness of the sign is lost very shortly. It’s just a way to eliminate some of the requests without merit,’” Landon Bode, an associate civil engineer who sits on the traffic and safety committee, said in noting that it is city policy to charge for such signs.
His remarks are in contrast to those of Hempstead (NY) Town Supervisor Kate Murray (see my earlier post). In announcing that the Long Island town would post an “Autistic Child Area” sign, Murray said “‘I am proud that Hempstead is an ‘autistic friendly’ township.’”
“Without merit?” !!! Will the dark ages never end? I thought our society was past that.
I had to read Mr. Bode’s remarks twice—-couldn’t believe what I was reading.
I’m not sure that Landon Bode was stating that the autistic sign in particular was without merit, but rather, that the policy was to charge for signs to discourage people in general from requesting signs that might be without merit, e.g. “Duck Feeding Area Next Left” (apologies to ‘Ducks Unlimited’) unless they are willing to pay for them.
Having said that, clearly this sign has merit. I would suggest that the city should have a policy of waiving fees for signs that relate to public safety, as this one clearly does.
Thanks, Ian, with all due respects to Mr. Bode. I can see a call going out for a similar policy among other towns.
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