Photo and blog post by John Hoff
I received information in the form of an email from a Minneapolis public official to a citizen in North Minneapolis. Since about March of 2010, this citizen had been contacting public officials and pushing for some kind of official policy on "memorials" placed on public property, then allowed to remain for months, years.
This issue of past-their-prime memorials has been articulated many times on this blog. Nobody has a problem with memorials that go up right after a tragic event, and are part of an understandable mourning process. (Though many of us are critical of, for example, booze bottles left at memorials for minors slain in gang violence, writings left at memorials which appear to romanticize gang membership, but not the memorial ITSELF)
The problem is when the memorials remain, and remain, and remain, and become a mess of moldy teddy bears and sodden cardboard. Even if the memorials are "refreshed," still we do not want to feel like we live in a cemetery. There is a sensible period of time for memorials to remain, and that period of time is not "forever" or even "a few years."
Now word comes that a policy has finally been developed. The policy can be summarized as follows...
If constitutes an imminent hazard it will be removed immediately.
Citizens should feel free to report any location of a memorial to 311.
If not an imminent hazard they are allowed to remain for two weeks.
After two weeks items will be picked up and stored at the Street Department for one month allowing for people to retrieve any items that they may want.
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In the opinion of this blogger, this is a sensible and humane policy which weighs the various interests involved, including (finally!) the interests of people who want to live in a neighborhood, not a cemetery.
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