In the neighborhood of 20 years ago I was a Park Patrol Agent for Park Board, and the road around Lake Harriet was being redone. On the road past the rose gardens (Roseway Road) there were some 55 gallon drums that were colored orange and white. Around these drums was the brown snow fence that you typically see around the lakes in the winter. And in between were orange horse barricades. Hung on the fence was a "Road Closed" sign. ( similar to this: O---O---O ) This was across the roadway to keep cars from entering the road around the lake while it was under construction. Any reasonable person would understand that the road was closed. While on patrol, I observed the driver of a pick-up truck stop in front of the fence. He exited and moved the whole mess over so he could drive through. When I drove up to him and asked what he was doing he admitted he knew the road was closed, but wanted to drive to the beach. I issued him a citation, which he took to court. Now even though the obvious was obvious, the judge dismissed the citation because the drum/fence/horse barricade did not meet the standards established by the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices, which dictates everything about road signs, etc. My point here is that if the Park Board has placed the fence to act as a safety barricade, orange is the official color. If the Park Board used a green plastic fence, and someone wondered through it as was injured, who would you imagine would be sued? We are a litigious society. I would rather put up with a bit of unsightly fence, that see our diminishing Park Board dollars pay a civil settlement. There's a reason McDonald's has the warning "Caution, contents are hot" on their coffee cups. Some people just don't understand the obvious.
Joel Brand SW Mpls Ward 13 _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
