Disabled Activists Consider Removal of Illegal Signs a Victory

(SALEM) - As reported earlier this month here on Salem-News.com, disabled workers and volunteers recently scored a victory when the City of Salem conceded that a $40 per month fee permit they had been charging state-issued disabled placard holders was inappropriate. Our sources now report that City has begun removing the signs stating "Visitors Only" that the City had placed under the standardized disabled parking signs back in October 2004.

That was when the City of Salem spent thousands having the signs created and hung under every single disabled parking sign in downtown Salem. Local disabled state employees and volunteers were outraged over having to purchase a permit to park there, despite the signage. A group of disabled individuals worked long hours to defeat the City's requirements, continuously pointing to State law and the rights it grants to disabled drivers with state-issued disabled placards. The City Attorney eventually determined that the City's ordinance was faulty and the City stopped selling the extraneous permits. "The City is now spending thousands of dollars in City maintenance crew funds to have those signs removed, disabled persons having purchased permits or been cited for violating the faulty ordinance may be entitled to refunds of their fees and fines," said Dan Motley, an enabled person who took up the disabled group's cause on principle. "What a shameful waste of funds for a City that is scrambling to create revenue in virtually every possible way. To spend public funds in order to specially 'tax' the disabled, to 'tax' & prosecute them under an invalid ordinance, and thus to be forced spend further public funds to try correct the situation seems unconscionable", Motley continued. "Correction of this should come from the pockets of the public official(s) who zealously pursued this discrimination against our disabled citizens, not from those and other citizens too." Further information may be acquired from the disabled parking group at: www.fairparking@yahoo.com

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Comments

Comments are Closed on this story.

Joy Mazeikas June 18, 2006 10:26 pm (Pacific time)

I so appreciate your coverage of this story! I will continue to use your news source in the future as opposed to the Statesman Journal. Each time I attempted to get a Letter to the Editor printed they were cut--even though I was careful to be sure that my letter fit into the guidelines of that venue. Seems like blatant censureship to me-- The oonly thing that would be better at this point would be to have our $400 dollars returned to us. Thanks Again! Joy Mazeikas

Dan Motley June 17, 2006 8:09 pm (Pacific time)

It should be noted that some members of our group contacted and were supported by the Oregon Advocacy Center and that the OAC and its attorney staff were instrumental in support of this movement. The OAC can be contacted at: Oregon Advocacy Center 620 SW Fifth Ave. #500 Portland, OR 97204 503-243-2081 1-800-452-1694 FAX 503-243-1738 TTY 503-323-9161 TTY 1-800-556-5351 Thanks you. Dan Motley, Fair Parking Coalition

Dan June 17, 2006 5:58 am (Pacific time)

Thanks to Salem-News.com for covering this news for the people of Salem and its surrounding area. You are a much more reliable source than Portland TV stations or our local daily rag (who seems to have no interest in this as news or editorially!). Thanks for caring and sharing important events and news in Salem's news area.

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