Buckle Down
Memphis prepares for new child safety-seat law.
By Janel Davis
Bouncing up and down in the back seat, poking their little heads out of
the car window, and stretching out in the back for a nap will be “remember whens” next
week when Tennessee’s new child safety-seat law
goes into effect. Child-safety advocates and seat
providers are preparing for the change.
The law becomes effective July 1st, with
the most notable rules requiring children ages 4 through 8 and less than five feet tall to ride
in a booster seat supported by a seat belt in the back seat of a vehicle.
The law also requires children under age 1 and weighing 20 pounds or less to ride in
rear-facing child seats. Children ages 1 through 3 and weighing more than 20 pounds must
ride in a forward-facing child seat. Both age
groups must be placed in the vehicle’s rear seat.
“The law is a good thing,” said Babies
‘R’ Us marketing and safety coordinator Nicole Braden. “We had training with a safety
organization and found that 48 percent of unintentional child deaths are the result of children
improperly restrained in vehicles.”
Babies ‘R’ Us sells seats for older
children and offers parents assistance on proper
installation. Braden admits that some seats can be
bulky and difficult to install in smaller cars, and
prices can be expensive for some families. Some
seats cost more than $100; even the cheaper models are priced at $50. But those obstacles do
not change her support of the law. “I think
there needs to be more education,” she said. “A lot
of misuse comes from miseducation and affordability.”
The Shelby County Health Department has long been an advocate of child-seat safety
and has assisted low-income families by providing reduced-price seats for about 20 years.
The health department offers infant seats for $5
and toddler seats for $10. They receive no state
or federal money for the program but are funded by revenues from citations given by police
for drivers violating seat-belt laws.
“So far this year we’ve gotten $150,000
and have given out 3,500 seats,” said program
supervisor Nellie Campbell. This is down from about 4,200 seats distributed by the same
time last year. While the health department does
not offer seats for older children, the program
provides them to safety instructors with the Memphis Police Department (MPD) for distribution.
Cheryl Pollich, who instructs child-safety classes at the health department for parents,
said most of their clients are aware of the new
law, but many are not happy. “Once a child gets older, say 7 or 8 years
old, sitting in that seat is not what they want to do, and they are not
happy. Because the children are not happy, the parents aren’t happy.”
A child’s unhappiness about safety seats does not concern most
law-enforcement officers. With accidents involving children on the
rise, safety is their primary concern. Ruth Hawkins, a child
passenger-safety instructor with the MPD, is in charge of distributing seats for
older children to low-income families for free. As a police officer she
will also be charged with enforcing the new law. Hawkins said
enforcement will not be any more difficult. “It’s usually obvious to tell if a seat
belt properly fits a child or if that child needs to be in a [booser or
infant] seat,” she said. “Ninety-nine percent of parents want their kids
safe, but you have some that will only go by the minimum
requirements and nothing more.”
“With day-cares and anyone who transports children, it is a
big problem because [the operators] know that booster seats are safer
for children, but since the law didn’t previously require it, they didn’t
do it,” she continued. “This new law will make parents and drivers
put their kids in seats.”
Earlier this month, an accident involved a van transporting
children from the Tree of Knowledge child-care center. One child who
was inappropriately sharing a seat belt with another child was
thrown through the windshield.
Warnings for violating the new law will be issued to drivers
for the first year, with fines beginning July 2004. Of the $50 fine,
$10 will go to the state general fund and the remaining $40 to
child-safety funds.
Glenview Defenders
Homeowners take issue with vinyl-sided “plastic houses.”
By Mary Cashiola
“Vinyl siding is a no-no in a historic district,” said Rubye Coffman, president of
the Glenview Landmarks Committee. “Maybe you can put it on the back, but not on the front.”
Coffman is a spitfire of a woman who won’t tell her age, because, she said, she doesn’t
look it. She’s lived in Glenview, a beautiful
community of wide streets and lush trees tucked between Lamar
and South Parkway, since 1964.
But Coffman and the Glenview Landmarks
Committee suffered a blow last week when a Memphis City
Council committee approved an appeal — for a house with vinyl
siding — that is out of compliance with design guidelines of
the Glenview Edgewood Manor Historic Preservation District.
And now the committee is gearing up for a fight.
After a neighborhood has been zoned for
historic preservation, exterior changes must be approved by the Memphis Landmarks
Commission (MLC) and a Certificate of Appropriateness (COA) issued. At the MLC’s May
28th meeting, the owner of 1171 Kyle requested a retroactive COA for some vinyl siding she
was having installed.
According to the minutes from that meeting, the owner didn’t
know the siding was forbidden in the neighborhood or that she had to get
a COA for any exterior changes. The MLC was sympathetic but
unanimously denied her application and gave her 90 days to remove the siding.
But now the siding is going up, not down.
The owner appealed to the City Council’s landmarks
committee last Tuesday and the committee approved her appeal. And as much
as Coffman and company dislike the way the house looks, their real
issue is with the council.
“They kept saying she was over 80 years old and had already
spent $10,000 on it,” said an indignant Coffman. “Since when do age
and money give you the right to circumvent the law? The council is
not supporting what it’s legislating.”
Coffman, who points out she’s no spring chicken herself, doesn’t
see this as an argument over one house but a battle for the
neighborhood. “We’re not going to let our neighborhood go down,” she said.
“It’s widely rumored that there are some people who want to see our
neighborhood go downhill because it’s in a prime location.”
The neighborhood’s houses — the city’s first predominantly
black historic district — represent a variety of distinct architectural
styles: Tudor Revival, Spanish Eclectic, Craftsman Bungalow.
Coffman said she talks to code enforcement “whenever I can
catch them. … When we see something wrong, we report it,” she said.
“We’re all retired, but none of us are
retired. We put the energy we used for working into this neighborhood.”
Several houses in the neighborhood already have vinyl siding.
In fact, Glenview Landmarks Committee member Janice Pettis says
hers is one of them, but that those homes have been grandfathered in.
“It’s the procedure and the process that I’m worried about rather
than an indictment of one person. This establishes a precedent,” said
Pettis. “The city is trying to promote neighborhoods on the one hand, but
that’s what we’re trying to do and we’re not getting the support we need.”
The group is currently considering legal remedies. In other
Tennessee cities with historic zoning boards, appeals go to Chancery
Court rather than the City Council.
And though this issue is not currently on the agenda for the
next meeting, if a council member wanted to hear it in full council, it
could be brought up there.
“We don’t want our neighborhood reduced to a community of
plastic houses,” said Coffman.
Bye Bye, Beach
Maywood closes after 70 years.
By Bianca Phillips
Historic Maywood Beach, a one-and-a-half-acre lake near
Olive Branch, Mississippi, is scheduled to close on June 30th, just four
days shy of its 72nd anniversary.
The lake, which opened to the public on July 4, 1931,
featured white beaches complete with sand shipped from Florida, diving
towers, slides, and plenty of picnic space. Originally conceived by
M.E. Woodson, Maywood was developed as a supplement to a housing
division in hopes of attracting buyers. His plan worked, and the area
soon became a family favorite for three-quarters of a century.
Current owner Hugh Armistead, a lawyer who has owned the
property since 1987, said he can’t secure liability insurance coverage
anymore and is thus forced to shut down the operation. However, he said
Maywood has an excellent safety record.
“We’ve been trying to arrange a continuation of our liability
coverage, but we’re just unable to do it. I guess it’s the same problem the
doctors have been having with insurance in the state of Mississippi. The
insurance companies are pulling out of the large jury awards,” he said.
Armistead plans on turning the area into a subdivision and says
he will start work right away.
“I’m very disappointed. I grew up there, and I’ve worked there since
I was 13, so it’s special to me,” said Armistead. “It’s very painful,
but nothing lasts forever. We got 70-something years out of it. We’ll
definitely miss it. There’s a lot of fond memories.”