Letter To The Editor: Discrimination Against Bonnie Lemmer Regarding Sign Placement

Letter to the Editor of Patch: 

Campaigning for a political office is a tough, time consuming job. It gets a bit more time consuming when one has to relocate campaign signs because someone complains that they are too close to the road.  On Monday I was contacted by Jim Schneider, Supt. of Public Works for Menomonee Falls, who said that my signs were within the public right of way and had to be removed within two days.  He sent me the ordinances for various roads in the community which showed that the signs had to be between 12' to 20' feet from the side of the road.  I've lived in Menomonee Falls for 20 years and campaign signs have been placed closer than 12' to 20 feet to the curb and they were not removed until after the election. 

Today I was informed that someone saw Mr. Steliga and Mr. McDonald putting up signs in front of the Shorewest office on Appleton Ave. right on the sidewalk line.  This is against the ordinance which requires signs be 20' from the curb on Appleton Ave.  Since I work at Shorewest and this is a slap in my face. 

I picked up all my signs on Tuesday evening, leaving some that I thought were okay.  Somehow between Sunday and Tuesday almost 20 of my signs disappeared from the major roads.  Wonder who took them? However, as I was driving around the Village I noticed dozens and dozens of signs that were within 6' - 10' of the curb on main streets such as Hampton Ave., Appleton Ave., Marcy Rd., etc.. Big Lots has a hiring sign between the sidewalk and road, the senior apartment complex on Water St. has four signs between the road and sidewalk and just west of Su Casa there are numerous signs just off the road.... to mention just a few. Many large permanent business signs are located on the sidewalk line.  Is there an exception for these?  I didn't see it in the ordinances.  Builder signs have been on the road for over six months.   The Village has not had any illegal signs removed. Mr. Schneider told me he wasn't aware of any of these infractions.  

What has happened to me is an obvious form of discrimination and I think the residents should know how one-sided the government is in trying to keep the incumbents in office. However, I understand the need for ordinances but they should be enforced uniformly.  Needless to say I am extremely upset over this because now instead of distributing flyers on Saturday and meeting people I will be spending my day putting up signs AGAIN. 

Thank you for letting me air my concerns. 

Bonnie Lemmer

Candidate for Village Trustee - Seat 5