Memorial honoring Sofia Ramirez moved out of city right of way

Yakima Herald-Republic (WA)

Jul. 27--The family of Sofia Ramirez has moved a 5-foot-tall rock memorial to the 18-year-old who died in 2017, doing so after being told by the city they would need insurance and permits to keep it in the public right of way.

The city required Ramirez's mother, Selia Rivas, to either acquire a public right-of-way use permit or move the monument and other items forming a makeshift memorial at the corner of Third and Arlington streets. The family last week moved the memorial to a spot nearby.

Ramirez was found dead from a bullet wound to the head in May 2017. The case remains under investigation.

A landscaping company and local engraver worked together on Ramirez's memorial, a 5-foot rock monument that was placed in April of this year. It wasn't clear at the time that the monument was in the public right of way.

Rivas said the owner of a nearby restaurant allowed her to move the memorial stone and place it under the business sign last Friday, out of the city right of way.

"They were really nice about it, letting me still keep it there," Rivas said. "I thank God for that."

Rivas said it was important to her and her family to keep the monument near the place where her daughter's body was found.

"Because it happened there," Rivas said. "I don't want it to happen to anyone else. I don't want this on anyone's daughter. I just want everyone to see and to keep her name alive."

Yakima city spokesman Randy Beehler said the permanent structure required special permits and commercial liability insurance to be allowed in the commercial right of way. The family would have to pay $50 for a right-of-way use permit and a $25 annual renewal fee each subsequent year, as well as acquire a $1 million insurance policy, Beehler said.

Rivas said the city didn't approach her about any fines.

"They were really good with me," she said. "The only thing that they were worried about was where I could move it on the property."

Other memorials

The situation raised questions about other prominent memorials inside city limits: one near the Money Tree on South First Street in Yakima and a memorial at 48th Avenue and Nob Hill Boulevard. The memorial near Money Tree is on private property, with permission from the owner to remain there. It honors two employees murdered in March 2016 as they were opening the store.

The plaque near 48th Avenue, commemorating victims of a high-speed car chase, has the required permits to be in a public right of way, Beehler said.

Beehler said that sometimes people will put objects in public rights of way that aren't authorized to be there, and for those individuals the choice is the same: either obtain the required insurance and permits or remove the object. He said the city's insurance requirements protect the city and the Ramirez family from liability claims in the event that someone would get injured from contact with the memorial, whether that would be from someone walking into it or a car running into it, for example.

Jennifer Bliesner, vice president and a partner at Terril, Lewis and Wilke Insurance, said that Yakima's insurance requirements are normal for commercial entities using a public right of way. Obtaining that insurance would require a minimum $1,000 annual premium.

But the main problem for the Ramirez family, or any individual, would not be the annual or monthly cost but the need to obtain commercial insurance, Bliesner said. The only way the family could obtain the commercial insurance would be to form a commercial entity such as a nonprofit or LLC with trackable operations, she added.

"With the carriers that we do have, an underwriter would have a tough time writing a policy just for a landscaping work and getting that by management, and all of that would take money, time, and attorneys," Bliesner noted. "It would be up to the city to decide if they want to negotiate because the family is not a commercial entity."

Beehler said there wasn't room for negotiation.

"It's a commercial area. It requires commercial liability insurance," he said. "It's understandable that this is an emotional issue, but part of the reason for the protocols is to keep everyone, including the family, safe."

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