By
KEVIN PARKS
With some reluctance and requests for “tweaking” of the design, Clintonville Area Commission members last week gave the go-ahead for the Eastgate Garden Civic Association to use the panel’s old logo.
It wasn’t strictly necessary, but more of a courtesy, commission members said.
The organization requested use of the C-shaped tree for its own welcome signs near the intersection of East Broad Street and Nelson Road, said City Attorney Richard C. Pfeiffer, who was on hand for the October commission session.
Some residents feel an attachment to the old design, Vice Chairman Rob Wood said during the discussion. Following a contest early in the summer, the logo was supplanted, after more than 30 years of use, by South Side resident Ann Luttfring’s white tree branch with six green leaves on a brown background above the words “Welcome to Clintonville” for new community signs.
The old design was even used for new welcome signs in some specific sections of Clintonville, Wood said.
District 1 resident Jason V. Advani said he would be “disappointed but not bent out of shape” at seeing the design used elsewhere than just in Clintonville.
“It just seems rather confusing,” said James R. Blazer II, the District 3 representative, wondering aloud why Eastgate Garden Civic Association members don’t want to come up with their own logo.
“I’d be fine with blessing it,” said Jason Meek of District 7.
The Clintonville Area Commission doesn’t have any legal right to say “no” to the request, said Dana K.G. Bagwell of District 5.
A member of the audience suggested the commission ask the civic association not to take out a copyright on the logo. That’s fine, but it wouldn’t be binding, Pfeiffer said.
District 9 representative D Searcy said, in order to show some “sensitivity” to Clintonville residents still fond of the old logo, that the design for the Eastgate group’s signs be “tweaked” in terms of color or design.
“That covers two birds with one stone,” she said.
The panel voted unanimously to grant permission for use of the tree design.
In other actions, commission members voted 7-0, with the District 8 seat vacant and Chairman Dan Miller absent, to amend a policy adopted Sept. 6 relating to notifications to residents near proposed rezoning and variance requests.
The policy now includes contact information for the commission member in whose district the property in question is located.
“We certainly don’t want to take the commissioners out of the equation at all,” Bagwell said.
The panel agreed to send a representative to all City Council meetings, beginning Monday, Oct. 15, and rotating among the nine districts.
“I don’t think it could hurt,” Blazer said.
“I think we definitely need to have a positive presence at the city,” Bagwell said.
Finally, with Searcy casting the lone negative vote, the commission approved the final design for a mural, created by neighborhood artist Brenda Lloyd, to be painted in the spring in the middle of the intersection of Calumet Street and Crestview Road. Searcy indicated she wanted to see some guidelines for how the mural will be maintained.
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