What's behind the city's banner issue?
Posted: Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Have you noticed the banner advertising the Broadway Series productions hanging from the skywalk linking the Orpheum and Wilbur Aalfs Library?
Or what about the "Bob the Builder" banner stretched across another skywalk a block away on Pierce Street?
On Nebraska Street, another pennant advertises "Sesame Street Live," while a banner hanging on the corner of the former JCPenney building illustrates what the new public museum will look like.
The Tyson Center has banners advertising the NAIA women's volleyball and basketball national championships that are played in that venue. The Sioux City Art Center has hung banners promoting its "blockbuster" exhibitions. Colorful banners have hung from the Martin Luther King Jr. Transportation Center.
They are innocuous enough, right? No. They are against the law.
In an effort to right that wrong, City Attorney Andrew Mai proposed the council amend the ordinance to allow the city to hang those banners. The council debated the matter at length Monday, with several members contending the city wouldn't be playing fair if it didn't allow private business owners to do the same.
The city does allow business banners, Jeff Hanson, planning and neighborhood services division manager, said. There's a 30-day time limit and the banners have to advertise that business -- and not somebody else's. Most recently, Hanson pointed out that HOM furniture advertised a sale on the side of its building downtown.
Councilman Brent Hoffman voted against first-round approval on the fairness reason. The council needs to take two more votes on the matter.
Let's imagine what kind of banners businesses could display on the sides of their buildings:
Auto dealers could display banners with 2009 models.
Farm stores could showcase chickens, ducks and hay balers.
Coffee shops could promote the latest caramel-mocha-broccoli latte.
Garden centers could make us dream of spring with photographs of blooming plants.
Electricians' banners could be, well, electric -- with zig zags of lightning going back and forth.
Plumbers, not to be outdone, could showcase a dripping faucet
Advertising agencies could showcase their latest marketing campaigns.
The Siouxland Humane Society and Animal Control could feature puppies and kittens ready for adoption.
Travel agencies could promote Fly SUX out of Sioux Gateway Airport to warmer climes.
The city's field services department could hang "Winter SUX" from their snowplows.
Disgruntled employees could sneak banners on the side of their workplaces proclaiming, "Work SUX."
*****
Kids Identified: A black and white photograph that accompanied my Dec. 17 column showed three children admiring the older girl's Christmas gift. That 1946 picture, from the Pearl Street Research Center, did not have their names.
Joan (Lewis) Hilts e-mailed me from Omaha, where she has lived since 1983. "The picture is of my brother and sister (twins) and myself at our grandparents' (Bess and Victor Anderson) home at 4224 Orleans Ave., anxiously awaiting Christmas. I was 5 years old and the twins were 2 1/2 years old at the time."
Her brother, Ken Lewis, and his wife live in the Czech Republic, while her sister, Kay (Lewis) Tabscott lives in St. Louis.
Their parents, Charles and Meredith (Anderson) Lewis, and family, including another brother, Bob, lived on South Patterson Street. While her parents and Bob have died, she returns to Sioux City to visit her son and daughter-in-law, Mark and Teresa Hilts, and their son and family.
"Our great grandfather, Nels Anderson, came to the United States from Denmark" and arrived in Sioux City in 1883. His sweetheart, Marie, joined him in 1887. Anderson, a packing house worker, helped build the Floyd Monument
"Our family matriarch now is a cousin, Mrs. Merle (Georgie) Myrtue, who lives in Holstein, Iowa."
Mystery solved.
news, opinion, column, lynn zerschling, banners
Or what about the "Bob the Builder" banner stretched across another skywalk a block away on Pierce Street?
On Nebraska Street, another pennant advertises "Sesame Street Live," while a banner hanging on the corner of the former JCPenney building illustrates what the new public museum will look like.
The Tyson Center has banners advertising the NAIA women's volleyball and basketball national championships that are played in that venue. The Sioux City Art Center has hung banners promoting its "blockbuster" exhibitions. Colorful banners have hung from the Martin Luther King Jr. Transportation Center.
They are innocuous enough, right? No. They are against the law.
In an effort to right that wrong, City Attorney Andrew Mai proposed the council amend the ordinance to allow the city to hang those banners. The council debated the matter at length Monday, with several members contending the city wouldn't be playing fair if it didn't allow private business owners to do the same.
The city does allow business banners, Jeff Hanson, planning and neighborhood services division manager, said. There's a 30-day time limit and the banners have to advertise that business -- and not somebody else's. Most recently, Hanson pointed out that HOM furniture advertised a sale on the side of its building downtown.
Councilman Brent Hoffman voted against first-round approval on the fairness reason. The council needs to take two more votes on the matter.
Let's imagine what kind of banners businesses could display on the sides of their buildings:
Auto dealers could display banners with 2009 models.
Farm stores could showcase chickens, ducks and hay balers.
Coffee shops could promote the latest caramel-mocha-broccoli latte.
Garden centers could make us dream of spring with photographs of blooming plants.
Electricians' banners could be, well, electric -- with zig zags of lightning going back and forth.
Plumbers, not to be outdone, could showcase a dripping faucet
Advertising agencies could showcase their latest marketing campaigns.
The Siouxland Humane Society and Animal Control could feature puppies and kittens ready for adoption.
Travel agencies could promote Fly SUX out of Sioux Gateway Airport to warmer climes.
The city's field services department could hang "Winter SUX" from their snowplows.
Disgruntled employees could sneak banners on the side of their workplaces proclaiming, "Work SUX."
*****
Kids Identified: A black and white photograph that accompanied my Dec. 17 column showed three children admiring the older girl's Christmas gift. That 1946 picture, from the Pearl Street Research Center, did not have their names.
Joan (Lewis) Hilts e-mailed me from Omaha, where she has lived since 1983. "The picture is of my brother and sister (twins) and myself at our grandparents' (Bess and Victor Anderson) home at 4224 Orleans Ave., anxiously awaiting Christmas. I was 5 years old and the twins were 2 1/2 years old at the time."
Her brother, Ken Lewis, and his wife live in the Czech Republic, while her sister, Kay (Lewis) Tabscott lives in St. Louis.
Their parents, Charles and Meredith (Anderson) Lewis, and family, including another brother, Bob, lived on South Patterson Street. While her parents and Bob have died, she returns to Sioux City to visit her son and daughter-in-law, Mark and Teresa Hilts, and their son and family.
"Our great grandfather, Nels Anderson, came to the United States from Denmark" and arrived in Sioux City in 1883. His sweetheart, Marie, joined him in 1887. Anderson, a packing house worker, helped build the Floyd Monument
"Our family matriarch now is a cousin, Mrs. Merle (Georgie) Myrtue, who lives in Holstein, Iowa."
Mystery solved.
news, opinion, column, lynn zerschling, banners
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