After spending thousands of dollars for new welcome to the city signs to be designed, Park Ridge aldermen voted to not move forward with plans to install the gateway boards after all.
Last year, the Park Ridge City Council agreed to pay $40,000 to design welcome signs to replace six wooden ones posted at various entry points into the city. The move wasn’t well beloved, and some members of the public complained the replacement process didn’t include community input. After the designs were unveiled in December, some complained they looked bland and had nothing to do with Park Ridge.
At the Sept. 2 City Council Committee of the Whole meeting, the whole project got scrapped.
At the meeting, a vote to approve the construction of eight welcome signs—at a cost of $215,000—got defeated by a 3-4 vote after two community members spoke out against the designs and several on the council agreed.
Joan Sandrik, a longtime City Council watcher and local real estate professional, said the designs didn’t reflect any local history or local flavor.
“You have before you a request to spend over $200,000 without any regard to our history,” she said, adding that the Lakota Group, which designed the signs, didn’t offer any design alternatives besides the size and shape of one plan.
The six current welcome signs are wooden, painted and show signs of weathering. They’re about 20 years old and, Mayor Marty Maloney pointed out, celebrate civic groups that do not exist anymore.
The two main proposed designs — one large and one small— were to be made of stone and include electricity to light the signs at night.
However, enough alderpeople balked at the cost that it killed the deal, calling the project pointless.
“I don’t think I’m going to be supporting this tonight,” said Alderperson Joseph Steinfels. “I think this focuses on the wrapping paper, and we have so much that’s needed in investment Uptown.”
But Maloney challenged Steinfels’ assertion about Uptown needs, calling on him to list something unfunded.
Steinfels said anything is a bigger priority than the signs.
“To me, gateway signs aren’t a priority,” he told the mayor. “I’m looking at the $215,000, and it’s not a priority.”
As of the meeting, the project is dead, and Maloney told the council he didn’t want staff wasting any more time on it since it doesn’t have council support. He said the city could let the existing welcome signs fall over.
“The council has said no, and if they fall down, they fall down,” he said. “I wouldn’t lift another finger on this because I wouldn’t want staff spending more time and money.”
Jesse Wright is a freelancer.