By Mary Hladky
Mayor Scott Singer proposed redesigning the city flag late last year as a way to bolster civic engagement and community pride during Boca Raton’s centennial year.
Instead, his idea rankled many residents, who thought the time and effort could better be spent on addressing city problems such as traffic congestion, homelessness and what many see as overdevelopment.
“Why is this important and why now?” resident Joe Majhess asked the City Council on April 8. “It is clearly not what the citizens want.
“Our message is simple. Enough. Enough of the madness, enough of the dissension and enough wasting taxpayer dollars.”
“Our flag is nice and historic,” said resident Paul Nolan. Holding up images of four of the proposed design options, he added, “That is hideous.”
City Council members, who had endorsed Singer’s proposal in December, heard the message and pulled the plug on the project on April 21.
The new design options “are fine,” said Council member Andy Thomson, “but not so overwhelmingly better than the existing flag to justify a change.”
The flag redesign is a “distraction” from other important projects, said Council member Yvette Drucker. “At this point, the flag is not a priority, at least not for me.”
“Sometimes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” said Council member Marc Wigder. “I am kind of in that camp right now.”
Singer felt the city flag did not meet current flag design standards and had enlisted flag experts to suggest alternatives. The city’s centennial marketing consultant Merit Mile was brought in to launch the project and get residents involved in the effort.
That’s when the negative comments started rolling in, surprising Singer.
But he declared victory anyway.
The project engaged residents, he said. “I consider this a success.”
Comments