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ChatGPT actually gave me a good answer to a localism I've wondered about for years; why cities, towns, and villages in New York state shun municipal branding efforts, while their peer communities in other states embrace it.
There's some valid points.
However, in Northeast Ohio, Cleveland and the majority of its suburbs have extensive branding programs, despite having many of the same issues as in upstate New York; fragmented local government (far more so than in upstate New York), and communities with shrinking populations and limited resources. The municipality I worked for in Florida 20-something years ago barely had a thousand residents, but it had a professional logo. Meanwhile, not every community in New York is "managing decline". The suburbs of Buffalo and Rochester that aren't built out have growing populations.
Check out the city limits sign for Amherst, New York, Buffalo's most prominent suburb (behind Niagara Falls, but that's more of an industrial satellite city) with about 131,000 residents.
The "ye olde schoole" wooden sign featuring the municipal seal is as slick as it gets for a New York municipality. Otherwise, it's a green generic metal "TOWN OF [X}" metal sign.
West Seneca, where Erie County's billboards go to die. Seriously, though, the town upgraded some of the metal signs.
Ouch.
Now, let's look at University Heights, Ohio, with a current population of 13,256; 10% that of Amherst.
The UH logo has glass inserts. I just saw smaller signs that also have the inserts. They're gorgeous
South Euclid is north of University Heights. It's where I used to live during my Cleveland years. It's a 99% built out inner ring suburb, with its far western border a block or so from the far eastern border of East Cleveland. South Euclid is not a prestigious address; it's where you go to buy your first house, if you're an east-of-the-Cuyahoga Clevelander. Still ...
There's smaller versions of that sign along other arterial and collector roads.
If anything, New York's collective shunning of municipal branding is probably a quirk of local political culture. My last job was with a municipality that shared its name with another municipality that it enclosed. One municipal board member was very vocally opposed to the idea of branding the comprehensive plan I worked on (you know, giving it some name like "Vision 2040"), because the whole idea seemed too slick to her. Even laying it out in a way that looked "professional" have her the heebie-jeebies,. Later, I pushed for branding as a way of celebrating the 200th anniversary of the community's formation.. The response was a slightly updated version of the municipal seal.
It seems like the New England states, plus New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, are outliers when it comes to shunning municipal branding. What are your thoughts?
There's some valid points.
However, in Northeast Ohio, Cleveland and the majority of its suburbs have extensive branding programs, despite having many of the same issues as in upstate New York; fragmented local government (far more so than in upstate New York), and communities with shrinking populations and limited resources. The municipality I worked for in Florida 20-something years ago barely had a thousand residents, but it had a professional logo. Meanwhile, not every community in New York is "managing decline". The suburbs of Buffalo and Rochester that aren't built out have growing populations.
Check out the city limits sign for Amherst, New York, Buffalo's most prominent suburb (behind Niagara Falls, but that's more of an industrial satellite city) with about 131,000 residents.
The "ye olde schoole" wooden sign featuring the municipal seal is as slick as it gets for a New York municipality. Otherwise, it's a green generic metal "TOWN OF [X}" metal sign.
West Seneca, where Erie County's billboards go to die. Seriously, though, the town upgraded some of the metal signs.
Ouch.
Now, let's look at University Heights, Ohio, with a current population of 13,256; 10% that of Amherst.
The UH logo has glass inserts. I just saw smaller signs that also have the inserts. They're gorgeous
South Euclid is north of University Heights. It's where I used to live during my Cleveland years. It's a 99% built out inner ring suburb, with its far western border a block or so from the far eastern border of East Cleveland. South Euclid is not a prestigious address; it's where you go to buy your first house, if you're an east-of-the-Cuyahoga Clevelander. Still ...
There's smaller versions of that sign along other arterial and collector roads.
If anything, New York's collective shunning of municipal branding is probably a quirk of local political culture. My last job was with a municipality that shared its name with another municipality that it enclosed. One municipal board member was very vocally opposed to the idea of branding the comprehensive plan I worked on (you know, giving it some name like "Vision 2040"), because the whole idea seemed too slick to her. Even laying it out in a way that looked "professional" have her the heebie-jeebies,. Later, I pushed for branding as a way of celebrating the 200th anniversary of the community's formation.. The response was a slightly updated version of the municipal seal.
It seems like the New England states, plus New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, are outliers when it comes to shunning municipal branding. What are your thoughts?
