No sooner did our new SID sign go up at Park & Seventh than some misguided person scrawled graffiti on it. Come on folks, can't we do better than that? I'm hoping the signs are made so that they can be cleaned. The broken-heart image echoed how I felt to see this petty mischief.--Bernice
What is the purpose of these signs. I hope the taxpayers didn't pay for them. With Plainfield's recent history of shootings and beatings, no one outside of the city will come here to shop. I'm afraid to walk down town after the sun goes down, and I'm 6'5" and 235. This town is in big trouble. People can't sell their houses, businesses are being forced out by greedy landlords, and few believe that this mayor has a clue or is competent enough to get this house in order. I love this city, but am afraid for it's future. Are we going to be another Newark, Trenton, or Camden? I hope not.
ReplyDeleteI think the signs are just meant to highlight the SID zones. Downtown Westfield Corporation and other such programs do the same. Personally, I think Park & Seventh has a pretty good cross-section of goods and services. Suburban Jewelers and some others downtown have appeal. Marketing and branding are legitimate business activities and both SID money and UEZ money are there to be used for such purposes. The other factors need to be addressed as well.
ReplyDeleteGet these low lifes out of town - please!!!!!
ReplyDeleteIt's too bad that the signs have been defaced but it's not really surprising. What bothers me more is the signs themselves.
ReplyDeleteIn a space not much larger than a kitchen cabinet door the word Plainfield appears 3 times (as though we were confused about where we were), the word district is used twice, as well as UEZ, a term useful only the cognoscenti. There are 4 lines of type that use 4 different typefaces, in both ALL CAPS and Upper and Lower. The streetscape image implies an old-fashioned Main-Street type of district, which in a stretch might describe Front Street but is way off base for South Avenue. The rainbow background harkens to fight and circus posters of an older era (or maybe adolescent MySpace pages) and makes the already busy text harder to read. The white background of the sign and posts are dirt and graffiti magnets. And in a town where the shoppers are surely 50% or more Latino there's not one word in Spanish. In short, these are bad signs.
Contrast the Plainfield signs to the Westfield ones you've mentioned. White script W on a solid background. Both signs identify their respective business districts but one looks cheesy and amateurish and the other elegant and professional. If you had money to spend and a way of getting to either location where would you rather shop?
I believe the blame for the poor signage lies with the administration for not taking ownership of the city's branding. The administration seem to be content with letting the merchant groups do the best they can without coordinated help, much like the way the city let smaller, fractured groups with less resources and clout lead on trying to retain Muhlenberg. Showing up for photo ops doesn't count any more than holding empty public meetings.
Leading is just that - being in the front and leading. It's not letting others do what they can and then praising every little accomplishment; that's like handing out trophies to every Little League player just for showing up. Leadership must have a vision, express it clearly and hold everyone accountable for it's execution. That's not what's happening here.