Three years after Steve Munson first mentioned it on the DNA blog, sculptural signs are coming to downtown Elgin, courtesy of $550,000 in grants from the city council.

I think sculptural signs are great, but I don’t think this was a good move. As always, to me it’s about money and whether this is the best way to spend $550,000. I’ve never thought that the problem with downtown Elgin was the sidewalks or the street signs or street lights or the signage of businesses. Yet we’ve been pouring an enormous amount of money into these things. I don’t think they return the greatest value on the investment made.

And whenever the government gets involved in stuff like this, it opens up a can of worms. Why do the signs have to be wooden? Why can’t I put out an attractive sign made out of metal? Or glass? Or a banner made of cloth? What is wrong with these things? Why shouldn’t they qualify? Forcing everybody to use one material can instead of making the environment more attractive, make it look artificial and mundane. And wooden signs are simply not appropriate for every business or building, making it unfair for those property and business owners who cannot benefit from this program.

Furthermore, there is room for abuse of the system. Since the grant is for the lesser of $2,500 or 50% of the cost, my guess is that everybody will be quoted $2,500 for their sign–no less than that.

Filed under: architecture, citycouncil, downtown.
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