{"id":10674,"date":"2023-12-11T08:42:26","date_gmt":"2023-12-11T13:42:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/?p=10674"},"modified":"2023-12-11T08:42:27","modified_gmt":"2023-12-11T13:42:27","slug":"promotional-banners-back-for-discussion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/2023\/12\/11\/promotional-banners-back-for-discussion\/","title":{"rendered":"Promotional banners back for discussion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By BOB SHRALUKA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WZBD.com<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Considerable discussion and debate recently produced a policy covering banners strung across Second St. in downtown Decatur. That policy, however, might be revisited in the wake of city council denying the use of a 13th St. fence to hang banners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The need for a policy first arose at the Sept. 5 meeting of city council as requests to put banners across the downtown area began to rise. After lengthy discussion, the matter was turned over to City Attorney Ann Razo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She produced a policy that was unanimously adopted by council in early October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At its Dec. 5 meeting, however, council learned that a non-profit group, Adams County Strong, a family-oriented organization, had asked to place a banner on the Worthman Field fence facing 13th<\/sup> St.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event being promoted on the banner would have he banner in place from mid-December to mid-February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This opened a new door for council. The adopted policy was meant to cover only the downtown area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Adams County Strong’s banner would promote \u201ca great event, what if it would be an event we don’t agree with and is charging money?\u201d Mayor Dan Rickord asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continuing discussion posed some other questions, such as: Should banners promoting garage sales be allowed on the fence or in other non-downtown areas?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another question posed: There are billboards along 13th<\/sup> St., why not use those instead of banners?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Could there be a situation in which all sorts of banners would be strung out along the Worthman Field fence?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As she had done at earlier meetings, Razo emphasized that, due to the First Amendment, decisions on whether or not to allow something like promotional banner cannot be based on its content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mayor wondered if the downtown guidelines \u201cshould be stretched out\u201d to cover the entire city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Razo said perhaps looking at the current policy for further alterations might be a good idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Building\/Zoning Superintendent Curt Witte asked if the city’s ordinance on signs should come into play in this new situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a great event, it’s about strengthening families,\u201d Rickord again emphasized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He recommended, though, that \u201cwe stick with the policy we have.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Councilman Tyler Fullenkamp moved to deny the Adams County Strong request, Councilman Wylie Sirk seconded and denial was authorized by a 5-0 vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adams County Strong says it is a collaboration of community leaders and churches. It says on its website: \u201cThe efforts of Adams County Strong are to provide opportunities to equip individuals, couples and families with the tools needed to enhance, improve and restore family relationship thereby strengthening the Adams County community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following is the Decatur policy adopted in October:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* The event the banner is promoting must be city-sponsored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* Or it must be on city property or a city park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* Or it must be on the Madison St. Plaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* Anyone wishing to have a banner hung must apply at least 60 days in advance to Community Coordinator Jamie Gephart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* An approved banner will hang for seven days; a longer stay must be requested and will be considered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* Banner requests will be handled on a first-come, first-served basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* If banner event dates overlap, the city will attempt to resolve the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A total of 11 banners currently are raised downtown each year. They are owned by the organizations and events being touted by the banner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By BOB SHRALUKA WZBD.com Considerable discussion and debate recently produced a policy covering banners strung across Second St.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10675,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[14,15,21],"class_list":["post-10674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-decatur","tag-featured","tag-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/30496DDB2E0A42B993DEF7699BDACBB3.jpg?fit=648%2C528&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}