Sign flap amusing

I’ve been reading with amusement the controversy that’s been playing out in The Times Argus over the proposed signage for the Montpelier City Hall. Personally, I like the idea and the design, and would not consider it garish, or “splashed,” as Design Review Committee member Jay White was fond of saying. I mean, we’re not talking green neon or flashing LED signs here.

Regarding the letters to the editor opposing the sign, I guess what I find a little irksome is the notion that architects are somehow bestowed with a near-providential sense of the aesthetic and enjoy sensibilities that we the proletariat do not possess and cannot even hope to understand. To wit, the sign “detracts from the city and its integrity,” and “a sign degrades a public structure.” Is that so? Apparently the designers of the Barre, Burlington, Old Boston and many more city halls thought differently, as those buildings all have pronounced integral signs.

This enjoyable debate reminds me that an architect designed 535 Stone Cutters Way, and the Design Review Committee OK’d it, while we in the ignorant peasantry wonder when the heck they are going to finish the exterior.

James “Buzz” Surwilo

Montpelier