Des Plaines considers making 'City of Destiny' part of its future
“The City of Destiny” is a part of Des Plaines' past, and it may be in its future, too, if a city branding ad hoc committee gets its way.
Aldermen are set to vote at their next meeting July 5 to make it the city's official motto, while also considering if an interlocking “d” and “P” logo, developed by a marketing consultant, should become the official city logo.
The ad hoc committee, led by resident Zach Stellberg, has lobbied the city council to memorialize “City of Destiny,” which was established in the 1950s but was on the chopping block last year after the consultant proposed it be replaced with “Good Move.”
In response to increasing backlash from residents like Stellberg, aldermen voted last December to put the city's rebranding campaign on hiatus.
Stellberg's committee recommended preserving the old motto, though suggested other temporary taglines could be used in marketing campaigns. As for the “dP” logo, committee members had mixed feelings.
City council members also have differing views, though Alderman Denise Rodd is pushing for a vote on the logo at the next council meeting.
“I'd like to put an end to the micromanaging of our logo,” she said. “We could at least give direction to the city manager to go ahead and start using that so that we're not tripping over ourselves ordering uniforms, so we're not posting street signs that don't have logos on them and they have an obvious giant space in it, just so we can move forward with branding our city.”
Other aldermen, including Jim Brookman, are opposed to the new logo, which was developed as part of the $88,000 rebranding effort by Nashville-based NorthStar Destination Strategies. Brookman says aldermen were presented with only one option to vote on.
“We were not part of the decision-making process,” he said. “We were expected to be a rubber stamp.”
Last week, city officials told former aldermanic candidate Bob Porada to stop using a logo for his law firm that looks similar to the city's “dP” logo. Porada registered his logo with the Illinois Secretary of State last December, but has since agreed to stop using it.