8/11/2009 City Council Gets Glimpse of New City Logo

Chehalis Council Gets Glimpse at New Logo for City

The Chronicle, Tuesday, August 11, 2009
By Marqise Allen

Chehalis City councilors got a glimpse of what the new city logo and signage will look like as the Chehalis Renaissance Project continues to move along.

The new logo will incorporate three iconic pieces of downtown Chehalis; the train station, the new Vernetta Smith Timberland Regional Library and the St. Helens apartment complex.

“Any one of the images by itself doesn’t give the city justice,” said Tom Beckwith from Beckwith Consulting Group who has been helping guide the city through the gradual process of renovating. and enhancing the city “But if you do a composite of all three, it’s more dramatic.”

The logo will appear on almost 40 wayfinding signs placed throughout the city, though the size of the sign has yet to be determined, along with the city’s tagline.

As of Monday, only 15 votes were tallied on the Chehalis’ Web site for what residents would like the city’s tagline to say. The top-two vote getters from the 15 voters were “Choose Chehalis!” and “History in the making — choose your opportunity!”

Beckwith said the most effective tagline will most likely have a little bit of both.

A test run of the project will be on display along two blocks of Market Street and Chehalis Avenue. The public will then be able to give input to help guide future decisions.

Signage and new trees will be on display, and parking will also be redone with an additional four parking spaces.

Councilor Daryl Lund said he’s heard from a couple businessmen downtown that are wary of changing the parking to angle parking only to add four more spaces.

But Councilor Dennis Dawes said the plan had to go through now that the city has invested itself in the project.  “We have to give it a chance, we can’t just spend all this money and then say ‘no,’” he said. “I hope people can look at it objectively. We can’t just sit here because that’s just where we’ll stay.”

City Manager Merlin MacReynold said citizens will have a better idea of what’s going on when the pilot project is finished.

“This is an opportunity to try something and see if it works,” he said. “If the community doesn’t like it, we can come back and do something different. ”