‘CITY OF CHAMPIONS’ BOOSTERS PLAN TO KEEP SOLDIERING ON
Council rejects idea of reopening debate about slogan on signs; but battle isn’t over
It was a lightning round.
It was a dog-and-pony show on speed.
It even looked and felt like sleight of hand.
City council dealt with Tony Caterina’s motion to reopen the debate on taking down the City of Champions signs by attempting to make it go away in record time Tuesday.
Listed last on the agenda and projected to happen mid-afternoon, it was over by noon.
And there wasn’t anything High Noon about it.
Caterina opened with words indicating he, for one, could read the desire of an overwhelming percentage of the populace to bring back the signs.
“This will go a long way to making thousands of Edmontonians extremely happy,” he said.
Not long later, it likely made those thousands of Edmontonians even more incensed than they were before.
The total elapsed time of the debate was 35 minutes.
It began at 11:31 a.m. and was over at 12:06 p.m.
But hocus, pocus, the Friends of the City of Champions aren’t going to lose their focus. There’s no way this is going to go away.
The final score: 7-5, with one councillor, Ed Gibbons, not present.
For the record, voting against were Michael Oshry, Ben Henderson, Andrew Knack, Scott McKeen, Don Iveson, Bev Esslinger and Michael Walters — the same councillors who voted the same way the first time around.
The idea that the outcry from citizens that had built up since the signs were taken down to inspire a couple of those councillors to listen to their constituents turned out to be laughable.
Oshry, the councillor who led the movement to take down the signs in the first place despite no outcry to do so, at one point of the debate suggested “City McCityface” might be added to the motion as an alternative slogan.
Might as well. So far, the city has spent more than $6 million trying to rebrand Edmonton with no traction. “Make Something Edmonton” hasn’t exactly caught the imagination of the populace since they took the signs down.
So what happens now? “Slogan debate is dead, hopefully for good,” tweeted Oshry. Good luck with that. People from near and far will continue to call Edmonton the City of Champions.
Taking the signs down didn’t make citizens stop. Nor will this brisk bit of business.
It’s the identity, earned through sporting championships and life in the city with a sense of community, rate of volunteerism, charity, attendance for major events, concerts, festivals and public gatherings unmatched by any location of a similar size featuring a remarkable record of response as evidenced by Black Friday and the Fort McMurray wildfire.
Only one member of the Friends of the City of Champions, the group that includes the likes of Don Clarke, Lyle Best, Bruce Hogle, Wilf Brooks, Tommy Banks and John Stanton, was in council chambers for the session. Several had planned to attend later in the day.
“They tried to bury it; it’s going to live on. It won’t go away because the people won’t let it go away,” said Brooks, the United Cycle owner and noted philanthropist and longtime community builder who was in attendance early to go on the record on the property.
“The term ‘City of Champions’ speaks to who we are. It’s the spirit of Edmonton. We’ve claimed it. We like it. We live up to it. That phrase stays with us forever. We won’t let it die. I’m not discouraged by today. It just confirms they did it wrong the first time.”
Brooks said one other thing. “My guess is that you are going to see it all over the place.”
That is not a guess — it’s a game plan.
These Order of Canada recipients and high-profile community leaders expected something like this to happen. This project, said Clarke, was always built through to the fall city election.
My information is the group that raised money, put up some billboards, created a video, printed up some banners and T-shirts, and made a stand on behalf of the citizens has already scheduled a fallout-and-move-forward meeting for later this week.
“We will return with a vengeance on behalf of the citizens city council has deliberately chosen to ignore despite their phenomenal contributions,” said Hogle.
The term ‘City of Champions’ speaks to who we are. It’s the spirit of Edmonton. We’ve claimed it. We like it. We live up to it. That phrase stays with us forever.