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Should S.J. update flag?

San Jose, like most cities, has its own flag. It follows a typical format featuring the official city seal — and is bordered in blue and gold.

But to Ryan Palermo, a lifelong resident and San Jose State business student, it is just plain boring — unfitting for a dynamic city that bills itself as the Capital of Silicon Valley.

Palermo got interested in San Jose’s flag design after listening to a podcast on shortcomings with San Francisco’s city flag, and he concluded San Jose’s violates the same design principles. City seals, he says, are deadly to flag design because their fine details can’t be seen from afar. San Jose’s seal features an upright bale of grain ringed by what looks like grape vines, which Palermo adds is a nod to an agricultural past rather than the city’s technology-driven future.

“I looked at ours and it truly didn’t meet any requirement of a memorable flag,” said Palermo, 25. “It has a lot of importance. It’s a tangible thing that attaches a territory to the territory’s

inhabitants. Having a good one would have some benefit to the citizens of San Jose.”

Palermo has some thoughts for an upgrade. Maybe something featuring the “Circle of Palms” downtown. Or perhaps the old Electric Light Tower, a 237-foot high structure topped with an arc light that straddled Santa Clara and Market streets from 1881 to 1915, when it collapsed from a wind storm. Though it’s been gone more than a century, a scaled down replica stands at History Park, and Palermo said it represented the city as cutting edge.

“It was ahead of its time, and would signify we’re forwardmoving rather than a stagnant agricultural community,” Palermo said. City spokesman David

Vossbrink said a new flag design is “not something that high on our priority list.” But Palermo would like to see city residents pitch their ideas. Please let us know your thoughts, and we’ll follow up with a report on the best suggestions.