What's in a name?
Covering City Hall can be boring. (Gasp). It's usually in that third hour during the meeting that I have my hand on my head, am slumped over, and remember, after looking at my doodles, why I never pursued my "artistic side" (because it doesn't exist).
And that's when I start looking around the Council Chambers, for any detail that will let my mind wander as a councilman wraps up his 20 minute speech on, well, probably nothing.
So in my last council meeting, I got to thinking: Who comes up with the mottos at City Hall?
In Rosemead, it's "Where City Pride is Justified." No comment.
In Irwindale, it's "El Jardin de Roca." It does sound a lot better than Garden of Rock.
In El Monte, it's "Friendly El Monte" and "The end of the Sante Fe Trail." Haha. Who wants to be the end of anything?
In Baldwin Park, it's "Hub of the San Gabriel Valley." I can think a lot of things Bolen Parque is hub of, and that's not one of them.
In West Covina, it's "Headquarters of the San Gabriel Valley." I wonder what the difference is between hub and headquarters.
What's your city's motto? Better,yet, what should your city's motto be?
How about: "Rosemead: Where city council meetings last four hours or more"? :D
Hey, you're lucky. Those meetings used to start at 7pm.
My city's motto is "People, Pride, and Progress," which is a fine slogan for Whittier and one I really can't argue with. We aren't claiming to be the "headquarters" or "hub" of anything, just a town trying to make it's way through the usual economic ups and downs and ever-growing state and federal regulations.
And, while we also have a famous rock here in town at Whittier College (but to my knowledge not a rock garden), I'm not sure that would be the best thing to advertise. I believe that we may still bill ourselves on the geographic signs at the city's borders as "Ye Friendly Towne," but I don't know if we beat El Monte to the punch on that one. I am showing my hometown bias here, but I do think Whittier is a far friendlier town than El Monte!