At the request of Mayor Pro Tem Lucille Kring, the city council will consider ditching the re-designed city flag adopted a year ago and returning to the traditional city flag that had symbolized the city for more than half a century.
During council comments at the close of the July 30 council meeting, Kring requested agendizing “removal of the new ‘TED Talk’ flag and return to our original, beautiful Anaheim flag.”
Kring’s ‘TED Talk” mention referred to a TED Talk-style video then-Mayor Tom Tait played when he first broached the topic of re-designing the city flag.
The new flag was adopted on a 5-2 council vote on August 28 of last year – with no compelling rationale other than the desire by the mayor for a new flag, and amidst considerable criticism:
Among other criticisms, the new flag was knocked for its strong resemblance to the flag of the European Union:
Even the Google search engine mistook the new Anaheim flag for the standard of the European Union.
Here is the traditional Anaheim city flag that had been in use since its adoption in 1967:
The city council is expected to decide on August 13 between keeping the new and unrecognizable flag or terminating that experiment and reverting to the previous municipal emblem that is immediately recognizable of representing Anaheim.
That was the biggest waste of time and how we manage Anaheims money ever.
There are such bigger issues out here to worry about. I think they did it to deflect our real issues.
Keep our flag, spend time and our money on cleaning up west Anaheim, the homeless issues, Beach blvd., our parks, our REAL priorities.
I can not believe our tax dollars are being spent on this stuff. The original flag should not have been changed. Change it back and leave it. Do some real work in there folks. Our city is a mess with the homeless, drugs, West Anaheim. Work on something that matters please…
Since Tait, at the time, wanted to emulate the City of Chicago with increasing crime, homelessness, govt run housing etc. he could have saved the city time and money by just using their flag. Simply remove one river and change the color. Oh wait…I think that is what he did.
It should never have been changed to something that is so generic and resembles the flag of the European Union. Be proud of our name and when we were founded.
The worst part of this whole conversation is the wasted time and money devoted to a flag, when district 1 had been screaming for help at the same time. This should have NEVER been a topic to begin with.
I’m embarrassed the council put even 5 minutes into it.
Like so many of former Mayor Tait’s “issues” this was ego driven and had nothing to do with residents, neighborhoods, quality of life, or anything of real substance. This is what happens when self promotion and self-aggrandizement take the place of leadership. He did nothing to help address homelessness in Anaheim, but hey, we got a new flag!
I agree with everything all of you have posted so far. What a ridiculous waste of time and money. We have an awesome traditional flag, and my hope is that it will fly proudly over City Hall once again!
Great comments but we need them to be heard. Go to the meeting this Tuesday August 13 and speak on the issue. We can do this. Whether or not you stand with Lucille Kring on other issues, she is right here and we can stand with her on this. Help get our flag back. It should never been changed in the first place.
Let’s go Anaheim
I have personally been against a “new” flag from day one! When I first heard it was even being considered I couldn’t believe it. With everything going on we were going to waste our time, energy and resources on this? When I saw what the flag was going to be I was in disbelief. I couldn’t believe it even passed and adopted as the new flag of Anaheim. Everyone I know realizes how I feel about this flag and how it came to be… It’s also surprising that probably 80% of the community does not even know we have a new flag. What was wrong with keeping our traditional flag?
I do a lot of volunteer work with children and young ladies. Recently I was out at the grand opening of the Coves expansion. I had the honor of bringing out the Anaheim Girl Scout Color Guard Honor Unit to perform the flag ceremony and national anthem for the grand opening and ribbon-cutting.
The girls always use an American flag at some places they request a California flag and sometimes there is also a city flag or a Girl Scout flag etc. When we were practicing the ceremony prior to the grand opening the girls were carrying the American flag in to be posted for the ceremony and the California flag and the Anaheim flag were already in place on bases for the program.
The girls always use an American flag and at some places they request a California flag and sometimes there is also a city flag or a Girl Scout flag etc. When we were practicing the ceremony prior to the grand opening the girls were carrying the American flag in to be posted for the ceremony and the California flag and the Anaheim flag were already in place on bases for the program.
The girls I brought to participate range from six years all through high school seniors. They were asking me what that flag was for and what it represented. When I explained to them it was the new flag for Anaheim they have no idea. One of them even stated it looks like something from another country. They asked what happened to the old like they are used to sing at ceremonies and why we had a new flag. I tried to explain it the best I could but because I am not a fan I didn’t want to get into any politics with children. I feel this was a political move to just deflect from what’s really important and to leave some type of legacy as a last ditch effort from the outgoing ma they asked what happened to the old flag they are used to sing at ceremonies and why we had a new flag. I tried to explain it the best I could but because I am not a fan I didn’t want to get into any politics with children. I feel this was a political move to just deflect from what’s really important and to leave some type of legacy as a last ditch effort from the outgoing mayor .
I plan to write to the City Council as I cannot attend the meeting due to medical conditions. I would love to be there to talk on this subject and I am very excited that it is even being brought up to bring back the old flag!
The new flag is just plain stupid. Yeah, yeah, I’ve read how the six stars represent the district, the blue stripe the Santa Ana river, but how does a guy from Peoria know what city he’s visiting or what the hell it means?
The old flag is clear and concise and completely non-offensive. BRING IT BACK.
Send an email to council@anaheim.net to bring it back. If you can not go to the city council meeting this Tuesday August 13 to say BRING IT BACK in person then PLEASE email Anahiem City Council at : council@anaheim.net
You can make a difference when you do so. You can take pride when the real City of Anaheim flag flies again. You can look at it and say to yourself, I did make a difference in my city. Our original flag is an important piece of Anaheim, one that should never have been replaced.
Let us correct this together by helping to restore it to glory! Come to the city council meeting this Tuesday and ask for our flag to be returned.
If you can not get to the council meeting send an email to council@anaheim.net and tell them your opinion.
Please
VERN NELSON IS STALKING YOUR KIDS
“At my request, this Tuesday August 13th the City Council will be considering the reinstatement of Anaheim’s original flag. Since the change last year, many of you have expressed concern about the removal of our original, beautiful flag. Now is the time to bring it back. I encourage everyone who agrees with me to contact my council colleagues to let them know your thoughts. Please contact the Anaheim City Council at council@anaheim.net .
Thank you in advance.
Lucille Kring
Mayor pro tem
District 4”
In contrast:
Remember one of the basics of good flag design: if you have to use words on the flag to tell that it’s yours — you failed.
And if you have to imitate someplace else’s flag, like the one that was chosen: you failed.
Better examples: in the Czech Republic, about 20 municipalities got new flags approved. See the link below. Not one of these has words on it. And they used better design principles than the fake EU flag. There probably was a better design in the process, but it got stuffed by the deciders (the council).
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2399911040054993&id=1153411891371587&sfnsn=mo
BRING BACK OUR FLAG: Please contact your council member individually and also collectively at council@anaheim.net. It is very important. At the council meeting Mayor Pro Tem Lucille Kring, Councilman O’Neal, Mayor Sidhu and Councilman Brandman spoke of their love of our original flag. Please let each of your council members know how you feel. Let us be the change and bring back our flag.
It is a vital piece of our history and is important to our future.
Anaheim Blog please consider keeping this in the forefront of our minds by publishing more on this in your blog or doing updates as it has been extended to allow Councilman Faessel to be present.
Based on the comments at Tuesday’s City Council Meeting, looks like there is a high likelihood of returning to the old, historic flag, or at least a hybrid, as the current flag is not recognized by visitors as the flag for the city of Anaheim. Remember, we will be a host city for the 2028 Olympics, and at a minimum, the word “Anaheim” needs to be on it. (With Mayor Sidhu, Mayor pro tem Kring, Councilmember O’Neil in strong support, and Councilmember Brandman in for a change to a hybrid, or the original).
So make sure and write all 7 council members, or better yet, show up for the next council meeting as speak during the public comments. Tell them that you can’t figure out the new flag, and want to keep the historic flag the city has used for decades.
Let me add one thing, Councilperson Brandman, in his comments, stated when he was walking his district in 2016, many residents brought up the change in the flag, and how they wanted a return to the historic flag.
It seems like the majority of residents wants the word “ANAHEIM” on its flag, to make it clear whose flag it is, similar to our state flag. I don’t see anyone wanting to change that.
Bring back our original flag, it is part of our history. Some things do not need change and the flag is one of them.
As a city we have worked hard to revitalize areas of Anaheim, one being the Packing District. Why restore areas and then have a Cultural/Historical Commission then do things like get rid of our city flag, an important part of Anaheim’s history?
If you watch the video of the city council meeting, where Jose Moreno asking why the people of Anaheim do not understand the significance of the design of the flag. The individual answering Jose Moreno’s question stated something to the effect: we decided to do a soft intrduction due to the feelings of the residents towards the original flag, and we flew the new flag in place of the old one.
This conversation, on the record, implies those involved in changing the flag knew what the flag means to the residents of Anaheim and quietly replaced our city flag so as to not incite us. This action is offensive and wrong. It implicates they knew our feelings and replaced the flag anyway. It is indicative of how the city at the time, under the Tate leadership behaved, very unethically.
Listen to your residents and bring back our original flag. We don’t need any changes or updates. We do not care what someone that does not live in Anaheim says about our flag on Ted Talk. He does not have to live in Anaheim and be represented by it. Most want the flag back and are united in their desire to have it back. Isn’t that one of the things a flag is for, to unite those represented by it? I think it was awesome to see/hear people care so much about their city flag. Together let’s see this change we can make when we speak.
City Council while you may differ often, stand together on this and change our flag back. Listen to your residents instead of thinking for them.
For once I agree with you guys … there was nothing wrong with the old one.