(Columbus) The Columbus City Council approved a request from area veteran’s organizations to display banners downtown at a recent regular meeting, but it did not come without discussion. Alderman Michael Lawson noted that there were no specifics given.
“I’m not saying it’s not a good thing, I think we should do it,” says Lawson. “But do we need to specify that the display of the banners is the city administrator or Beautification Advisory Board’s discretion?”
City Administrator Matt Amundson says that if there is one group he trusts the most, it would be area veteran’s organizations displaying their own banners in a tasteful way.
“I think again it’s, if there is an issue this is likely the 99% vs. the 1%, and do we want to legislate to the one-percent if there’s an issue?” asks Amundson. “I think we reach out to the veteran’s organization and ask them to address it.”
The city administrator says he does not anticipate any issues and says they will do things the way they want and probably above and beyond what the city is looking for. Lawson asked if there is a timeline for the banners to be displayed. Mayor Joe Hammer says the request was for them to be displayed around Veterans Day.
“Obviously if we can get [them] up, you know, where they’re up a good amount of time for people to view [them]” says the mayor. “So, they would go up prior, you know, maybe a month prior to Veterans Day, and then when the crews put up the Christmas decorations, they would be removing the banners at that time.”
After some further discussion, the council voted unanimously to approve the request for banners to be displayed downtown.
