Maybe Jean Viljean has the answer....

Somehow I never thought Victor Hugo would become a factor in the branding of Buffalo Grove.

                But he has.

                Sort of.

                At last Monday’s Committee of the Whole meeting (best known as a COW) the Board heard a presentation from the firm it hired to rebrand the village as part of its economic development effort.

                The presentation by the Decatur-based DCC Interactive Marketing Agency focus mostly on new logo ideas to replace the beloved, if albeit dated buffalo (or bison if you prefer), with something that best reflects the village.

                As Jean Valjean asked in Les Miserables, “Who am I?” The question for Buffalo Grove is “Who are we?”

                If you grab the gist from DCC, we are no longer a village (too small) – just Buffalo Grove.  We also need to flaunt our green space.

                This comes after, according to a staff memo made available in the Board packet, a meeting with the Steering Committee the week before.  One week before.

                The representatives from DCC struggled to justify the top two logo proposals (shown below) saying it reflects the character of Buffalo Grove and where it is going

 Which raises two questions.

What is the character of the village and where is it  going?  If you believe in the rhetoric from May’s election, the village, oops, sorry, Buffalo Grove needs saving and we need to save the golf course because that is the character of the former village.

                Municipal officials, who used to be called village officials, would like to see the business climate enhanced.

                Most residents are probably unaware of these initiatives because as we saw in the May election, they don’t really care.

                The unfortunate reality is that when people think of business in Buffalo Gove, they immediately refer to home of for rent signs on the west side of Lake-Cook and McHenry Roads – Town Center.

                So to make everyone happy, well try, municipal officials, who used to be village officials, are beginning the aforementioned rebranding process, which led to last Monday’s presentation.

                So how and why was DCC selected?  According to (censored) Manager Dane Bragg, “DCC Marketing was selected by a Request for Proposals process for a branding/marketing strategy.  This was completed in the context of the economic development strategic plan and we felt it was an appropriate time to look at the logo while we were developing the other items.  The steering committee for the branding/marketing consists of me, Jenny Maltas, David Weidenfeld, Nicole Woods and Chris Stilling.”

                It’s not clear if Bragg was familiar with the Decatur-based firm from his days as assistant village manager in Decatur, or what the deciding factor was in the firm’s hiring.

                In response to an email regarding the last Monday’s presentation, Board President Beverly Sussman responded that she asked Bragg to respond to me and that she would send me comments.  None have been received.

                So the question remains – what is the image of the village and what is the message it is trying to convey?

                In an effort to save the village money, I have taken the liberty to develop some logos (shown here) based on the presentation by DCC. 

I have done others, but these best reflect the typographical image along with a little more tweaking to reflect the (fill in the blank) character.

                As for the question – who are we?

                Beats me.

                Ask Jean Viljean.

More than a law needed to increase civic engagement

The passage of House Bill 4025, which mandates a one-semester civics class for high school students, just needs the signature of Gov. Bruce Rauner to become law.  That, and along with HB 800 which sets the start-up date for the  2016-2017 school year, will do more than give students a way to meet the state’s social science requirement; it will hopefully light a fire on the need for civic engagement.

            Not just for students, but for everyone.

            I’ve addressed civic engagement several times, most recently after the spring election which saw pitifully low voter turnout on both sides of Lake-Cook Road.  Part of that is due to the fact that many people are content with their local politics as long as the streets get plowed, the water works and Police and Fire Departments are good.

            Having attended more Village Board meetings than I can recall, it’s amazing, if not disappointing, that the only time people attend meetings is to chime in on a conflict, complain, or watch their child get a certificate from the village.

            Budget planning? No interest.  Economic development? Mild interest, but if it’s not a proposed edifice in their backyard, most residents could care less.

            So what’s a way to spur civic engagement?  In its May 2014 report, the Illinois State Board of Education’s task force on civic education touted the need for news literacy.  This was music to my ears because of my association with the Center for News Literacy at New York’s Stony Brook University and as an educator who incorporates the fundamentals of news literacy into my curriculum.

            It’s not a journalism class.  Instead news literacy instruction addresses critical thinking skills needed by news consumers, who used to be called readers or viewers, to judge the reliability and credibility of news reports, whether they come via print, television or the Internet.

            Makes sense, right?  And if you tune into the local news, you can find out what generally is going on the Chicago area.  Maybe you get the Tribune or Sun-Times and get an idea what’s happening in metro Chicago.

            But what about Buffalo Grove?  There was, at one point four newspapers covered the village on a regular basis.  Now, news coverage is limited to meeting coverage by the Daily Herald, sporadic coverage by the Des Plaines Journal-Topics and an occasional article in Trib Local.

            And then there’s the Buffalo Grove Countryside.  Now owned by the Tribune Company, the Countryside runs news of Buffalo Grove in Trib Local and just for fun, runs it in the Countryside.  Aside from that, it’s limited to an occasional letter and columns by soccer moms.  And it’s not getting any better.  In fact, two weeks ago the cover of the ‘Buffalo Grove’ Countryside was about businesses – in Mt. Prospect.

            Web editions don’t provide much more as there’s only so much one reporter can do. The lead story on the Countryside’s web site is about a Vernon Hills crime.  The crossing guard is between School District 21 and the village is posted, but has not been updated.

            So what lies ahead?  Apparently not much.

            In the long run, the losers are citizens who may want to be interested their village, but lack an independent media to offer them a forum for news and information.  The Herald, despite being covered by a part-time reporter, provides additional support as needed.  The Herald also maintains an active social media presence through its Buffalo Grove page on Facebook, which may not be a news delivery site, but at least it’s a forum where residents can get an idea as to what may be happening in the village.

            When it comes to citizen engagement, residents need know what’s going on.  The ball is clearly in their court.

            Social media?  The reality is getting reliable information from social media is a challenge because you don’t know how reliable the information is and who or what is behind it.

            And while hyper local media outlets are making inroads in the city, specifically DNAInfo, they have not done so in the suburbs.   AOL’s Patch made a valiant effort, but poor management and the desire by AOL to leave hyperlocal journalism led to the demise of that initiative.

           So what’s left? Not much.

            Which is really too bad.

Especially when it comes to civic engagement.