01.16.05
Portland: One of the best city flags
From the NAVA – American City Flags Survey:
“The following table shows the results of the survey in numerical order, with #1 representing the flag with the highest overall score, and #150 representing the flag with the lowest overall score.”
Take that Indianapolis! Actually, if they had taken this survey just two years earlier, we would have been way below #7, since the Portland flag used to have the city’s seal in the upper left field (canton). Thank you to Douglas Lynch and local NAVA’ers for getting us there!
Just what caused all this to take place?
From a document I found here: Word .doc file, Google rendering by searching for “Doug Lynch” portland flag
Footnote 114: NAVA News, Vol. 35, No. 3, p. 14. Because this campaign carried many lessons for future vexillology-in-action, Kay’s article is here reproduced, by permission, in all its essential details: Portland Gets a New Flag Thanks to NAVA Members, by Mason Kaye
On September 4, 2002, Portland’s city council voted unanimously to adopt the new flag for Portland proposed a week earlier by the Portland Flag Association, led by NAVA member Harry Oswald.
Portland, Oregon has had several flags in the past. The most recent was adopted in 1969 and created by graphic designer Douglas Lynch. It consisted of light blue offset crossed bars representing the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers where Portland is located, on a green background representing Portland’s forested surroundings. A four-pointed star, symbolizing the city, was formed by the intersection of the bars. The blue bars were bordered by white-gold-white fimbriations, the gold representing wheat and commerce. The canton of the flag was dark blue, bearing the city seal. The seal was not originally part of Lynch’s design, but the city commissioners had added it to the flag at the last minute, reflecting their own conservative tastes. Art commission members strongly opposed the city seal as an element of the flag, but to no avail.
The new flag changes four components of the 1969 flag. First, the blue stripes doubled in width, making them much more significant compared to their fimbriations. The four-pointed star became nine times larger, converting it from a minor blur to a major graphic element. The city seal was removed. The canton’s dark blue background changed to the green of the rest of the flag’s field.
Doug Lynch, 89, recently joined NAVA. He is the long-time dean of graphic arts in Portland, and former chair of the Portland Art Commission. He joined the Portland Flag Association two years ago, and after sharing his experience of designing the city’s flag in 1969, PFA members encouraged him to push for a revised design. He welcomed the opportunity to address some weaknesses and political compromises embodied in his 1969 design.
On August 28, 2002, Doug Lynch, Mike Hale, Ted Kaye, and I all testified before the city council. Doug recounted the story of the previous flag’s design, Mike spoke of the cost savings to the city of the simpler version, Ted supported the new design in terms of the five basic principles from Good Flag, Bad Flag, and I gave the historical background of Portland’s previous flags. Each commissioner was excited about the new design. Mayor Vera Katz asked that a real flag be ready the next week for the vote on the ordinance. Mike’s company, Elmer’s Flag & Banner, quickly manufactured one to Doug’s new specifications.
The Mayor’s chief of staff, Sam Adams, had already tested the design with all of the commissioners. Doug Lynch and Sam Adams live across the street from one another in Northwest Portland, and worked together to develop the new flag ordinance.
A week later, NAVA member John Hood picked up the new flag from Elmer’s and mounted it on the pole in the city council’s chambers. Mayor Katz asked that the old flag go into the city archives, before calling for the vote which amended the City Code and made Portland’s new flag official. PFA members applauded as her gavel marked the council’s unanimous approval.
I hope to deliver a paper on the complete history of Portland’s flags in 2003 at 20 ICV next year in Stockholm. I have appreciated the opportunity to achieve the status of “vexillonnaire” as well as researcher and reporter on the flags of my city…