Noose on city logo will go, council decides in unanimous vote
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PLACERVILLE, California (KCRA) — In a unanimous vote, and after a public comment session lasting over three hours, Placerville’s city council decided Tuesday night to remove the depiction of a noose from the city’s logo.
Mayor Dennis Thomas opened up the public comment period with ground rules for the Zoom call that was livestreamed to YouTube. The first commenters, all 173 of them, would have one minute to speak their minds followed by a comment period for people wanting to speak for at least two minutes on Agenda Item 12.1.
“This meeting has been a long time coming,” said Thomas. “It’s my desire and our council’s desire that everybody has a chance to get heard.”
Locals, longtime residents, shop owners, transplants from other areas of California, high school-age students, young, old — all gave their opinions at the meeting about the noose on the city’s logo.
“I am horrified and deeply hurt that we have a symbol of a noose in our logo,” said one caller. “A noose is a symbol of death. A noose is a symbol of lynching. A noose is a symbol of racism … I think we’re better than that.”
Many callers said the people of Placerville should decide the future of the logo with the noose depicted, by voting on it.
“I would like us to keep our noose. It’s taking away from our history. We need to keep our history. This world right now is taking inch by inch little pieces of our history and throwing it away,” said another caller. “If you guys are gonna change anything it needs to come out to the people and the people should be able to vote on it.”
It’s not entirely clear when exactly the current city logo was created. At Tuesday’s meeting, the city manager and other council members said they’ve done some research on it. They said it’s only about 40 years old or so, dating back to the mid-to-late 1970s.
The logo stems from Placerville’s Gold Rush history, which the city relies heavily on as a tourist draw.
Prospectors from around the world went to the area hoping to strike it rich, which made it difficult to keep the peace. In 1849, three men were convicted of robbery and murder. To send a message that those crimes would not be tolerated, the men were hung from a tree along what is now Main Street. That is how the city became know as Hangtown, and the nickname has stuck.
Amid national dialogue about racism in the United States, there was increased pressure for the noose to be taken out of the city logo.
The timeline for changing the logo on city facilities and vehicles wasn’t outlined at Tuesday’s meeting.
The city manager estimates that making the changes, along with the labor involved, will be around $5,300. The city said the cost can be absorbed in the current year budget.
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