Editorial: Lettering on new pedestrian walkway too ‘industrial’?

At the May 28 meeting of the Van Buren Township Downtown Development Authority, there was discussion about the lettering on the new pedestrian walkway along Belleville Road over I-94. (See page 11 for a picture.)
“I have bad taste and I didn’t know it would look this bad,” said VBT Supervisor Kevin McNamara.
DDA Executive Director Susan Ireland said this is the lettering as proposed a year ago. She said when you are going 70 to 80 miles an hour down I-94, “You can actually read it’s Van Buren Township.”
DDA member Carol Bird pointed out nobody else has such lettering on their overpasses.
“The Van Buren Township lettering looks industrial,” said Supervisor McNamara, adding the landscaping is gorgeous and the 7’x7’ logo sign is something to be proud of.
McNamara asked if it was too late to change the letters and Ireland said it’s too late. “Raised block lettering might look better,” he said. The fancy brickwork on the bridge matches the brickwork on the DDA’s Placemaking Project, father down Belleville Road.
DDA members also worried about who would do the mowing of grass at the bridge and suggested if the state or county didn’t do it often enough, VBT might have to do it since it’s their front door. We’ll get used to the lettering and, yes, the logo is really something to be proud of.