(ADAM PROSKIW / iNFOnews.ca)
June 27, 2014 - 6:54 AM
KELOWNA - After listening to the representative of The Rutland Unified Stakeholders Team at city council this week, I couldn’t help but feel a little insulted.
TRUST is supposed to be Rutland’s biggest cheerleader, but on Monday Todd Sanderson spoke for more than ten minutes about how, despite the rest of Kelowna doing its best to keep Rutland down, it’s actually a pretty nice place to live.
As if we didn’t know that.
“People, to this day, speak of Rutland disparagingly with an undertone of disrespect,” he announced, before unveiling Rutland’s new slogan: We’re just getting started.
Generations of people have worked hard to make Rutland what it is and they don’t need a marketing team to tell them they’re not doing enough.
I understand that Rutland hopes to be better tomorrow than it is today, but so does everywhere else. There will always be isolated cases of Rutland residents feeling marginalized because of this so-called negative reputation, but a logo won’t change that no matter how soft the palette.
The new public market planned for Roxby Park is a good example of how Rutland is always evolving, but personally, I prefer Straight Outta Rutland’s approach. A take on N.W.A.’s Straight Outta Compton, the bumper stickers and t-shirts both embrace and reject the stereotype simultaneously. Nobody would seriously compare Rutland to Compton, yet the Facebook page has more than 2,500 likes.
Rutland doesn’t need help defining itself. The residents know who they are and they do not need to be insulted with a superficial slogan that only highlights the insecurities of a few residents.
To contact the reporter for this story, email Adam Proskiw at aproskiw@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-0428. To contact the editor, email mjones@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2014