By Brooklynn Wong
After much discussion and debate, Anaheim’s original flag has been reinstated.
The city’s original flag was created in 1967, and flew at Angel Stadium and the Anaheim Convention Center, which both opened that year.
But last year, some in the city decided the flag needed a facelift. So an official call was put out for new designs, over 100 were received, and the city decided on the navy one with a light blue stripe and a circle of six stars—to represent the six Council districts—that was instated last August.
But when the new flag was instated, many residents realized they missed the old one, and the city was criticized.
Mayor Harry Sidhu said when he was campaigning last year, he heard widespread complaint about the new flag.
Mayor Pro Tem Lucille Kring proposed, at a July City Council Meeting, to vote on reinstating the old flag.
The vote finally came during last Tuesday’s Council Meeting.
Cultural & Heritage Commissioner Mark Richard Daniels spoke in favor of reinstating the old one, saying future generations need to know “the great illogical story of this little community put out in the middle of nowhere, where it was said the land couldn’t even support a goat.”
The council members had a lengthy and complicated discussion late into the night, that included everything from consideration of alternative designs that fused the old and the new flag, to proposing putting the decision off again so the residents could vote on it online.
Mayor Pro Tem Kring said she was in favor of going back to the original design, as long as the city seal on it were made to look better.
Councilman Jordan Brandman asked for a fusion of the old flag and the new, and some other council members expressed support for this.
Councilman Jose Moreno made a motion to continue the item to allow more time for consideration, discussion and public input before a decision was made, but his motion failed.
When at long last the motion to reinstate the old flag was voted on, it passed, bringing the one-year-old flag’s tenure to an end.
The city estimates that it will cost between five and seven thousand dollars to reinstate the original flag, but the funding is already available in the city budget.
