The results are in – and now it has been declared that the Ocean Beach Town Council will keep the current design of the OB entryway sign at the end of I-8 when they replace the actual sign very soon.
Town Council members voted during a multiple-month process for the winning design – from a field of 5 designs. Here is what the Council reported on their website:
We had five outstanding finalists for the sign (including keeping the same design, but refurbishing it)! Electronic ballots were distributed to Ocean Beach Town Council members on Monday, April 1 and voting occurred between April 1 and April 8. The winning option was announced at the OB Town Council meeting on Wednesday, April 24.
WINNING OPTION: Keep the same design, but renovate the sign!
Tony de Garate, writing at The Reader reports:
Nearly 58 percent of voters preferred the design that has been in place since the town council put up the sign in 1984; that’s more than three times the support of the option that came in second, a design virtually identical but for the addition of two parrots.
In all, 76 people — roughly 52 percent of the amount eligible to vote — spread their votes among the five designs in an email vote conducted April 1–8.
Eligible voters had to be current members of the group, with up-to-date dues paid and live in the 92107 zip code area. The OBTC also used the sign renewal process as a membership drive and de Garate reported that the Town Council had its biggest one month spike in membership during March. Council President Dave Martin is quoted:
“I think having the designs available on our website for several months gave everyone in Ocean Beach the opportunity to review and comment on their preferences. It also served to offer guidance to our members in voting for the most popular option. It was overwhelmingly obvious the most folks wished to maintain OB’s identity as it is.”
The OB Rag also ran a poll during January of this year based on the 5 finalist designs that the OBTC had selected. With 69 readers voting, we had very similar results. We reported:
In a week-long poll of our readers, the OB Rag asked which of the five finalists did people like for the “new” OB Entryway Sign. Over half – 54% – said they wanted to keep the current design but renovate it.
The next design only received 9% of the vote tally.
