Selling The Seattle Skyline

I was not even aware that this had been proposed:

A proposal to let big companies put corporate logos at the top of downtown high-rises will not be considered this year, City Council President Richard Conlin said Monday.

(snip)

Currently, Seattle protects the skyline from business branding through a 1986 code that bars building signs higher than 65 feet. An exception was made for hotels and public buildings in the ’90s, with the thinking that tourists needed help finding their way around the city.

I’m glad they put it off for a year, but it is my sincere hope that it is never passed.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Seattle has the most beautiful skyline in the world. There really is no close second. People in other areas get upset when I say this, but Seattle is in a class by itself. The sound, the hills, the mountains, the glaciers, the Space Needle, the ferries, it is simply without equal. It stands completely alone and ahead of every other city on planet earth. I mean this with every ounce of sincerity.

Yes, there are other skylines which are much bigger, there are other skylines which are much more dense, there are other skylines which are quite compelling in their own right, but Seattle’s skyline is visual crack. It’s breathtaking, and everyplace else on the map is simply vying for second place.

Yes, other people will rep their own cities in defense and that is great, but deep-down, in their heart of hearts, everyone other than Stevie Wonder knows that I’m right. If you don’t get a tear in your eye when you stand on the edge of a Bremerton ferry looking east, then I submit that you have no soul. Look in a mirror, and I promise you will see no reflection.

As such, it would be a crime against humanity to allow revolving corporations to plaster this world wonder with the same crap reserved for fast food restaurants and letterheads. I can think of few things more depressing than a Seattle skyline turned over to the marketing geniuses who come up with names such as “Century Link Field“.

If this ban is overturned, make no mistake about it, I will run for Mayor for no other reason than to have it re-instated. I’ll probably run for Mayor anyway, but if this happens, it will remove all doubt.

Some things need to remain sacred. Some things are national treasures that must be preserved at all costs.

The insanely beautiful Seattle skyline is one of these things.

Don’t mess with perfection.