As the process to possibly replace the existing Newton city seal moves forward, a few City Councilors have expressed concerns about the current survey on the three proposed designs for a new seal. (The survey closes on August 21.)
In the July 10 meeting of the Programs and Services Committee (see NewTV video), the City’s Director of Community Engagement and Inclusion, Hattie Kerwin Derrick, spoke about the alternate images and the survey, and a few City Councilors on the committee questioned why there was not a specific checkbox on the survey that allowed people to choose “no change” to the city seal.
“I think that was a significant mistake,” said Councilor-at-Large John Oliver. “I think that was a whiff.”
Councilor Bill Humphrey, a member of the City Seal Working Group, addressed the sometimes-heated questions and comments and reminded colleagues that work on analyzing and considering the future of the image started back in 2020. The decision to move forward with having graphic designer Sebastian Ebarb create three proposals had already been approved by the City Council.
As Fig City News previously reported, the City Seal Working Group stated in its 2021 report that the 1865 image “depicts a scene of Reverend John Eliot proselytizing to Native people, specifically the Massachusett, in 1646” and needed to change. After months of work — listening to feedback from the community and Eastern Massachusetts Native groups — members of the Working Group concluded that a change was needed because “the seal does not sufficiently or accurately depict historical events … the design is outdated, unnecessarily complicated, and has degraded over time.”
Since the process began, people have been expressing their thoughts to City officials about changing the seal or keeping it as it is. Although the purpose of the survey is to get input on the three proposed designs, Kerwin Derrick said the feedback section is open-ended…