Last modified: 2016-12-26 by rick wyatt
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image by Ivan Sache, 26 August 2016
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The City of Modesto (204,933 inhabitants, est. 2013), located in San Joaquin
Valley, is the county seat of Stanislaus County. Modesto is mostly known as the
birth town of filmmaker George Lucas (b. 1944); the town was portrayed in the
movie "American
Graffitii" (1973), which was, however, actually not shot in
Modesto. The town is the the home of E & J Gallo Winery. Established in 1933 by
Ernest Gallo (1909-2007) and Julio Gallo (1910-1993), the company is the largest
family-owned winery in the USA and the first exporter of Californian wines.
Modesto owes its odd name to the modesty of its founder, William C. Raslton
(1826-1875, also founder of the Bank of California), who refused the town to be
named after him and was declared "muy modesto" by a Spanish-speaking worker at
the naming ceremony.
http://www.modestogov.com - Official website
Modesto came up with a
flag in the late 80s but was never officially adopted. Now the city’s Culture
Commission has decided it wants a new official flag flying over the city’s main
street downtown. The city council is expected to give the go-ahead to the
proposal next month with the contest open from October to the end of December.
The flag would be especially significant as the city approaches its 150th
anniversary in 2020. Proposal's submitters should remember the North American
Vexillological Association's six principles of flag design.
The original
flag is white with an orange border, the word "modesto" half orange (top) and
red (bottom), surmounted by fruits, all over the Modesto Arch, inscribed with
"City of Modesto" (top part) and the town's motto "Water, Wealth, Contentment,
Health" (lower part). The representation is quite faithful to the actual
monument, where the writing in the upper part is simply "Modesto".
http://www.capradio.org/80110 -
Capital Public Radio, 22 August 2016
Unique, both loved and reviled, the Modesto Arch might well have been
emblazoned with the winning city slogan, "Nobody's Got Modesto's Goat." Cooler
heads prevailed, and the second place winner was used instead and has been with
the good citizens of Modesto ever since - "Water, Wealth, Contentment, Health."
One of the stories heard often is that Eleanor McClatchy, publisher of "The
Modesto Bee", so disliked the arch that she banned its picture from being used
in the newspaper. Built in 1912, the arch spanned the entrance to the city for
many years, and, other than a short move so Ninth Street could be widened, and a
recent refurbishment, there has never been a real threat to dismantle the city's
most famous landmark.
www.historicmodesto.com/thearch.html
The announcement of the flag
contest stirred a reaction from the designer of the original flag. When Julian
Lopez Jr. heard Modesto may hold a design contest for the city’s first official
flag, his response was: “We already have a city flag.” And Lopez – who retired
from the city in 2009 as a planning assistant – should know. The City Council
named his design in 1988 as the winner in a city flag competition. And his flag
flew at City Hall and elsewhere in Modesto for years. Former City Clerk and
Auditor Norrine Coyle said the flag was displayed during council meetings in the
1980s and 1990s. Former Mayor Carol Whiteside – who was on the council that
picked Lopez’s design – recalls taking the flag with her as part of a delegation
to Khmelnitskiy, Ukraine, one of Modesto’s sister cities. She said Modesto also
brought its flag to the League of California Cities’ annual conference, which
featured a parade of flags. [...]
Lopez, 62, said his flag flew for years at
Modesto’s old City Hall at 10th and H streets, but he said it no longer was
flown when the city moved into Tenth Street Place, the city-county
administration center that opened in November 1999.
Still, a city report
from Community and Economic Development Director Cindy Birdsill about the new
contest said the winning flag would become Modesto’s first official city flag.
“The City of Modesto has never been represented by an official flag,” according
to the report. “In the early 1990s, a competition for a flag design was held
among City employees, but, the winning flag design was not adopted by the City
Council.” Besides being wrong about the year, Lopez said, the contest was open
to all. He said the contestants who came in second and third as well as those
who received honorable mentions were not city employees. Birdsill – who has been
with the city for about a year – said she and her staff were not aware of the
history of the Lopez-designed flag. She added that city records show that the
council did not adopt the flag as Modesto’s official city flag. The council
received a presentation about the flag and accepted it during a December 1988
meeting, according to information provided by the City Clerk’s office.[...]
If Modesto holds a second contest, Lopez said, he might enter it. [...]
http://www.modbee.com/news/article97982412.html - The Modesto Bee, 25 August
2016
Ivan Sache, 26 August 2016