A&P Commissioners seeing ‘The Sign’?

A&P Commissioners seeing ‘The Sign’?

Board taking a close look at West Memphis welcome options

news@theeveningtimes.com

Ace of Base would have been proud. The West Memphis Advertising and Promotion Commission saw some new signs and opened up their minds to the possibilities for welcoming inbound visitors from atop the St. Francis Levee. Follow the lyrics of the 1994 pop hit, “The Sign.”

“You could hardly recognize me.” The A& P has for years mulled over improved welcome signs on the borders of the Gateway City. Commissioners representing the hospitality and tourism sectors maintain that many tourists are confused about where they are, asking if they are still in Memphis. With the desire to have a bigger impact sign than the iron framed letters in the median in front of Walgreens on Missouri St., discussions have ebbed and flowed in many commission meetings. Aspects including the necessity of the signs, the possible locations for the signs, the terms for land for the signs, and now the sign itself have been bandied about.

Tourism Director Jim Jackson recently quoted Southland’s Troy Keeping regarding the quest for welcome signs for the Wonder City, “I hope I can see just one welcome sign here before I die.” The Swedish singers crooned the line, “life is de- A&P

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manding without understanding.”

Rob Rash of the St. Francis Levee District told the A& P in April that with certain construction constraints an understanding to use the levee tops for West Memphis welcome signs could be reached with the Army Corps of Engineers.

Rash also pointed out city electricity close to the sites on Interstates 40 and 55.

The A& P immediately started a search for a sign company with experience on the levee and hoped for an electric impact.

With years of “having worked” the A& P discovered, “no one’s gonna drag you up to get into the light where you belong.”

After examining the renderings of high definitions sign boards in their June session, commissioners backed off and thought about unlit version to start the process off. Building a monument styled base for a traditional billboard-like sign and with the flexibility to retrofit the structure for a lit sign later.

“There is also a proposal in there for a traditional sign with a vinyl wrap that can be changed,” said Jackson. “It is not the full size of a billboard but would be 10 feet off the ground.”

A billboard is 14 feet-by-48 feet. The frame size on the proposed welcome sign 10-by-33 with a vinyl cover and an embellished edging to “put it in cabinet” and get away from the billboard look.

So the vinyl board is about $70,000 and to do the digital reader board is about $225,000 each,” said Commissioner Ramona Taylor.

Then there is the rhetorical Ace of Base question, “But where do you belong?”

Commissioner Troy Keeping phoned into the meeting to make a key point wondering, after all the time, if it was still too early to commit to a high def.

presentation board. Keeping expressed caution and referred to the A& P contribution to the burned out 2009 Gateway Light project.

“I don’t know if this is the right one to do,” said Keeping. “Does it have a warranty? I know from experience electronic signs are not so easy to maintain.

After the experience with the lights under the bridge, I would think we’d want a good warranty and service agreement. Don’t you think?”

“I think we need to get more bids,” said Commissioner Tim Wallace.

With that commissioners agreed again to continue the sign quest.

By John Rech