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Peace had chance but was subbed
(by Barbara Christian - May 21, 2009)
WINDOW ON MAIN STREET, BY BARBARA CHRISTIAN
Peace had chance but was subbed
Have you seen the new psychedelic paint job on the front of Dave's Sub Shop over on River Street?
It fits the sandwich shop's back-to-the-'60s theme. Proprietor Dave Lombardy, a child of the '60s himself, has decorated the inside of the shop as a shrine to those good old bad days and accompanied by music of the era.
But back to the new painted exterior. As you may have read, the painted decorations on the front of Dave's place drew the attention of the Valley Art Center, which had been turned down when it applied to paint an "Art" mural on two sides of its Bell Street building.
Hmmmm? Do you suppose the problem was that the art center asked? Dave did not, and up went the rainbow of psychedelia centered with that singular icon of the '60s, the peace symbol. So far, it's the only thing village officials have had issue with, and they asked Dave to remove it. Why? Because it was determined that the symbol was a sign, and, therefore, the entire thing overshot sign-code size regulations. Are you still with me?
Being an old hippy, I think I know my peace signs. Hold your right hand up palm out. Now clasp your thumb around your third and fourth fingers and display your first and second digits in a "V." That's the peace sign.
What Dave had painted on the front of his building was not a peace sign. It was a circle bisected by a line, the bottom of which features two lines, or "legs," on either side. That is the peace symbol.
So what Dave did was to paint out the legs. Now, the former peace symbol looks like those pictures we used to see in health class. It looks like a cell about to divide. I cannot think of a thing this represents other than a mangled peace or perhaps a partial peace. Or maybe it's just a flag of surrender. He gave in way too quickly. The peace emblem belongs in the design.
Sadly, people I know and admire for all the good things they have done for our town and who have given of themselves suggested that the peace symbol was a sign and too controversial to be shown. So Dave turned it into a cell.
We wonder if, 40 or so years after the fact, the peace symbol is still that controversial, and why should it be? So on Saturday, I shopped in several village stores and found peace symbols on merchandise everywhere. The usually conservative business people who own those shops must think enough time has passed to stop beating ourselves over the head with it.
So is Dave's newly painted storefront legal or illegal? Has he painted an illegal mural? Is the sub shop's facade just one oversized sign?
We may never know. The issue was turned over to the law director to sort out, and, when asked what he had decided, he said, "I only provide legal advice to my client (the Village of Chagrin Falls), unless instructed to share it with others by my client."
Since the painted storefront remains, the law director must have allowed it. In the end, I doubt that Dave wants to argue restoring the peace symbol, but some have suggested he might have a case, because his freedom of expression has been muted.
Should he choose to fight the peace-symbol censorship, we could stage a sing-in. All together now -- "All we are saying is give peace a chance."
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