Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel proposed new rules on Wednesday to establish standards for signs on high-rise buildings along the Chicago River, which most believe is a direct response to an oversized and controversial sign Donald Trump placed on the side of his Trump International Hotel & Tower, reports the
Chicago Sun-Times.
However, the new rules will not be retroactively applied, so Trump will not have to take down the 20-foot-high letters spelling out his last name which are affixed to the side of the hotel.
"As we move to transform the Chicago River into Chicago's next great waterfront, we want to ensure that the riverfront is protected from signage that negatively impacts the visual environment. This ordinance will allow visitors and residents of Chicago to continue enjoying our world-renowned architecture along the river," Emanuel said in announcing the proposal to establish the
Chicago River Special Sign District.
The city is currently embarked on a $100 million redevelopment project that will extend the Riverwalk in a six-block area and is expected to open it as early as 2015, according to the Sun-Times.
The new rules would create a zone near the riverfront where signs' sizes would be constrained by the size of the buildings upon which they are placed. It could be introduced to the City Council in October.
Trump told
The Wall Street Journal that he believes the sign will be a great addition to the city, but does support the new rules.
"It's the Hollywood sign of Chicago. People love it. People are taking pictures out there by the hundreds every day," Trump said Wednesday, adding that "if they want to change the law from this day forward, that's up to the mayor. But you can't go back."
The battle over the signage began earlier this summer when Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin characterized the sign as "an eyesore unworthy" of the tower.
Shortly thereafter Emanuel weighed in when he described the large "T-R-U-M-P" on the side of the Trump Tower as "tasteless" and said he would consider changing the regulations governing signs along the river, which many saw as a response to the Trump sign.
Trump initially won approval from former Mayor Richard M. Daley for the 3,600 square foot sign, but Emanuel trimmed the size down to 2,891 square feet before authorizing it himself, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.
In today's column, Kamin, who dedicated a number of columns to blasting Trump, said the "riverfront sign ordinance makes good sense and atones for his administration's approval of the enormous eyesore of a sign that Donald Trump stuck on his otherwise handsome Chicago skyscraper."
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