Branding - the new cure

Star Tribune Thu, 15 May 2008 02:46:12 GMT
Falcon Heights sets about making an identity for itself

Even some residents and businesspeople aren't sure where the city begins and ends, and Falcon Heights wants to change that. Falcon Heights recently sent out a survey to residents, including the question, "When people ... think of Falcon Heights, what kind of image might come to their mind?'' "The most common response was, 'People don't know where we are,''' recalled Justin Miller, city manager of Falcon Heights, which hopes to begin changing that. Falcon Heights has started the process of publicly proclaiming its identity to the tens of thousands of people who whiz by the city on Larpenteur Avenue each day. Last year it began taking down street signs and replacing them with new signs featuring a stylized falcon. This spring the city will begin hanging banners with the bird's image along Larpenteur Avenue. Hanging flower baskets will follow. It's a mini facelift for one of the busiest east-west thoroughfares in Ramsey County, taken by thousands of daily commuters and a blitz of visitors to the Minnesota State Fair.

[[keywords: Living;Metro;]]