Boise Mayor Lauren McLean is dumping a planned redesign of the city’s flag five days after announcing four finalists.
McLean announced the decision Tuesday morning to KTVB’s Justin Corr, who worked as her former spokesperson for eight months from 2021-2022.
“The public’s been clear that these didn’t necessarily work for them, that they love our city deeply and I think the best thing to do right now is to stick with the one we’ve got,” she said on “Wake Up Idaho.”
“I’ve always said that being responsive to residents – listening and learning as I make decisions – is a key part of how I serve Boise,” McLean wrote in a press release sent a few hours after her television appearance.
City officials asked residents to vote on the four finalists last Thursday sparking overwhelming criticism and opposition in thousands of social media comments.
Many called the final designs ugly and too similar to each other.
They all featured a star representing Idaho’s capital city, waves mimicking the Boise River and largely the same blue and green color palette.
Nearly 140 artists submitted designs to the contest.
City officials initially declined to release the rejected designs when Boise State Public Radio requested them Thursday.
A public records request filed that day had not been fulfilled as of Tuesday morning (the city has until Tuesday afternoon to fulfill it, deny it or ask for another seven business days to process it), but the city uploaded 116 of the entries to its website.
Editor's note: Boise State Public Radio's George Prentice served on the city's flag redesign committee, but had no involvement with this story.
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