CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago will always have the TRUMP sign on one of its tallest buildings to remind everyone in big, bold letters how Mayor Rahm Emanuel got trumped by The Donald, but now the mayor is proposing an ordinance to make sure nobody else can do the same.
In the latest chapter of what turned into an international news story about the war of words between Emanuel and the brash billionaire developer over what the mayor called a “tasteless” sign, his office on Wednesday released a draft of an ordinance that would limit the size of signs and what they look like.
The ordinance, scheduled to be introduced to the City Council next month, is hardly a surprise. In June, when it was becoming clear that nothing could be done legally to force Trump to remove the sign the mayor’s administration had signed off on, Emanuel promised to make sure the same thing never happened again.
But the ordinance, in dramatically limiting the size and placement of signs, assures that the sign — more than five times as big as what the ordinance would allow — will continue to stand out.
Under the its provisions, the downtown area along the Chicago River would have similar protections that now prevent garish signs associated with cities such as Las Vegas from cropping up along iconic Michigan Avenue. It calls for the largest buildings to have signs no bigger than 550 square feet and would prohibit flashing signs, rooftop signs and most neon signs.
