By an edhat reader
The Funk Zone Brand Sign or Mural now lights up the Garden St. parking lot at the entrance to a private piece of property off of Anacapa St. Question is what is it? Do you think its a Sign or Mural?
Sign or Mural? The Funk Zone Brand
SBCountyLocal
August 1, 2019, 10:26 am
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Why are hipster millennials so obsessed with the word “brand”? Call it what you will but as local that is NOT the funk zone anymore.
What does this have to do with LED lighting?
Isn’t that sign larger than regulation for the city? I thought bill boards were a no no.
Looks like it might be just identifying the area as when towns put up a sign, “Entering Whatever town”. The area isn’t really funky any more but it still has that name, so the sign lets you know you’re entering the Funk Zone. For instance if an area is something like “Bonita Ranch Road”, there may not be any ranch there, instead a housing development, but still identifies as a ranch area.
Blame the Arts Fund and top City brass. They claim the Arts Funds has a “Funk Zone Mural Program” with the City and it includes signs like this. What they really have is a program guidelines proposed by the Arts Fund that was run up the flag and never fully approved. It is NOT a legitimate “Mural Program” where the terms were ever reviewed or approved by the City Council and the City Attorneys. The “Guidelines” violate the City Charter and City Ordinances and Guidelines. Someone did NOT dot i’s, cross t’s and left blame for the “Fund Zone Mural Program” and this “Funk Zone Brand” sign with the Architectural Board of Review (ABR) instead of were it belongs with: City Staff over-reach and incompetence and the Arts Fund which says (or is going along with) these incomplete “Guidelines” to get this sign on this building . There is plenty of evidence for this. The “Guidelines” don’t follow the City Charter or the City’s Ordinances or Guidelines for: Signs, Historic Districts, Landmarks, Structures of Merit, Lighting or anything else the City regulates to protect us from visual blight like this. There minutes and videos from the ABR and documents in the Design File in the Planing file at the City (MST2014-00017) that support all of this too. The Historic Landmarks Commission (HLC) and City Council never reviewed the “Funk Zone Mural Program” or the “Guidelines” either. What the Arts Fund and top City Brass claim are legitimate a legitimate “Funk Zone Mural Program” are the “draft” “Guidelines” proposed on 4/28/14 more than a year before Jamie Limon, the head of the City Design Review Boards, received a email from Nils V. Hammerbeck, who was shepherding the project through for the Arts Fund, wrote this: “Please let us know when the ABR hearing is scheduled, as well as the City Council review of your revised art mural language for the City as a whole.” – There was no review by the City Council or the ABR or HLC of any final language for the “Funk Zone Mural Program” that would have ensured a sign like this was NEVER approved. Weigh in on this issue by sending a email to the City Council and let them know if you think the Funk Zone Brand is a: SIGN or MURAL and tell them if it needs: LIGHTS or NO LIGHTS and if it needs to: GO! STAY! or BE MOVED! Email them at: SBCityCouncil@SantaBarbaraCA.gov
There wasn’t a fight. Residents figure out it was a SIGN. The owner of the property simply found out he could not put it up on his own and got the Arts Fund to go along with this scam under their Fake Funk Zone Mural Program with the City. The Art Funds knows there was no approval of the “Guidelines” and so does City Staff. No one wants to admit that this program isn’t legitimate even if the result was a SIGN or a BILLBOARD. The City Staff even had an ribbon cutting to get the Council on the hook to try and legitimize this sign. Do you think they were told there was a BIG problem with the “Guidelines” or do you think they were left in the dark? – All of this is the result of poor management, poor oversight and a culture at the City of sweeping problems under the rug so no one faces consequences.
Looks great.
A Sign or Billboard. It’s 100% advertising.
Sign. It’s a Sign! People need to call it what it is!
Great looking poster.
It’s a billboard advertising a product. That product is The Funk Zone. Personally, I wouldn’t want to have to look at this sign often. And as a stargazer, I am all for less light pollution at night, everywhere. Too bad everyone else is so in love with LED lights.
What “logo” are you referring to? “Funk Zone” is more like a trademark if that is the reference. Is there some design that speaks to this or is it just a business proposition? If so each neighborhood should get working on a new “mural” for itself and the kids who tag along the train route in the West Side can have have their work left up for 3 years at a time.
It is not a mural. It is a sign (a mini billboard) advertising the Funk Zone. I do remember billboards and neon signs here in Santa Barbara. A sad day when the city made a decision to ban them. Billboards and neon signs are part of Americana.
This is amazing ! not only is it a mural/art, but placed strategically to offer information to the public as a sign, at a great access point. Don’t get you pants up in a wad, this can only be viewed from a parking lot. If you follow the art around the corner and along the building, you will find a great outdoor walkway and gallery. This is a hidden treasure in the Funk Zone. It is not a business advertisement, as there is no business in town named “Funk Zone” or any known product being trademarked and sold as such. It is a defined business/residential/commercial/entertainment district, that is currently a hit spot in town.
It’s a sign. A nice sign, but a sign all the same. As for the murals in the Funk Zone, I’m ALL FOR any public art we can get. This town likes to bill itself as an artsy enclave by the sea, but what it really is is MONEY DRIVEN. Everything, everywhere is money driven, and that is nowhere more apparent than it is here in good ol’ SB. From the housing crisis to the cops that only care about what brings in revenue, it’s MONEY, MONEY, MONEY! This is a glaring sign pointing tourists to the so called “Funk Zone” which is about as “funky” as Vogue magazine. SB has lost its soul. This is not for locals anymore. The only real art are the very hard working artists still trying to make it in the Funk Zone (and paying INSANE rents on their studios), or the street art that is nailed up to the telephone poles… thank God for that, or there really wouldn’t be any art in the Funk Zone.
Right?!!!! A business should be able to put a sign INSIDE their window if they $#(#**##@@)* want to! This town is getting crotchety and petty.
Sign. Sign. SIGN! Even EdHat can’t help but say it is a Sign! The City’s Sign Ordinance defines a sign as: Any form of visual communication including any physical object, projection of light, digital display, or open flame (with or without lettering, a symbol, logo) used to announce, declare, demonstrate, display, or otherwise present a message to or attract the attention of the public. A sign may include a commercial or noncommercial sign. A sign includes all parts, portions, units and materials used in constructing the sign, together with the illumination, frame, background, structure, support and anchorage thereof. A mural is not a sign. The Funk Zone Mural Brand Sign: Presents a Message: CHECK. It Announces Something: CHECK. It Attracts Attention of the Public: CHECK. It is lit up like a Christmas tree at night: CHECK. You can see it from Garden and Cabrillo at night: CHECK. It is the first thing you seen when you drive into the parking lot: CHECK. It Directs visitors on where to go: CHECK. — I rest my case. It is a SIGN in the very sense of the word when you look at this and the location. It is anything but a mural with the words and placement. It is at the entrance onto private property from the Garden Street Parking lot that was built for visitors to Sterns Wharf. ??? So, how is a parking lot required by the Coastal Commission for Sterns Wharf directing tourists to the Funk Zone instead of Sterns Wharf? Something else is fishy here. Why would the City build a ramp to this property from the parking lot? Especially when the only real means to get to Anacapa St is the driveway which is unsafe for people to use. The driveway is narrow and an accident is bound to happen…. This access point needs to be closed.