Garish: Rebecca Hartley, Laine Hyde and Paul Layer
The Town of Vienna's Commercial Board of Architectural Review has a rule that no color can be 'garish' on a sign or building. That's it. No objective guidelines. Rebecca Hartley, Laine Hyde and Paul Layer make up whatever they want depending on how they feel at that moment. See the problem there? As you watch this compilation of video from the last meeting below, keep in mind, the questions and comments from Board members are all made up on the fly. There are NO guidelines, no master plan, nothing except busy bodies getting their jollies off being in control.
There is no rule that says you can or can't use orange, purple, pink, green or whatever. There is nothing that talks about selecting colors that don't 'surprise', whatever the hell that means Ms. Hartley! Does Ms. Hartley's big law firm Thelen Reid & Priest LLP know what she does on the side to the people of Vienna? What kind of person says something so off the wall? The biggest problem for any sane person for all of this is the appearance of Maple Avenue in Vienna. This Board is in charge of its appearance. These inane questions, not rooted in any law, supposedly make Vienna beautiful. Yeah, right.
Comments
Great point! Why should Shirley Damon's 'opinions' matter? Why doesn't the LAW matter? Oh, forgot, there is NO substance to this law! Some observations of Shirley Damon's decision-making process while sitting on Boards in Vienna:
1. She is a close friend of Maud's & is heavily influenced.
2. She often appears to be incoherent.
3. She appears coached in advance of meetings.
4. Ethics? Don't expect such from Damon.
The Town knows this law is Unconstitutional. It's only a matter of time until they are challenged...and lose. Why is none of this fixed? Maud's deceased husband wrote this law and she doesn't want to admit it is a farce and diminish his legacy.
We hear the 'cry' that this site should be about issues not people. Sorry, the people, many of whom are corrupted, drive the issues.
Posted by: Historic Vienna | July 22, 2006 07:14 PM
Do you want to know what is *really* garish?! That orange in UVA's logo!
Posted by: W&M Alum | July 22, 2006 09:04 PM
Hey, not that I would paint my house orange, but I did attend and graduate from UVA and I proudly support their colors, even if you W&M'ers complain. To the point, without real guidelines or real rules, these appointed cronies have no basis in law to say anything one way or the other. It's all irrelevant, and as it usually goes in Vienna, if you have the money like Prudential, for example, you get what you want, but otherwise you should be willing to swallow whatever these clowns want to force down your throat. Now that's what I call wrong. That is why we need to get new people on the Council.
Posted by: Matthew Stich | July 23, 2006 02:09 PM