Modesto facing flap over flag contest?

When Julian Lopez Jr. heard Modesto may hold a design contest for the city’s first official flag, his response was: “We already have a city flag.”

And Lopez – who retired from the city in 2009 as a planning assistant – should know. The City Council named his design in 1988 as the winner in a city flag competition. And his flag flew at City Hall and elsewhere in Modesto for years. Former City Clerk and Auditor Norrine Coyle said the flag was displayed during council meetings in the 1980s and 1990s.

Former Mayor Carol Whiteside – who was on the council that picked Lopez’s design – recalls taking the flag with her as part of a delegation to Khmelnitskiy, Ukraine, one of Modesto’s sister cities. She said Modesto also brought its flag to the League of California Cities’ annual conference, which featured a parade of flags.

“I think it’s kind of silly,” Lopez said about the city holding another contest. “But there are new people at City Hall, new people in charge. ... I thought it was pretty funny. I know what I did. I did a pretty good job because they picked my flag (design). There are new players (at City Hall) and a new game. I’m not going to sweat that stuff.”

Lopez, 62, said his flag flew for years at Modesto’s old City Hall at 10th and H streets, but he said it no longer was flown when the city moved into Tenth Street Place, the city-county administration center that opened in November 1999.

Still, a city report from Community and Economic Development Director Cindy Birdsill about the new contest said the winning flag would become Modesto’s first official city flag.

“The City of Modesto has never been represented by an official flag,” according to the report. “In the early 1990s, a competition for a flag design was held among City employees, but, the winning flag design was not adopted by the City Council.” Besides being wrong about the year, Lopez said, the contest was open to all. He said the contestants who came in second and third as well as those who received honorable mentions were not city employees.

Birdsill – who has been with the city for about a year – said she and her staff were not aware of the history of the Lopez-designed flag. She added that city records show that the council did not adopt the flag as Modesto’s official city flag. The council received a presentation about the flag and accepted it during a December 1988 meeting, according to information provided by the City Clerk’s office.

Whiteside said there is nothing wrong with the city updating the images that represent it, as she said it did a few years ago with its logo. “If the current City Council wants to update the city flag,” she said, “it’s perfectly appropriate.”

Birdsill has said the new flag is part of the city’s efforts to create a positive image for Modesto and foster more civic pride among its residents. The idea for a new flag came from the city’s Culture Commission. The council will consider this at its Sept. 13 meeting.

If Modesto holds a second contest, Lopez said, he might enter it.

“I might just for fun, to see if I could win it again,” he said. “I’m always up for a challenge.”

This story was originally published August 25, 2016 at 6:58 PM with the headline "Modesto facing flap over flag contest?."