Dear South Barrington Residents,

Below are remarks I recently made to our village board during "Open Public Comment". Your support is much appreciated as change can only happen when we have numbers!

My name is Terry R. Yormark II and I am a resident of
South Barrington. I intimately understand what a thankless
job you all have so it’s important I start by thanking you for
your service to our community. My comments today don’t
alter that appreciation.

In 1985, after 99 years of wild success, Coca Cola
decided to change its’ unique formula to a sweeter version
and rebranded it as “New Coke”.

In 2017, a short 4 years after the tragic Boston Marathon
Bombing, Adidas sent automated text messages to
participants that read, “Congratulations! You survived the
Boston Marathon!”

Since 1977 Cracker Barrel was identified by a unique logo
that helped separate itself from competitors -until a brilliant
marketing company convinced executives a new logo
refresh is exactly what the chain needed. Their stock
immediately plummeted 12%, and visitation fell 8%.

Now, right here in South Barrington, IL a City Leaders
approved new city signage that appears more like directional signage to a new economy modular Disney motel, or stops for the monorail, than representative of one of the Midwest’s most well healed communities.
(On a side note, when my young three children saw the
signage, they were VERY excited their beloved character
breakfasts might soon follow).

All of these monumental historic F-ups live thru the ages
because of one unifying unanswered question, “How can
such glaring gaffes make it thru so many smart people
on their long track to approval”?

In my short research for this signage blooper, I was
shocked to learn the answer is 4 years (dating back to
your first meeting June 17, 2020) and recent unanimous
approval. Truly scary stuff.

Our new signage leaves no need for residents to spend
their hard-earned money visiting Haunted Houses this
Halloween season, instead for FREE, they can drive down
the five entry points of our town to get the hell scared out
of them for how their tax dollars are being spent.

Instead of their intended “Welcoming” message, it’s
haunting to think of the effect these signs will have on depressing real estate demand and valuations of our beautiful homes.

BUT, unlike so many other residents, I’m not here to bitch
about the amount of taxpayer funds that were used to hire
the Steve Wonder Signage Design Company. Actually, I
call for additional funds to be dedicated to this project to
immediately fund the removable of these signs in short
order, leaving us an additional thing to be thankful for this
Thanksgiving.

Knowing some of you, I’d like to preemptively respond to
three predictable Board responses.

First - If these silly putty looking Chuck E Cheese signs
were chosen because of budget constraints, then please
allow me to share an important life lesson I’ve learned
years ago that has helped me along my way and that is
“JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN, DOESN’T MEAN YOU
SHOULD”. Simply, IF there was only a limited amount of
funds, the much better, wiser decision would have been to
just not do the signs at all. South Barrington has earned a
great reputation for decades without signage, so we’d be
just fine without signage replicating Terminals at nearby
O’Hare Airport.

Secondly, if you think I am the only one with an opinion
critical of these cartoon signs you would be mistaken. As a
fellow public official, I speak to our residents regularly and I can share out of 100 neighbors I asked about these signs, all but one of them agree for their immediate removal. (Another side note, that ONLY person that liked
the signage was a 92-year-old woman that is color blind,
and has double cataracts, and glaucoma. Really sweet
lady thou, incredibly kind. The signs reminded her of her
cat’s play set and that made her happy).

And finally, after four years of planning you may say I
had plenty of time for public comment….. and to that I
would say…. you are right. Like you, I’m not perfect and
God knows I’ve made a lot of disastrous mistakes too. But,
unlike you, it’s not my job, obligation, or fiduciary
responsibility to represent the best interests of South
Barrington. With several businesses, three young children,
and other commitments, I, like most residents, simply don’t
have the time to attend every meeting., Just as the
shareholders and stakeholders do for the company’s I
mentioned at the beginning of my remarks, We rely on
YOU for reasonable, sound judgement.

You failed us. You messed up. Big time.

But here is the good news! Each one of those companies
made it right!

Listening to the public outrage, In just three short months
after the “New Coke” was released the company brought
back “Coca Cola Classic”.

Adidas issued a heartfelt apology to runners indicating
they never intended for their text messages to be
interpreted in any connection with the bombing.

And Cracker Barrel fired their newly hired marketing
company, returned their old logo, and have paused
revamping stores with an updated look.

All three of these companies turned these historic gaffes
into business lessons for generations to follow proving that
with honesty and humility customers will not only forgive,
but create deeper longer lasting connections when
mistakes are made right.

That is why I am here today, to encourage you to correct
these cheap eyesores and make it right. I’m calling for an
immediate city ordinance to remove the signage. Win
back our trust and remove these signs before further
damage is done to our image.

If you want to do it right, wait until we have the funds to
build stone mason signage complimentary to signage
virtually every development in our wonderful village
proudly displays. Fire Stevie Wonder and go gather
inspiration from The Glen, The Ponds, South Barrington
Lakes, Hidden Lakes, The Arboretum, and Magnolia Point,
just to name a few. 

Do it right, or don’t do it at all.

Let’s build something we can all celebrate and be proud
of.

When that’s done, then we can talk about the equally
offensively bad new logo design, but hey,
Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Thank you for your attention to this Matter!