Recently, Metro Parks Tacoma announced that it is rebranding, changing its name to “Parks Tacoma” and introducing a new, minimalist logo. According to their website, the rebranding is meant to simplify and strengthen the brand, and to reduce confusion about what programs the department offers.

Personally, I believe they are making a very big mistake. The new logo is fine, but it lacks the charm and identity of the old one. The old logo, featuring a wave to represent the waters surrounding the city, a tree to represent the city’s nature, and Mount Rainer, serves as a far stronger symbol for Tacoma. Furthermore, the money and resources needed to rebrand every park in the city, roughly $72,000, could instead be used for more tangible improvements to make our parks even better.

I realize that a city parks department changing its name and logo is a very small issue in the grand scheme of things, but as someone who grew up in Tacoma and has been going to its parks my entire life, the old logo with all its local and rustic charm is just so iconic and intrinsically associated with our park’s identity, and I’m sure there’s a lot of residents from several generations who feel the same way.

Cohesion shouldn’t have to come at the cost of identity. Metro Parks Tacoma is one of the best parks departments in the state, let’s let them know we like them just the way they are!