Reaction to logo mixed

By Sarah Schwager
THERE have been mixed reactions over the renaming of Greater Dandenong’s slogan from “Melbourne’s Second City” to the “City of Opportunity”.
The design for the planned logo and slogan was leaked to the Star last week.
Dandenong Residents and Ratepayers Association (DRRA) secretary Janet Cox said the DRRA was happy to see the slogan changed from “Melbourne’s Second City”, but was outraged that it had been done so without any community consultation.
“Instead of wasting money on consultants, a temporary project worker could have been employed to coordinate community events to redesign and promote a sense of ownership in the city logo,” Ms Cox said.
“Greater Dandenong may be a “city of opportunity” for some seemingly entrepreneurial council officers and property developers but this term has little relevance to the large number of socially and economically disadvantaged people who struggle to live here.”
But Dandenong Retail Traders Association (DRTA) president Roy Aspinall said from what he had seen, the logo looked “excellent”.
“It’s a fresh approach, a new approach. We had no problem with “Melbourne’s Second City” but these things need to be updated after a period of time,” he said.
Mr Aspinall said the logo had been discussed at a DRTA meeting recently and members had been overwhelmingly in favour of it.
“Greater Dandenong is an area of opportunity,” he said.
“There are endless opportunities around here, with the money VicUrban is spending…to around the city with the Drum Theatre opening.”
Dandenong Chamber of Commerce member James Sturgess agreed, saying there were many opportunities and positive changes happening in Greater Dandenong, including EastLink, Dandenong’s new Town Hall and many commercial industry developments.
“We’re on the verge of something good,” Mr Sturgess said.
“There are opportunities everywhere you look.”
He said the Chamber also liked the slogan “Melbourne’s Second City” but thought it was time for a change.
Mr Aspinall said despite some people saying there had not been enough community consultation, he thought sometimes it was good to let the experts come up with something practical and that worked well.