After almost five years of work and despite requests to return to the drawing board, Newton City Councilors approved the new design for the City Seal on February 18, in a vote of 13-10, with one absent.
While even those who voted in favor of the change agreed that not every element was to their liking, Councilor-at-Large Rebecca Walker Grossman pointed out that “there is no design … that everybody is going to jump up and down for joy over. … It’s art. It’s interpretive.”
Echoing her words, Councilor-at-Large Susan Albright reminded her colleagues that “there is no perfect seal.”
None of the Councilors expressed support for the current seal during the meeting and agreed that it needed to change due to its problematic imagery.
As Fig City News previously reported, the Ad Hoc City Seal Working Group stated that the image included on previous seals “depicts a scene of Reverend John Eliot proselytizing to Native people, specifically the Massachusett, in 1646” and needed to change.
“The seal does not sufficiently or accurately depict historical events … the design [which was made in 1865] is outdated, unnecessarily complicated, and has degraded over time,” the group stated.
Before the vote, the Councilors who rejected the new image created by Sebastian Ellington Ebarb Design (SEED) criticized its simplicity and the choice of City Hall as its main feature.
“It doesn’t look very stately or very impressive to me,” said Councilor-at-Large Leonard Gentile. Although he moved to recommit the matter to the Programs & Services Committee, the Council ultimately voted to make the decision that evening.
Several Councilors who agreed the seal needed to change tried to convince their colleagues that Ebarb’s design was the wrong choice.
“Doing this right is more important than doing it right now,” said Councilor Julia Malakie, a member of the city seal working group.
“I don’t think this … seal is the right representation for Newton,” said Councilor-at-Large John Oliver, who added that he did not see his vote against Ebarb’s design as a vote in favor of the current seal.
However, Council Vice President David Kalis strongly disagreed, saying voting against the new image was a vote for the old, outdated one.
Like Grossman, he said, “this is a matter of taste” and that the seal could be changed again in the future.
Even though the working group began its efforts back in 2020, several Councilors made suggestions in the February 18 meeting for alternative imagery, including featuring the Charles River or historic buildings instead.
However, Councilor Bill Humphrey, a member of the working group, told his colleagues that the group had reviewed the same ideas earlier and that City Hall was the ultimate choice.
Councilor-at-Large Joshua Krintzman also reminded everyone that Ebarb had fulfilled his contract and that there were no funds for alternative images.
Now that the design has been approved, the next step will be to amend the current ordinance with a description of the new seal, said Krintzman.
As Fig City News previously reported, “The emblem will be replaced gradually, as materials need to be reordered in the normal course of the existing budget. This is not a large one-time expenditure; it will not happen all at once,” according to Hattie Kerwin Derrick, Newton’s Director of Community Engagement & Inclusion and a member of the working group.
The new image:
- Places the seal within a closed circle
- Adds a black line around the image itself
- Includes the words “Liberty and Union”
- Spells out both “City of Newton” and “Massachusetts”
- Highlights the year 1688 because that is when Newton became an independent township
- Includes a tree which “echoes the one on our current seal and amplifies Newton as ‘The Garden City,’” according to the Mayor. There are also bushes in front of City Hall, adding another natural element.
- Includes the words “Thirteen Villages”
- Features the color orange, since both high schools use it
Final vote on the design:
- Yes: Greenberg, Kalis, Humphrey, Albright, Baker, Bixby, Danberg, Downs, Grossman, Krintzman, Leary, Lipoff, Laredo (13)
- No: Gentile, Lucas, Malakie, Wright, Oliver, Farrell, Lobovits, Block, Getz, Kelley (10)
- Councilor David Micley was absent.
Ed. Note: We updated this article to include the final vote tally.
