Will the City of Milwaukee get a new flag? The Common Council sends the issue to the Milwaukee Arts Board

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Milwaukee may soon have a new flag.

But will the city actually make the change? The answer is blowing in the wind.

Rather than voting on a proposal to make the "People's Flag of Milwaukee" the official flag of the city, members of a Common Council committee on Thursday sent the issue to the Milwaukee Arts Board for its consideration.

Council members said they would ask the Arts Board to report back by Dec. 31.

Sunrise Over the Lake (Robert Lenz). The sun rising over Lake Michigan symbolizes a new day. The blue bars in its reflections represent the city's three rivers and founders.

If the measure is eventually approved by the full council and Mayor Tom Barrett, the People's Flag would replace the current flag — which has flown for more than six decades.

The People's Flag, a design known as "Sunrise Over the Lake" by Robert Lenz, won a 2016 contest and has since become ubiquitous around the city — appearing on bicycles, beer cans and bottles, Koss headphones, cars and even Milwaukee Brewers baseball caps.

Supporters of the People's Flag gathered at City Hall for Thursday's Steering and Rules Committee meeting to help lift the flag's chances of getting council approval.

"Flags really do have power," said Steve Kodis, a graphic designer who is leading the flag effort.

He described the flag as the sun rising over Lake Michigan, "symbolizing a new day." Kodis said MIlwaukee has long struggled with its identity, and would benefit from a unifying image to bring the city together.

"The brand of Milwaukee is beginning to change. For the better," Kodis told council members.

He added that the flag could grow to more than just a flag, but ultimately a symbol for the city.

Kodis read a statement from John Gurda, a Milwaukee-born writer and historian, who urged city officials to "make it official."

And Ken Hanson, the executive director of the Greater Together nonprofit, stressed that this has been "entirely an exercise in civic pride."

Graphic designer Steve Kodis (rear) and the flag's designer, Robert Lenz (second from rear), give a presentation on how the new flag's design came about and what elements make a modern flag design. On screen is the new proposed flag. A committee of the Milwaukee Common Council heard from a group of graphic artists and individuals who did a presentation on what's become known as the People's Flag to become the official flag of Milwaukee.

Ald. Robert Bauman insisted that the measure should go before the Milwaukee Arts Board, which could consider the proposed design — and whether Milwaukee needs a new official flag. He said the flag design should be a more inclusive process, adding that some of his constituents have been "offended by the design."

Ald. Milele Coggs noted how similar the new flag is to the Reno flag, but People's Flag advocates say their flag came first.

Ald. Mark Borkowski amended Bauman's proposal by setting a six-month deadline for the Arts Board to report back to the Common Council.

Ald. Robert Bauman said he knows people in his district who do not like the new flag and that he had concerns that the process used to select the People's Flag was not inclusive enough.

Lenz said he was just glad "that we're here at City Hall talking about it; that's a huge step." He said he was "totally fine" with the decision to send the flag to the city Arts Board.

However, he didn't agree with concerns raised about the flag's similarity to Reno's flag.

"There's a lot more similarity between the American flag and other flags," said Lenz. "There are a lot of similarities between flags (in general), because they're represented by simple shapes and colors."

Kodis was disappointed but "sort of expected this to be the case." He was adamant that every effort was made to include the community in the process, noting that "we received submissions from all over the world."

The streamlined yellow, blue and white design would replace Milwaukee's baby blue flag — which is packed with a montage of images including a ship, the old County Stadium, a Native American, and a giant stalk of wheat honoring the city's brewing industry.

Ald. Russell W. Stamper II questioned the use of white on the people's flag, and why the designers described white as a symbol of "unity."

Milwaukee's current flag has gotten some national attention in recent years — but not in a good way.

The official Milwaukee flag, adopted in the mid-1950s, was created after the city organized a contest, gathered about 100 submissions, and then an alderman pulled together a bunch of designs onto one flag.

Roman Mars, a radio host and design expert with a self-described flag obsession, once labeled Milwaukee's flag "a hot mess" and the worst he's ever seen.

But some have rallied in support of the existing flag, which was designed by former Ald. Fred Steffan.

Marion Steffan Koch, Steffan's daughter, called Mars' comments "an insult to the history of Milwaukee" and her father.