Last month at the NAMA awards ceremony, Mayor Lioneld Jordan took the stage to officially proclaim April 23rd as Northwest Arkansas Musicians Day.
A few days ago at The New School’s ISACS accreditation ceremony, the Mayor proclaimed May 2, 2009 as The New School Day.
There have been a few comments both here on the Flyer and even in conversations I’ve had around town in the past few days that signify some confusion as to what exactly a proclamation is and how it’s conceived. Maybe we can help.
I already stated the following in a comment yesterday but thought I’d go ahead a re-post in our brief announcements section since we’re going to be discussing yet another proclamation that’s happening this weekend. More on that later…
Mayoral proclamations are requested by the public in order to recognize and commensurate special occasions or significant community or individual achievements. They’re thought to be a good way to help increase public awareness of your organization since you can usually convince the Mayor to stop by for a photo op.
In some cities, there’s a required written request involved and certain criteria must be met.
In Fayetteville, there are no formal rules written out but in order to even be considered, the event must have some kind of cultural, social or historic significance to the City. For individual proclamations, the person must play or have played some kind of significant role in the local community.
In other words, these things aren’t conceived in the Mayor’s office but are rather provided as a service to the public by the Mayor’s office.
Alderman Matthew Petty doesn’t think) this is the best way to go about honoring organizations and successes. What about you?
