EMPORIA’S principal intersection — Sixth Avenue and Commercial Street — can hold its head up again.
The time and temperature sign, which had been dark since before Bank of America bought the bank some years ago, has finally been restored to operation.
In its darkness, the sign, jutting from the corner of the building, sent a misleading message to passersby about the bank and the downtown area in general. It sent the message that this was a business and a commercial area in decline.
In a commercially vibrant area, signs are kept clean and in good repair. When a sign is shabby, it’s a good bet that the business that owns it is on the way downhill.
Was Bank of America in trouble? Was downtown Emporia just a few tumbleweeds away from ghost-town status? Nothing could have been further from the truth, but that was the impression given to people driving through the intersection on U.S. Highway 50 or Kansas Highway 99.
Well, it took a few years, but the sign, which had been hanging like a black vulture on the corner of the bank building, is now bright and alive, faithfully reporting the time and temperature to all who pass by.
It is not that Emporia needed another time and temperature sign. Downtown alone, there are such signs on two Merchant Street banks and one in front of the Civic Building.
No, what Emporia needed was for there NOT to be a broken time and temperature sign at its main downtown intersection.
Should the community thank Bank of America?
Not really. The repair and refurbishing of the sign was not a bank project. It was the work of Jack Cassell of Brooke Insurance and Financial Services, which has its offices on the third floor of the building.
Good job, Mr. Cassell.
Patrick S. Kelley
Editorial Page Editor