Opinion
I firmly believe that changing the name of Kelseyville would be a mistake.
My wife and I set our roots down in Kelseyville years ago. We are raising our three amazing children here. We farm pears and run a manufacturing company here in Kelseyville. We are deeply involved, and invested in the community of Kelseyville.
My wife and I were fortunate enough to have had an opportunity to purchase Stokes Ladders in 2012. My grandfather, Russell Stokes, founded Stokes Ladders, in his garage, right here in Kelseyville in the early 1960s. Ever since then, we have been sending our Stokes ladders of all shapes and sizes to customers from all over the US and Canada, to South America, the Middle East, Europe, and Australia.
On each one of these ladders over the past 60 something years, we have proudly stamped into the step: STOKES LADDERS, KELSEYVILLE, CA, right at eye level, on hundreds of thousands of ladders. Over the years, the font and styles have changed, but it has always displayed KELSEYVILLE, CA in all caps. There are people all over the world who have seen our name, KELSEYVILLE, CA.
When you change a name, you change a brand, you change our identity. Kelseyville has been building its brand for decades. I recently read a brilliant article by Brian Fisher: “A sucker punch to the people of Kelseyville.” He described in great detail all of the brand work that has been done on our behalf to build the name of Kelseyville into what it is today. He would know more than most the importance of brand recognition as a marketing executive.
I have a great example of this from last June. My brother was married in Palisades, California. I had never heard of this place. I had to look it up to know where it might be. This was pretty unusual as a guy who has lived in California my entire life, outside of military deployments.
I have always been interested in geography, so I am very familiar with the state of California. I didn’t realize until I was there that I was in what was previously known as “Squaw Valley, California.” I bet everyone has heard of Squaw Valley, California. If I were to look up “places to go snowboarding,” I probably would have scrolled right past Palisades to a different name that I was already familiar with.
I want to set emotions aside for a moment, and look at what would happen if we were forced to change our name.
By forcing the town of Kelseyville to change its name, which is interchangeable with brand, you will be doing so in full and complete understanding and recognition of the negative economic impacts you will be imposing on our town.
Business on Main Street is already tough enough. Main Street as everyone knows is the heart of Kelseyville. Any reduction in foot traffic, whatever the percentage, will directly affect Main Street’s bottom line. The bottom line that puts on all the events we know and love here in Kelseyville, and which brings in much needed tourism. The bottom line that affects the local employee’s ability to earn a livable wage.
A name change will have a negative economic outcome for our entire community, either directly, or indirectly.
By forcing this on our town, you will be forcing this reality on all of us, including the citizens you think you are helping.
Greg Panella lives in Kelseyville, California, home of “STOKES ORCHARD LADDERS, KELSEYVILLE CALIF” circa 1960s and “STOKES, KELSEYVILLE CA, USA,” present day.
My wife and I set our roots down in Kelseyville years ago. We are raising our three amazing children here. We farm pears and run a manufacturing company here in Kelseyville. We are deeply involved, and invested in the community of Kelseyville.
My wife and I were fortunate enough to have had an opportunity to purchase Stokes Ladders in 2012. My grandfather, Russell Stokes, founded Stokes Ladders, in his garage, right here in Kelseyville in the early 1960s. Ever since then, we have been sending our Stokes ladders of all shapes and sizes to customers from all over the US and Canada, to South America, the Middle East, Europe, and Australia.
On each one of these ladders over the past 60 something years, we have proudly stamped into the step: STOKES LADDERS, KELSEYVILLE, CA, right at eye level, on hundreds of thousands of ladders. Over the years, the font and styles have changed, but it has always displayed KELSEYVILLE, CA in all caps. There are people all over the world who have seen our name, KELSEYVILLE, CA.
When you change a name, you change a brand, you change our identity. Kelseyville has been building its brand for decades. I recently read a brilliant article by Brian Fisher: “A sucker punch to the people of Kelseyville.” He described in great detail all of the brand work that has been done on our behalf to build the name of Kelseyville into what it is today. He would know more than most the importance of brand recognition as a marketing executive.
I have a great example of this from last June. My brother was married in Palisades, California. I had never heard of this place. I had to look it up to know where it might be. This was pretty unusual as a guy who has lived in California my entire life, outside of military deployments.
I have always been interested in geography, so I am very familiar with the state of California. I didn’t realize until I was there that I was in what was previously known as “Squaw Valley, California.” I bet everyone has heard of Squaw Valley, California. If I were to look up “places to go snowboarding,” I probably would have scrolled right past Palisades to a different name that I was already familiar with.
I want to set emotions aside for a moment, and look at what would happen if we were forced to change our name.
By forcing the town of Kelseyville to change its name, which is interchangeable with brand, you will be doing so in full and complete understanding and recognition of the negative economic impacts you will be imposing on our town.
Business on Main Street is already tough enough. Main Street as everyone knows is the heart of Kelseyville. Any reduction in foot traffic, whatever the percentage, will directly affect Main Street’s bottom line. The bottom line that puts on all the events we know and love here in Kelseyville, and which brings in much needed tourism. The bottom line that affects the local employee’s ability to earn a livable wage.
A name change will have a negative economic outcome for our entire community, either directly, or indirectly.
By forcing this on our town, you will be forcing this reality on all of us, including the citizens you think you are helping.
Greg Panella lives in Kelseyville, California, home of “STOKES ORCHARD LADDERS, KELSEYVILLE CALIF” circa 1960s and “STOKES, KELSEYVILLE CA, USA,” present day.
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- Written by: Greg Panella
It’s time for everyone to stand up and speak out about the proposed name change of Kelseyville.
To start with, if you were to change the name of Kelseyville, the taxpayers would be paying a tremendous amount to enforce the name change of state and county offices/districts and businesses, such as the Kelseyville Post Office, Kelseyville Schools and Kelseyville Fire Departments … just to name a few.
With the fire department it’s not just a simple statement of saying, “We will have a new sign on the building.” It’s having to remove all decals on every truck and every building and pay for new decals and labor to put them on.
Additionally, it will be changing all uniforms as well as badges and/or hats and anything else that has the name Kelseyville in it.
A good example of an enormous waste of government spending was years ago when the state changed the name of “CDF” (California Division of Forestry and Fire Protection) to “Cal Fire.” Sounded like a good idea from some idiot who got politicians to agree to it and then realized they had to change all the decals on every truck in the state along with new signs for every “CDF” building and all uniforms, badges, business cards, etc. for every one of those employees in the state.
The cost ran into millions of dollars and what did it accomplish? Half (if not most) of the people still refer to it as “CDF,” and the bottom line is what does “Cal Fire” stand for? You guessed it, “California Division of Forestry and Fire Protection.” They perform all the same duties, but wear a different name at the taxpayers’ expense.
Regarding all of the Kelseyville schools:
You might erase the name, but good luck trying to tell people that they can’t say “I grew up in Kelseyville” or “I went to school in ‘Kelseyville’” or “ I’m gonna run into Kelseyville to get groceries and fuel.”
You simply can’t erase history, good or bad. Are all Kelseyville graduates going to destroy their Kelseyville yearbooks? I don’t think so.
From a business perspective: Do the proponents of the name change think they can force local businesses like Kelseyville Lumber, Kelseyville Pharmacy, Kelseyville Food Center and Kelseyville Appliance to change their name? Again, that’s just a few of the businesses that have the name Kelseyville in them.
Any business that supports changing their name, just go ahead and do it!
Local businesses will be hit with a huge expense, again, not with just a new sign on the building, but changing any clothing, advertisements and business cards, emblems and decals on their vehicles, etc.
Again, this is an unnecessary change that will have no effect on people who will continue to refer to it as “Kelseyville.”
The Board of Supervisors does have the power to take a stand on this issue, the supervisors could be unanimous on their recommendation to the Board on Geographic Names.
Tim Prather lives in Cobb, California.
To start with, if you were to change the name of Kelseyville, the taxpayers would be paying a tremendous amount to enforce the name change of state and county offices/districts and businesses, such as the Kelseyville Post Office, Kelseyville Schools and Kelseyville Fire Departments … just to name a few.
With the fire department it’s not just a simple statement of saying, “We will have a new sign on the building.” It’s having to remove all decals on every truck and every building and pay for new decals and labor to put them on.
Additionally, it will be changing all uniforms as well as badges and/or hats and anything else that has the name Kelseyville in it.
A good example of an enormous waste of government spending was years ago when the state changed the name of “CDF” (California Division of Forestry and Fire Protection) to “Cal Fire.” Sounded like a good idea from some idiot who got politicians to agree to it and then realized they had to change all the decals on every truck in the state along with new signs for every “CDF” building and all uniforms, badges, business cards, etc. for every one of those employees in the state.
The cost ran into millions of dollars and what did it accomplish? Half (if not most) of the people still refer to it as “CDF,” and the bottom line is what does “Cal Fire” stand for? You guessed it, “California Division of Forestry and Fire Protection.” They perform all the same duties, but wear a different name at the taxpayers’ expense.
Regarding all of the Kelseyville schools:
You might erase the name, but good luck trying to tell people that they can’t say “I grew up in Kelseyville” or “I went to school in ‘Kelseyville’” or “ I’m gonna run into Kelseyville to get groceries and fuel.”
You simply can’t erase history, good or bad. Are all Kelseyville graduates going to destroy their Kelseyville yearbooks? I don’t think so.
From a business perspective: Do the proponents of the name change think they can force local businesses like Kelseyville Lumber, Kelseyville Pharmacy, Kelseyville Food Center and Kelseyville Appliance to change their name? Again, that’s just a few of the businesses that have the name Kelseyville in them.
Any business that supports changing their name, just go ahead and do it!
Local businesses will be hit with a huge expense, again, not with just a new sign on the building, but changing any clothing, advertisements and business cards, emblems and decals on their vehicles, etc.
Again, this is an unnecessary change that will have no effect on people who will continue to refer to it as “Kelseyville.”
The Board of Supervisors does have the power to take a stand on this issue, the supervisors could be unanimous on their recommendation to the Board on Geographic Names.
Tim Prather lives in Cobb, California.
- Details
- Written by: Tim Prather
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