Building Owners Object, Foster City Won't Budge

FOSTER CITY, CA-Corporate logos more than one story high remain unwelcome here, but business interests are raising an outcry over the forcible low profiles.

By Allison Landa | Updated on August 16, 2000

Foster City believes in signs of subtlety.

For the last quarter-century, the northern Silicon Valley city has stayed faithful to strict commercial-signage regulations prohibiting corporate logos more than one story high. And they’re not changing their minds now, even in the face of a screaming new economy.

The city council last week rejected a measure to revive discussion of the signage law. So for now, commuters over the Hayward-San Mateo Bridge may not recognize the U.S. headquarters of software company Inktomi Corp., since it has no sign visible from the roadway.

Local business leaders, including officials at high-profile developer Spieker Properties, want to reopen the dialogue to discuss possible signage compromises. Those include allowing commercial buildings to display corporate logos above entryways and permitting larger signs in front of buildings.

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