Carson City needs new signs for the times

New "Welcome to Carson City" signs on the three gateways to the city are long overdue.

Now is the perfect time to put up something fresh, significant and permanent, as the highway entrances to the city are pretty much set for at least the next few years.

The "Welcome" signs in place now are meager, at best. At least they are better than the old ones, which looked like they came from an original Kit Carson stockade.

The gateways to a city form the first impression for visitors. They show either a sense of pride and place, or they show a decided indifference to the quality of the city they represent.

As the state's capital, Carson City needs to display its status and its respect for history. Not a neon sign, like the one famous around the world for Las Vegas. Not an arch over the street like the Biggest Little City of Reno.

The three design proposals unveiled last week for Carson have their own charms. As much as the designs, we like the fact they could be substantial - up to 14 feet tall. That'll attract attention.

At the same time, somebody ought to see how many signs along the gateway highways could be removed or consolidated.

That should be part of the effort to provide better directional signs to tourists. As they stand now, there is a sometimes-baffling array of individual signs - some green, some blue, some brown - pointing people to a variety of government, recreational and public sites. We suppose there's some logic behind the scheme, but to us it looks like every government agency in Carson - which would be a lot - came along and posted its own sign.

Businesses know their signs tell customers everything about them. Carson City's signs now send this message to visitors: cheap, cluttered and inconsistent.

That's not exactly the image the capital should convey.