My town, the city of Cleveland Heights, wants to brand itself. Not with a hot poker, but with a new logo and slogan.

You can read about the proposed logos here.

They came up with the slogan “We choose this” and a few different logos.

Most of the public reaction that I have seen to the slogan “we choose this” has been negative.

I think that the folks that proposed “we choose this” are trying to express the notion that the people that call Cleveland Heights home have other options but are proud to live here, by choice.

Here’s the thing: that’s just not that factual. Net population in Cleveland Heights is falling. People are choosing to leave.

There are neighborhoods in our region where people are choosing to move. Look at downtown for example, or the Detroit Shoreway area. People are moving in and buying up old properties.

I’m in Cleveland Heights and I’m not a bitter curmudgeon. I think there are some wonderful things going on here. But we need to step our game.

I’d rather that the slogan references how we welcome a wide range of people here, and we want to improve ourselves without abandoning our history.

But “we choose this” comes off more like “love it or leave it”.