November 4, 2024 – Board of Trustees Meeting – Village of Arlington Heights, IL/Discussion of the downtown signage program begins at 46:38. YouTube Tips ⓘ
The Village of Arlington Heights Clock Tower Plaza with the statues “THE PROTECTORS” (a firefighter rescuing a child, and a police officer interacting with a child) may soon be overshadowed by a $71,000 illuminated billboard in front of the plaza. If the village board approval comes to fruition, the classic-style plaza, which was initially dedicated to represent 100 years of private and public partnership in Arlington Heights, will be upstaged by a gaudy 3.5-foot sign consisting of letters that spell ARLINGTON HEIGHTS on top of the short flagstone seat wall and ledge that borders the plaza.
The obstructive sign, apparently concocted by Village Manager Randy Recklaus to appease a new downtown business alliance concerned about potential business losses from new development at the former Arlington Park, would certainly be a snub to the recognition of police officers and firefighters. The $155K project is also claimed to be intended to create hashtag or Instagramable spots for photo opportunities.
The sign will block the view of “THE PROTECTORS” from the frontage of the public property, and will prohibit or detract from a delightful feature that allows people to sit and relax on the short wall and, for example, watch a sunrise, a passing train, or other activities downtown. The ARLINGTON HEIGHTS sign at Clock Tower Plaza would also distract eyes away from the Arlington Heights electronic message board at the northwest corner of Arlington Heights Road and Northwest Highway.
In a village board meeting, village trustees and the mayor approved unanimously the ‘ARLINGTON HEIGHTS’ sign (cost: $71,000) to be located near the southwest corner of Arlington Heights Road and Northwest Highway, and a ‘DtA’ sign (cost: $84,000) to be located in Harmony Park near the intersection of Vail Avenue and Campbell Street. The total cost, besides the loss of good taste in downtown Arlington Heights will be $155,000. Apparently the village board members don’t apply the same restrictions to their own signage, as they do to business owners striving to gain their own public recognition. Village board meetings often involve strict detailed reviews over minuscule details for sign review, drive-thru menus, etc. for businesses.
Arlington Heights could literally be on the cutting edge with a sharp-edged metal sign that could seriously injure someone if they are hoisted atop the 8-foot ‘DtA’ letters and then slip and fall onto a sharp-edged letter.
‘DtA’ represents “Downtown Arlington Heights” and will be developed into a brand for downtown, according to a decision based on an unscientific focus group (in the words of Randy Recklaus). However, when village trustees conducted their own informal polling, only Trustee Nicole Grasse and Trustee Wendy Dunnington confirmed that they were aware that the initials ‘DtA’ are defined as Downtown Arlington Heights.
The other trustees did not confirm that they were aware that ‘DtA’ was a popular term by a young crowd that uses it to refer to downtown Arlington Heights. However, they decided anyway to approve the $84,000 price for the eight-foot brushed silver sign that will be placed in Harmony Park. There was some uncertainty about the validity of the ‘DtA’ meaning, and none of the people involved with a discussion mentioned conducting research regarding the variations of meanings possible for DtA. Unfortunately there are vulgar and negative definitions associated with “DTA” in popular culture (see the end of the article, but warning; it’s graphic).
Apparently the primary protagonists for the sign at the November 4, 2024 meeting of the Village Board of Arlington Heights are Village Manager Randy Recklaus, and then Village Planner Charles Witherington-Perkins (now retired).
Village Manager Randy Recklaus provided background of the downtown sign development, saying that the last couple of years, “as Alfresco kind of settled into a permanent reality, we all began talking about how we keep this going? How do we preserve this going forward? How do we keep this, you know, experiment as it initially was, making it more permanent, keeping it relevant for future generations; and, one of the things that we talked about that we didn’t feel we had where we wanted it, was identifiable signage, and so we talked both about signage that would be kind of on the outskirts of the downtown — identifying to people who maybe aren’t familiar with the area, but then also having some playful elements because we know if we want be relevant. Recklaus explained, we have to be relevant to young people, and young people tend to like to take their pictures in front of identifiable elements. Recklaus added, and so, you know, one of the things we talked about, with a Committee of the Whole Meeting and back in July 2023 was having what we called an Instagrammable spot in our downtown, where people could take a picture, and everyone knows what that is, and would instantly identify it. There were a couple of variations that were described. Basically, you know ‘AH’, ‘DTAH’, spelling out “Downtown Arlington Heights”. At that time the board was supportive of the general notion. We asked that we be able to continue to refine it. Money ended up being put in the 2024 budget. We continue working on that, and in the ensuing months we worked with the new downtown Arlington Heights Downtown Business Association (sic) (Alliance), and their input, which was confirmed by a fairly exhaustive, but admittedly, unscientific focus group that considered many of our teenage and 20-something children, was “what do you call downtown Arlington Heights when you’re texting about it or talking about it, and what we’ve settled on was “DtA”… that’s what seemed to be the consensus that that’s … “Do you want to go to DtA tonight and so that’s what we were proposing. So this was proposed in a memo that was kind of a refinement of what the board had seen in July 2023, and approved in the budget conceptual we put that in for that to get board feedback in July 1924. Generally, the feedback that we received from the board was generally positive, but obviously we have to vote and discuss these things, so we put it on this agenda under consent, and we’re happy to talk about it, and whatever detail the board would like.
PASSES UNANIMOUSLY, ANYWAY
Recklaus: “admittedly, unscientific focus group”
Recklaus: “I mean, there’s no magic to this. This is not science. This is art.”
Recklaus: “you need to grab people when they’re young, get them to make it a habit where this is a destination, and then when they’re our age, they’ll continue to come.”
Recklaus:”This was informal, I mean, literally all the staff and different people involved” (CARDINAL NEWS NOTE: Of course, staff could be pressured to please their boss in this unscientific focus group)
Bertucci: “had no idea what DtA was”
Bertucci: “trouble with ‘DtA’ not reaching a wider group”
LaBedz: “I’ve never heard the reference of ‘DtA”
LaBedz: DtA “strikes me a little weird”
Grasse: “I am in support of any kind of public art”
Tinaglia: “I’m afraid that it (DtA) may not be in the exact right spot”
Brooks: “DtA wasn’t even on my original list … but people said it’s what the young people use.
Brooks:”EXXON didn’t mean anything until somebody decided to make it a brand and spend several million dollars making it mean gasoline” (Exxon, by the way, a former company name also became synonymous with major oil spills, cancer alley in Louisiana, and benzene leaks, is now ExxonMobil).
National branding expert quoted by Brooks: “(DtA) not perfect, but it is your strongest brand to use for downtown”
Rose: “Once you know what it means, you know what it means.”
Witherington-Perkins: “DtA sign came in at $84,000 — over the $70,000 budget”
Trustee Bertucci was the only trustee who applied serious scrutiny to the project, asking, “So I get the concept, and I think there’s two pictures that I’d like to see … the one that’s going to be on Northwest Highway, and the one that’s going to be in Harmony Park; and I don’t know if we could put them in together (in voting) or they’re going to have to be separate (in voting).” Bertucci added, “The one (sign) on Northwest Highway I really don’t, and never did have any problems with, especially since that at one point in time we went through various iterations of ‘Arlington’ … ‘AH’ and we all agreed that ‘Arlington Heights’ for the people (passing by) on Northwest Highway would be the best thing. Bertucci was also concerned with full disclosure to residents regarding the cost of the signage.
Bertucci was OK with the ‘Arlington Heights’ sign, but has issues with the ‘DtA’ sign. He said he had no idea what ‘DtA’ was. Secondly, he said he did his own polling in the last year-and-a-half with his two 30-year-olds, and they have a lot of friends, so he started at that age group. He said, “My daughter was like, ‘Dad, I don’t know what you’re talking about.'” Bertucci said he thought “maybe it’s younger than that” Next, he started talking to even the younger crowds. Bertucci said, “I have my significant other’s daughter, who is in high school and now a freshman in college, and … ‘DtA’ … no we don’t use that term (DtA). Bertucci added, “So I’m not hearing that it (DtA) was being used.” Bertucci said, “I don’t mind something, you know, thinking about something, maybe here (at that location), but you know again in full disclosure to the residents. I mean that’s an $84,000 sign of ‘DtA’, and how many people are gonna ask. And a lot of the people that are down there — the spenders — are, dare I say — you know there’s a lot of gray hair down there and that maybe more of the money in the restaurants, and … they’re gonna be saying ‘What the heck is DtA?'” Bertucci said he would vote 100% for the Arlington Heights sign on Northwest Highway but that he wasn’t convinced about the ‘DtA’ thing, and he would like to vote against, if that meant he had to vote against the Northwest Highway sign too.
Village planner Charles Witherington Perkins, who, along with Recklaus, was also pushing for the signage project, explained more details. He explained that in July 2023, he made a presentation to the board and talked about enhancing the downtown entertainment district and the public area that the village can invest in to keep Arlington Heights on the cutting edge, and to be the premiere community that it is. He said there were concerns from some businesses about the potential future of the former racetrack site development and explained that the village wants to see the future development have the ability to enhance downtown and not detract from it, and so this is one of several elements that we talked about at that July 2023 meeting, including The Vail Avenue permeable Streetscape project the village has a contract with V3 engineering. They’re doing the Phase 1 engineering to really make a pedestrian area in front of Harmony Park and make that feel like it’s a plaza when the streets are closed, and it can be open for traffic when it’s not, but it looks like it’s “meant to be” (a plaza) as opposed to just the street that’s closed.
In 2023, planners looked at the Clock Tower, and considered two locations — one was in the grass, and one was on the wall, which is actually a small wall with a ledge around the clocktower that is great for sitting and relaxing on a nice day. The placement of Arlington Heights letters on top of the ledge would prohibit or detract from allowing people to sit on the ledge.
Perkins then presented a variety of some of the inspirations considered for placement on the ledge. Perkins also took photos in front of a museum in Philadelphia outside, observed people there taking photographs in front of that sign, but of course Arlington Heights wouldn’t have a famous museum behind our letters. [Wondering, was that trip to Philadelphia expensed out for research for the downtown Arlington Heights signage project? … adding to the total cost of the project?]
Various versions of the sign were considered, including “ARLINGTON’, DOWNTOWN ARLINGTON HEIGHTS’, and ‘ARLINGTON HEIGHTS’. The downtown business alliance members liked the placing of the lettering on the curved wall or ledge in the clock tower plaza. Eventually it was decided that “Arlington Heights” was much better than just saying “Arlington”. The lighting can be changed so different times of the year it can be different colors and this will be really really cool your image for Arlington Heights, according to Perkins. There are almost 16,000 vehicles daily along Northwest Highway, and a comparable amount on Arlington Heights Road. Therefore, almost 30,000 of vehicles will pass the Arlington Heights sign every day. The option to put the sign in the grass closer to Arlington Heights would have added addition expense for the base. The grass option was rejected. Instead the option that blocks the view of ‘THE PROTECTORS’ and blocks the view of the downtown architecture in the background was chosen.
Next, Charles Witherington-Perkins explained the ‘DtH’ sign. The Harmony Park sign consideration also started again in July 2024 when planners presented this. It started off as just ‘AH’ but there was negative feedback. The planned letter heights ranged from 6 to 8 feet in height. In August 2024 planners started looking at ‘DtA’ and initially expressed ‘what does that mean?’ and then with the survey and informal survey that Randy Recklaus referenced ‘DtA’ and then with the downtown business alliance developed their logo and they use ‘DtA’ with vibrant colors and things of that nature, according to Witherington-Perkins. He added, they looked at ‘DtA’ with the village’s colors, but that made the sign too muted and too dark. Witherington-Perkins explained that the plans call for changeable uplighting for the ‘DtA’ sign, as well. Next, planners decided on white lettering. Chrome was also discussed with the sign manufacturers, but they don’t recommend white or chrome because of the potential for glare during sunsets. The planners then finalized on a brushed silver material with the returns in in the red that reflects the villages colors.
Requesting feedback from the downtown business alliance, Witherington-Perkins explained there was a 6-foot tall option, and an 8-foot tall option. The downtown business alliance supported the 8-foot option, thinking it would be more visual and impactful. The downtown business alliance asked about the use of their logo colors, but that request was denied.
The bid for the ‘DtA’ sign came in at $84,000 — over the $70,000 budget. Witherington-Perkins said there is money and a surplus in the Arts and Entertainment Fund, and that the planning staff recommended approval of both of these signs.
“We think it’ll have a big impact and continuing to show investment in downtown and support the business community and the customers that come downtown.”
— Charles Witherington-Perkins
Trustee Robin LaBedz also mentioned, “I’ve never heard the reference of ‘DtA’, but then I don’t have kids in that age group or other people in that age group that might use it.” She added, “one thing that I can really see happening with this, you know how the little kids run around and play, they are gonna … they are gonna love it. They’re gonna climb through the ‘D’ and they’re gonna … they’re gonna crawl under the ‘A and you know I can see this as being very playful. Even though it also strikes me a little weird — just DtA — but I can see the playfulness of it, which I think is pretty cool.”
Of all the board members, only Bertucci mentioned liability, but assumed that was liability was considered.
Trustee Scott Shirley asked if there is going to be an effort to brand this, or to try to have outreach “because I think it could catch on right with people that do this kind of stuff … it’s not me, but it’s fine, but I could see that there could be some opportunity to kind of brand it, or to have some outreach for younger folks and draw them to this thing for picture-taking opportunities and such. Is that absolutely part of the plan?
Randy Recklaus replied that with the DtA brand, I know we have, represents downtown, and was absolutely part of the concept, including the hashtags.
Trustee Wendy Dunnington commented, “I shared that that’s what my kids referred to downtown as — ‘DtA’ — so I definitely hear this expression a lot. I think it makes a lot of sense because if it was just ‘AH’ it could be anywhere in Arlington Heights, but with the ‘DtA’, it’s in the right spot, so I think that this is the right design for this area.”
Trustee Nicolle Grasse commented, “I just want to add that I am in support of any kind of public art especially that’s focusing on this downtown area. I think it makes a lot of sense because it’s exciting to hear this term used a lot, not by me, but others. I have a daughter who uses it, but also some people in my book club actually use it too. So I do hear it a lot. I think it’s the first of what I hope can be many different special pieces of public art in our village.”
Trustee Bertucci mentioned has had trouble with ‘DtA’ not reaching a wider group, including the older crowd. He asked Recklaus, “What was our sample?”
Village Manager Recklaus answered, “This was informal, I mean, literally all the staff and different people involved … we all asked ’cause there were a couple of different names (initials) and so we just asked them, you know, what is it? … is it DtA, is it DTAH, and that was the answer.”
Trustee Bertucci replied while Randy Recklaus, “So it was you and three other people, Randy?”
Recklaus replied, “Oh no, it was more than that. It was a lot of staff, but to answer your question directly, Trustee Bertucci, I think the sentiment is if you look around downtown Arlington Heights on a given Friday or Saturday, we’re not having any trouble attracting people our age … you know we’re doing pretty well in that regard and the idea is if you’re going to continue to be successful, you need to grab people when they’re young, get them to make it a habit where this is a destination, and then when they’re our age, they’ll continue to come. But, I mean, there’s no magic to this. This is not science. This is art, both the item itself and the hope that this will attract people so there’s no right or wrong. We’re just trying to come up with something that reflects the world.”
Trustee Jim Tinaglia commented, “Randy I think it’s cool. I like it. Something tells me … Let me ask a question is this going get brought in fully-finished, fully completely done and set with a crane? Do we know?
Charles Witherington-Perkins replied, “I’ll have to, uh, get back from exactly how the manufacturer is going to do it. I would imagine they would pre-make it in the shop and then it would be set on a concrete base. There will be a concrete base. I probably won’t have it until the weather breaks next year.”
Tinaglia continued, “So I like it, but I’m afraid that it may not be in the exact right spot, and I have this dream that at some point, someday … there is a permanent stage for bands and entertainment, so we don’t have to keep renting stages. And I can imagine as The Bean down in the city is walkable all the way around. This to me feels like it’s just kind of pushed off to the side and it’s not really like like the fountain out in front that you can all be a part of and sit around and walk around. Could this be someplace? … Could it be moved down the road to a different spot in this park if we redesign that park a little bit, that’s all I guess I’m asking.
Witherington-Perkins replied, “yeah, so we talked about that and we did two things, one we actually, for both of these signs, we actually had public works create two letters in the exact size. So for the Clock Tower Plaza they created a couple of letters and for here (Harmony Park) … and we had a couple of guys walk around holding these plywood letters up, and we moved them by the fence and it just blocked the view of the park couldn’t see anything. We looked at where the stage was and it would you know block that. We looked at where the bike rack is just to the right of this picture, and then it would block the stage. So this was the best location for now, but yes, it could … they could be moved. They’re gonna be anchored into a concrete base there will be electrical and there will be an electrical control box so you know that it would cost money to move, but it could be moved.
Village Manager Randy Recklaus added, “If I could go further Trustee Tinaglia, I mean, I think one of the things that we thought about because I think you’re aware of a long-term plan to make this more of a plaza and perhaps a curbless street, and having a permanent stages, we didn’t feel that putting it there would conflict with that. We felt that the rest of that could be kind of incorporated around it that you know that and it wouldn’t take away from the kind of programability of the park or plaza whatever ends up being in the long run. That was one of the reasons we set it there, but that being said yes, we think it could be potentially moved.
Trustee Tinaglia replied, “I can imagine where if the stage was up a few steps then it was all concrete, I can imagine this thing being in the back of the stage even so that every photograph that ever gets done, every group that ever performs on that stage, that’s the backdrop of it. And so I think it’s cool. I like it. I just … I’m hoping that if your vision of this Plaza happens down the road, and things change, that we could possibly lift that thing up and put it in a different spot without having to re-create everything … that we re-buy everything, that’s all.
Charles Witherington-Perkins replied, “Yeah, it could (be moved) and the bigger project is gonna be much, much more money … so to move this piece … it would cost money to move, but it would be a small piece of that bigger project.”
Trustee Thomas F. Schwingbeck, Jr., who is running for mayor in 2025, did not comment on the downtown sign project.
Chip Brooks from Nonny’s and Ernest Rose, from law firm DKM&O, who are board members of the Downtown Arlington Heights Business Alliance, spoke to the village board. Brooks mentioned that the members have been meeting sort of as a downtown hospitality group “off an on” for four or five years. But that it was really just this year that we decided to try to make the move into trying to expand to be a full downtown business association, so the organization has gone from about 12 members to about 40 members currently. Chip Brooks said, “I know there are people in town that have tried to prevent that from growing, but the association is growing.” He told the board that members pay $100 for a businesses without a liquor license, and $250 for a businesses with a liquor license.
Ernest Rose explained to the board that the downtown business alliance had 13 board members at the last meeting when the downtown signs project issue was discussed by the alliance, and disclosed that everybody was supportive of the plan.
Bertucci asked Brooks and Rose if they understand what ‘DtA’ means.
Ernest Rose replied, “I might be in the group that you’re talking about … I’m not a young man anymore, but in the under-40 crowd. I would note that my wife would probably disagree about us spending money downtown, as would Chip … I spend a lot of money there (Nonny’s) … but yeah, I think that’s a term that’s used regularly, and I also think we have to be a little bit forward looking on this, right? We can put the letters Arlington Heights there. People would know exactly what we mean. It’d be two feet tall because that’s what’s affordable here, but this is something that is dynamic. Art is edgy. It’s fun. People will take pictures, and the second time someone comes downtown, they’re not going to say what’s ‘DtA’, right? Once you know what it means, you know what it means; and it will get a definition throughout the town. And I will tell you, we went through every iteration of what those terms mean. We had eight people scratch their heads at everything, right? You say ‘DtAH’ … people say I hate that, you say ‘DtA’ people say I hate that. You say ‘Arlington’ some people didn’t like just the ‘Arlington.’ So any of these things we would be having this same conversation — probably with a different board member, but we have to do something.
Chip Brooks added, “Just a little bit of context .. part of our group when we decided that we would form as a real group and really promote downtown Arlington Heights in order to do that, you need a brand, and a brand or something that you build through advertising use. It doesn’t come to you just from heaven. EXXON didn’t mean anything until somebody decided to make it a brand and spend several million dollars making it mean gasoline, right? So our group said you know we are gonna make a brand for downtown, and we looked at dozens of different possibilities. We engaged a national branding expert to advise us on this. Trustee Bertucci I’m with you. ‘DtA’ wasn’t even on my original list. I wasn’t familiar with it, but people said it’s what the young people use, and what Ernie said is right … the young people are the future of our downtown. They are the people that we’re going to build our downtown on. And so after going through a lot of different possibilities, our branding expert said really ‘DtA’ … It’s not perfect, but it is your strongest brand to use for downtown. And then with his help we also developed a specific logo that is built around that DtA brand. So the idea is to use that cooperative with the village to brand our downtown. We’re investing our money and using that brand to make it mean downtown Arlington Heights. So this is really just part of a cooperation between us and the village to make that brand economically meaningful for the town.”
Ernest Rose added, “That’s not our name. We are not DtA. We’re DAHBA which would look terrible on a sign. We’re trying to come up with something that we can use … everybody can use, not just the businesses, the residents, the musicians when they tell people where they’re playing. We want talking about “D-t-A.”
Bertucci added, “I’m that guy that looks at all angles. As much as it would be fun to have kids crawling all over things. I sit downtown a lot and take walks, and we have a lot of children up and parents chasing them because they go on the water fountain and that type of thing, so however it’s constructed, we just want to make sure that we know our liability, and do things to prevent liability if we’re going to do this. Because the kids to Trustee LaBedz’s, the kids will crawl all over it. So I would just suggest that we be very careful with that. If people understand, I’m not going pretend like I understand everything (about the culture), and if it is the future, and if that’s what’s going on, and we’re trying to brand something, then I feel a little bit more comfortable. My other point was to just make awareness. Maybe I just made a lot of awareness of ‘DtA’ … you know some maybe the pulling it off the consent agenda helped do that, and then also, just again, it just allows residents to see what goes through, and a little bit of how the sausage is made, and what the sausage costs. Bertucci caved and concluded, “I am in support.”
Mayor Hayes said, “I am in support this as well, and I think it will catch on very quickly, and is a creative idea … you gotta start somewhere when you’re talking about branding, and so I think this is a great idea that’s really gonna catch like wildfire.
Trustee Grasse moved to approve the resolution, approving the award of a contract with Michael Signs, Inc. for the downtown signage program. Seconded by LaBedz.
Roll Call …
Trustee Grasse: Yes
Trustee LaBedz: Yes
Trustee Tinaglia: Yes
Trustee Schwingbeck: Yes
Trustee Bertucci: I’m gonna say Yes
Trustee Shirley: Yes
Trustee Baldino: Yes
Trustee Dunnington: Yes
President Hayes: Yes
“Once you know what it means, you know what it means.”
— Ernie Ross, DKMO
Was Randy Recklaus Punk’d by His Focus Group?
Anytime marketers consider initials or a phrase that might be used as a slogan, etc., it is mandatory to do diligent research to make sure the initials or slogan don’t offend an identified protected group or protected class. It is also mandatory to make sure the initials do not represent a vulgarity, sexual connotation, or violent ideology, etc.
WARNING: SOME VULGARITIES BELOW!
Searching on Google, ‘DtA’ doesn’t seem to bring up anything controversial regarding protected classes, and doesn’t bring up vulgarities in the top search results pages.
However, searching ‘DtA’ on crowdsource website Urban Dictionary of popular culture slang and definitions resulted in some associations with some significantly troublesome definitions, especially considering ‘DtA’ is an unknown brand facing an uphill endeavor for recognition. Also, since the Urban Dictionary audience is typically young — in the 15-24 year-old range, and since Village Manager Randy Recklaus described his informal focus group at about the same young age range, it is difficult to ignore possible difficulty with the brand name ‘DtA’ meaning comprehension.
Urban Dictionary is used in court cases to define slang terms not found in standard dictionaries, and is used to understand incidents of threats, defamation, and harassment, etc.
Urban Dictionary is also used by linguists to track the development of slang terms in pop culture.
Following are significantly troublesome definitions for ‘DtA’ that would be considered controversial or vulgar in the general public. The definitions were retrieved on Sunday afternoon November 24, 2024 on UrbanDictionary.com for DtA (google.com/search?q=dta+urban+dictionary)
What does DTA stand for in popular slang culture?
Don’t Trust Anyone – self explanatory (a negative concept).
Dump Truck A** — describing a large “booty” (a degrading concept).
De*th to America — Used by Iranians to show their disdain for the west. Also used by anarchists/communists (anti-American terrorist lingo).
D*ck Taking Ability — describing a female with exceptional skills at pleasing a male (vulgar concept).
Down to Abort — describing a woman who is willing or expressing an interest and approval to get an abortion (controversial concept).
Down to Anal — describing a person that is willing or expressing an interest and approval regarding anal sex (vulgar or controversial concept).
Downtown Atlanta and Downtown Annapolis are clearly and accurately connected to DtA; however, Arlington Heights is not. ‘DtA’ is missing the ‘H’ for Arlington Heights because ‘DTAH’ is not stylish, and this contributes to confusion that could be long-lasting, and could prove to be vulnerable to any of the above Urban Dictionary definitions. The sign begs vandals to mark it up with any of the variety of these slang definitions. Imagine “Animal House” (Delta Tau Chi house) style pranks marking up the ‘DtA’ sign with the vulgar phrases.
