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The Saga of the Kent Nagano Berkeley Banners has taken on something of the quality of a 19th century German symphony, with enough tension and plot twists to keep the audience abuzz through the intermission, sincerely convinced it’s getting its money’s worth.  

Will the world-class hero conductor gain his rightful honors in the town of his long-term triumphs? 

Will his fans beat back the querulous bureaucrats and barricaded barristers? 

For now, nobody knows for sure. 

Nagano is celebrating his 25th anniversary as conductor of the Berkeley Symphony, and symphony officials had hoped to mark the milestone with his picture on 30 banners strung up throughout the city’s arts and downtown district. 

The banners would temporarily replace the Downtown Berkeley Association banners currently flying throughout the city’s downtown and arts district. 

But the effort to honor Nagano stalled late in the summer after the city’s Acting Manager of Economic Development Thomas Myers said that it would violate the Berkeley’s stringent banner ordinance, which, Myers said, “prohibits [the hanging of banners in public places] to promote private activities or organizations.” 

Sturming to the rescue, Councilmember Dona Spring enticed City Council into setting up a schedule to consider revamping the city’s banner ordinance to allow the Nagano banners to be hung. That ended up on the back burner when it appeared that ordinance revisions would not come in time for the banners to be hung by the end of the symphony season, June 18. 

Representatives of the symphony, the mayor’s office, and Councilmember Spring thought that a compromise solution had been worked out Sept. 16 when—in consultation with the City Attorney’s office—City Council unanimously passed a resolution to host events in connection with the support of the arts and the Arts District, to issue a proclamation honoring Nagano’s anniversary, and requesting the City Manager hang banners in downtown Berkeley relating to the events. 

The resolution was crafted so that by being hung in accordance with a city-sponsored event, the Nagano banners would comply with the city’s banner ordinance. 

But the symphony’s opening night concert came and went Sept. 29 with no banners in sight. Councilmember Spring says that the banners have “been approved” by the city. 

City Attorney Albuquerque refused to comment for this story. 

And while symphony Director of Development and Marketing Jennifer Easton believes that an agreement to allow the Nagano banners is close, it is not yet in place. 

So what’s the holdup? 

“There’s still a hitch in the city attorney’s office,” said Easton. “We got over the ‘city-sponsored event’ hurdle. The next hurdle is how long the banners can stay up.” 

According to Easton, the city attorney’s office is interpreting the Sept. 16 Council ordinance as allowing the banners to hang for only three to four weeks. 

“The city attorney’s office is saying that there needs to be a timeliness between the date on the banner and the period of time that they are up,” said Easton. “They’re saying that if the sponsored event is on Feb. 15, for example, we can’t have the banners up from Jan. 1 through April 15, but only for about three weeks before the event and no more than a week afterwards. So the symphony is trying to see if there is a possibility of putting multiple dates on the banners, and if the city attorney would be okay with that. That would allow us a longer time to put them up.” 

Easton said that three to four weeks is not enough time to justify putting up the banners. 

One consideration is finance. 

Easton says it will cost the symphony approximately $70 apiece for the labor costs to hang the banners on the city’s poles, with another $70 apiece when they have to be taken down, adding up to a cost of $3,500 for what the symphony is now projecting as a 25 banner project. 

A spokesperson for Sign-A-Rama in Berkeley, a company which the Downtown Berkeley Association sometimes uses to hang its signs, said that the $70 estimate was reasonable. Sign-A-Rama did not provide the bid for the hanging of the Nagano banners. 

For her part, Easton said that she “almost fell on the floor when I heard that number. Who knew? That’s why we’re doing a limited number of banners.” 

Easton said that, given the cost, the symphony can only justify flying the Nagano banners if they can stay up long enough to drang up some lucre for the symphony’s fundraising efforts. 

Easton explained that the symphony is now trying to coordinate the raising of the Nagano banners with the removal of the Downtown Berkeley Association’s upcoming holiday season banners in January, thus cutting the symphony’s costs in half. 

The other time consideration, says Easton, is how it reflects on the community’s appreciation for Nagano. “I mean, three weeks—that’s how long you put up for the Pancake Breakfast. For us it would be terrific if we could get the banners up for three months. More if we could get it. The best of all possible worlds would be for them to stay up through the rest of Nagano’s 25th anniversary season.” 

Still, Easton understands the city’s dilemma concerning the Nagano banners. 

“The huge issue here is free speech and access to public property,” she said, explaining that city staff members are concerned that allowing the Nagano banners might open the door for Berkeley’s myriad political and religious associations to ask for equal treatment. “It’s a precedent thing.” 

“The small issue for the city—which is a large issue for us—is honoring Kent Nagano,” Easton continued. “We kind of got stuck between a rock and a hard place on this one. [The city] want[s] this to happen, but they want it to happen in such a way that they don’t get caught down the road.” 

Easton said that the symphony is currently revising the banner design and expects to bring it back to the city manager’s staff for discussion and approval within “a week or two.” 

She said that because City Council has already expressed its intent on the issue—to honor Kent Nagano—she hopes that the matter can be resolved at the City Attorney’s level without having to go back before Council again. “Everyone would like to avoid a rancorous public debate on this.”