Sunrise Manor signs are up

New postings help township express unique identity

F. ANDREW TAYLOR/VIEWSunrise Manor Town Advisory Board Chairman Russell Collins stands in front of the Sunrise and Frenchman mountains, inspiration for the new Sunrise Manor Township signs. Advertisement

What happens in Vegas, more often than not actually takes place in Paradise. The Las Vegas Strip south of Sahara Avenue is technically in the township of Paradise. The city of Las Vegas occupies an irregular L-shaped section of the valley. Much of the remaining valley is broken up into townships, such as Spring Mountain, Whitney and Winchester, a fact which is unknown even to many of the residents of those townships. The Town Advisory Board of Sunrise Manor is looking to change that.

The board requested that the county produce and install "Entering Sunrise Manor" signs at a dozen or so locations at the township's borders. The county was only too happy to comply.

"The city of Las Vegas started doing that a while ago, refocusing on their old subdivisions and helping them create neighborhood community groups," said County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani. "It's all about identity and building a community. Now with all our foreclosures and empty houses you want to do everything you can to make sure that people feel they know their neighbors and can be supportive of their neighbors."

The project is the brainchild of Russell Collins, longtime member of the Sunrise Manor Town Advisory Board, who recently took over the chairmanship of the organization. The signs feature a simplified outline of the Sunrise and Frenchman's mountains, the twin peaks that dominate the skyline of Sunrise Manor. A capital S and M sit in the middle with the S overlapping the mountain line. The S stands in for the rising sun, with rays emanating from it.

"I was describing my idea to my daughter," Collins said. "She took a picture of it with the camera in her cell phone and brought it to where she works, and they used that for the design."

The actual design work was done at Fast Signs at 3973 S. Maryland Parkway. Collins' daughter Miriam Avila works there as a customer service representative, and the company volunteered its designer's time to create the logo, despite the office being outside of Sunrise Manor's jurisdiction. Avila confessed to feeling pride when she saw the signs up.

Collins noted that several signs were up already and that others would follow, after some technical hurdles were cleared.

"We're trying to get them established on all the entry points to Sunrise Manor on major roads," Collins said. "One of the difficulties we're having right now is that public works says we can't do it on state highways, and I'm saying bull squat, because you do other things on state highways."

One hurdle that won't have to be cleared is coming up with funding for the signs. The signs are being produced in the public works sign shop, the same place stop signs and other road signs are made. Giunchigliani noted that they are using recycled signs at no additional cost to the county or the Town Advisory Board.

"My liaison is going to be putting agenda items on the Winchester and Paradise town boards to see if they'll have a similar request, as well," said Giunchigliani, who is commissioner for District E, which includes parts of those townships, as well. "If they want to do something like that, I think it's a great idea.

Contact Sunrise and Whitney View reporter F. Andrew Taylor at ataylor@viewnews.com or 380-4532.