Frontiering For Some

Frontiering for some but not for all. There has been plenty of confusion all around about where the money came from for this re-naming Abilene project.

"I think the money spent on the project, with people here in Abilene could've done the same thing. It's just a joke with $100,000, they could've helped a lot of people in Abilene," Gary Raughton, and Abilene resident said. 


 This is where the confusion starts. Many residents are blaming the city for spending any money on the "Abilene Frontiering," brand name. They think the money could've gone to more important things. 

"It  could not have gone to paving streets, except maybe in the downtown area. It could not have gone to putting in new water lines. That money had to be spent on the development of in downtown; a very specific geographic area in the downtown area,"Council Member, Stormy Higgins said.

The break down of the money spent on this nickname is as follows. The overall price tag rang up to somewhere $100,000. The City Council pitched in that $30,000 from TIF funds, aimed towards redeveloping downtown and ultimately contributing to tourism.

Aside from the money concerns, some residents simply just can't accept the new name.

"It's too much. It's not even a word. I mean how? Look at all the children in this town. They look at it and they think it's a word. They try to spell it. It's not even a word," Abilene resident,Tom Morgan said.

The City Council gave us this statement: "The City of Abilene has not yet had the opportunity to discuss the new branding strategy; therefore, there are no immediate plans for implementation of the Abilene Frontiering brand. In addition, no funds are currently budgeted for the community branding project."

Abilene Cultural Affairs hasn't even brought the logo and brand to the City Council's attention.

Cultural Affairs is free to start applying, "Abilene Frontiering" logos to their signs, but the current City of Abilene logos seen throughout town are not going anywhere, atleast for the time being.