El Barrio's Wildly Controversial Sign

I'm not very involved with El Barrio's design. I white-boxed the space, and most everything else is up to them. However, contractually I do have the right to approve or disapprove the signage. Not that I didn't trust the Trattoria guys' sense of style; I just wanted to make sure there weren't a bunch of bright lights aimed into my window. They showed me the sign design a couple of weeks ago, and I quickly nodded approval. The sign was so unobjectionable that I was surprised when I read on Jeremy Erdreich's excellent Bhamarchitect Blog (where you can see a picture of the design) that the Design Review Committee tabled the vote. The issue seemed to be that it projects over the street, despite the fact that The Metro Bar, only a half block down the street, recently hung a projecting sign. Not to mention that half a block in the other direction What's on 2nd?, Urban Standard, and Rogue Tavern all have projecting signs. Even though I wasn't really involved, I'm still feeling like the kid who got picked last for the kickball team.