In today’s news, the National Park Service is planning to “allow the naming of benches, bricks and rooms” after donors. I can see it now – the “Bill and Melinda Gates Grand Teton Restroom Facility”.
The policy does raise some ethical questions:
Putting pressure on park superintendents to raise money “is like sending them into an ethical swamp without a flashlight,” Ruch said. “Say a big telecommunications company gives a very large donation. And six months later, they want to put a cellular tower at Mount Rushmore. The park service might very well be in a position of not wanting to displease a donor.”
I have mixed feelings about this. The Missouri Botanical Garden did this a few years ago and now every last inch of the Garden is covered with names. There are now brick sidewalks (with names on each brick), benches with names, buildings with names. They even built “entrances” to separate parts of the garden so that they could put people’s names on them. This has raised a lot of revenue for the Garden but it does somewhat take away from the enjoyment of the natural aspects of the Garden.
The retired park services employees are afraid of that very thing:
Don Castleberry, formally the regional superintendent of national parks in the Midwest, argued in an interview that national parks function as an escape from the commerce and advertising that is so pervasive in society.
“Naming bowl games after corporations is one thing, but as commercialization has increased in our lives, it seems to me that it is more important than ever to keep our national parks free of it,” he said.
I have two pet peeves about the naming craze. I hate corporate names on things because it’s too much like advertising. (Oh, let’s just say it – it IS advertising.) I don’t mind personal names IF they are in honor of someone else. I hate it when people buy space to put their own name on things. It’s just crass.
If you want to comment on the proposed policy:
Public comments on the plan can be sent by e-mail to partnerships@nps.gov.
Instead of seeing potential profit in every aspect of government services, we need to have some things just for enjoyment by the public. I have spent much time in the national parks of the southwest and can’t imagine the negative impact this might cause for these national treasures. Teddy Roosevelt must be rolling in his grave at the thought. Then again, perhaps we really do need a banner across the Grand Canyon advertising Windows 2006.
If there is a frog pond in one of the parks, we could take up a donation and name it after BT.
But seriously, I agree with you. We’re having an intra office contest on who will sponsor the Arch. McDonalds? A Croquet manufacturer? A magnet company?
Thanks for the link.
I don’t mind as much if they’re individual’s names on bricks as much as I mind if it’s the BankAmerica Liberty Bell Pavilion or the Mutual of Omaha Large Cat Exhibit at the National Zoo, with grainy B+W footage running on a monitor off to one side of “Jim wrestling a lion while we slowly load the tranquilizer dart gun.” (I’m probably dating myself with that reference.)
Maybe I have socialist leanings in that regard. Maybe it’s because I grew up Catholic, and in our parish church there were little plaques with people’s names under every stained glass window and “Stations of the Cross” painting, so I’m used to seeing individual benefactors noted.
Done discreetly (those brick will wear smooth soon enough) as a thank-you to donors, it’s OK. (I wouldn’t mind if Booman wanted to do it to defray site expenses, for that matter.) Naming a whole building, stadium, etc. after a big business is just tacky. And in the long run, not much good anyway: I was watching the NBC evening news with my 17 year old recently, and they mentioned “Rockefeller Center.” He asked “Do the Rockefellers own NBC?” I told him I thought not, but had to go to “the internets” to find out what the connection was… fame is fleeting.
I agree, though, that even the discreet little names can be overdone. Fifty years ago, my father was in Europe with the army and had a chance to go to the little village in the mountains of Italy where our family originated. When I asked him, years later, what he remembered of it, one of his strongest memories was that every one of those little church-plaques I mentioned earlier had our family name on it (we have an otherwise very obscure last name), LOL.
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The Houston Enron Baseball Park – what ehh .. happened?
Dick and Kenny Boy, do they have an energy meet behind bars yet?
RAI24 News – Fallujah Massacre
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
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It’s MinuteMaid Park now. That’s the downside of naming things — if the company goes out of business, the name has to change. Just like the TWA dome here in St. Louis became the Edward Jones Dome after TWA went bankrupt. My favorite tacky name here in St. Louis occurred when Ralston Purina bought the hockey arena and named it the Checkerdome. That didn’t last. Although I guess all the name changes bring in more revenue for the “thing” that’s being named.
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PS I recall the St. Louis Purina Factory and Storage was destroyed by a great dust explosion.
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
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How did you end up in the Netherlands?
BTW — I always love that Creve Coeur Indian story.
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My Recollections of 60’s and 70’s :: Add Yours (Poll)
Through an immigration organization Catholic Welfare (CW), we shipped out from the port of Rotterdam on March 7th, by an ocean liner of the Holland-America Line -was a Dutch troops carrier after WWII to wage war in the colony of Indonesia -. The 10-day journey was of itself an adventure, as soon as the Dover straight meets the Atlantic Ocean, and the waves start to look pretty awesome. Via Halifax, Newfoundland, the Groote Beer arrived in Hoboken, NJ. Unfortunately, a thick fog prevented us from viewing Manhattan and the skyscrapers.
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Union Station in St. Louis
In my employment, I focused on international corporations and got the chance for a job opening in the Benelux and said: “Oui”.
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
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for the Viagra Old Faithful pavillion.
Excellent!