What price a Name? Proposed BWI Renaming (Political)

[Greebo]

http://wbal.com/stories/anmviewer.asp?a=28772

A proposal is before the Legislature to rename Baltimore-Washington International Airport to "Thurgood Marshall Baltimore-Washington International Airport".

The price tag for changing the name of BWI has been estimated at $2.1 million according to the state.

Never mind the "frequency congestion" issues associated with such a name change...

Maryland is operating against its state constitution in a budget deficit. The previous Governor, the last in a chain of 40 years of a single-party monopoly, did to the state budget in his 8 years what he did to the Prince Georges County budget before hand.

The MD Democratic Party, stinging from their loss of the Governor's Mansion for the first time in nearly half a century, has done all it can to railroad Gov. Ehrlich's attempts to balance the budget without putting the burden solely on the taxpayers.

Now a group of them want to spend 2.1 million dollars to rename BWI.

In a time of fiscal crisis for the state, one would THINK that state legislatures would be more interested in fixing the financial problems that plague the state from the Baltimore School System all the way up to the State Government. But instead, they want to spend money we don't have to change the name of an airport that doesn't need changing.

Now what I'm really waiting for? Because Justice Thurgood Marshall is a Civil Rights Icon, I'm just waiting for opponents of the name change to be called Racist...

 

[SJP]

http://wbal.com/stories/anmviewer.asp?a=28772

A proposal is before the Legislature to rename Baltimore-Washington International Airport to "Thurgood Marshall Baltimore-Washington International Airport".

As a Brit-expat, this stuff just makes me chuckle. We just don't seem to do this anywhere near as much. I can't even recall the last "Prime Ministerial Library" that was built

I can understand wanting to honor someone (like past presidents, civil rights leaders etc), but why name an Airport after them ? $2.1million for all the new signs etc just seems silly - whats wrong with a statue ?

In the same vein, how much do we spend every time we elect a new secretary of state here in Michigan (and have to change all the letterheads, forms, signage etc) ?

 

[Keith Lane]

Down here in Atlanta, our airport has been Hartsfield International for as long as I can remember. Named after a mayor of the 50's and 60's. Maynard Jackson, the first black mayor in Atlanta's history wasn't even cold, let alone buried, when the current mayor (a protege' of Jackson's as all subsequent mayors have been) started calling for the renaming of ATL to Jackson Int'l. Well it's now Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
There's a mouthfull. Fortunately only the flight attendants have to say all that. As in "Welcome to". I wonder what it cost the taxpayers.................