No matter what city you happen to live in, it will have a varying degree of true poverty. Maybe the local economy just now is not fantastic. Now, try to imagine that ten times worse than right now. If only your town or city could attract a major cash injection, esp one that wasn't in the form of a loan. That would totally transform the problems that might literally be killing your city, it's businesses, and it's people. But where does a town get a massive cash boost, of that type, in order to get that leg up? Well, since the US is often a byword for Capitalism, what if a corporation were prepared to sponsor your town, to the tune of some massive amount of cash, in return for the renaming rights of said town. How bad would things have to get, before you might consider this an option? Maybe you actually would not object that much, believing 'what's in a name', and that it is really what is happening within your town that really counts, in the end.
Last Friday I went down Red Bull Blvd and turned left on Red Bull St where the Red Bull Arena is located, to go watch the Red Bulls play. Such fun!
Of a fashion, OT, it actually does. Let us take European football clubs. There is a senior team in Austria, a club with a long and proud history, who, a few years ago, and against the wishes of the fans of said club, changed the name of their whole club to 'Red Bull', after the soft drink. Now, it is not uncommon for clubs to sell the naming rights of their stadium to a major company, something I am not really a fan of either, but this was something else, altogether. Anyway, what do you think, factoring in all that I said in the OP, what would your view be? Jack
Well to be honest, it really wouldn't matter much to me. An influx of cash would be great. But after the cash runs out and you wind up right back where you were before but this time you are stuck with the new name, like it or not. So I guess that my vote would have to be NO, not to change the name of my town just for some money.
Massive amount of cash...in form of a factory perhaps? That would be great. It would be a win win situation. Throwing money at a problem, in the end, just leads to more problems. Just like an animal in the wild will have to fend for itself, it has a better chance to survive, compared to one in a zoo being fed daily.
Try telling that to the many businesses that have benefitted from an outside cash injection. All depends how it is used.
Key is job creation, sustainable and well paying. Most everything else will fall into place. Jobs=taxes=infrastructure=less need for welfare/entitlements/unemployment=dare I say less crime because people are busy=most everyone is happy. Of course that's my simplified version of events.
I live in a town that was plotted, financed, and built by a rich oil guy in the early 1900's who wanted to create a widows and orphans colony and thriving industrial area to create jobs. He financed the schools, roads.....just awesome. Its thriving today. The widows and orphan's colony---is still in existence today, and helps people in poverty live in a nice house in a nice neighborhood, and is financed privately by the family trust fund. Capitalism can be very cool.
Two quick thoughts, then I have to run off to a BBQ. First - I'm opposed to another scenario like with Enron and the baseball stadium in Houston, TX. I really don't want to see my city - or any other city, for the matter - named after a corporation, and then later it's discovered that the corporation is acting in a criminal manner. Secondly - Are you going to limit the number of cities/towns that a corporation can name after itself? If not, then I predict we'd soon have WalMart, Alabama / WalMart, Alaska / WalMart, Arizona / WalMart, Arkansas / WalMart, California / WalMart, Colorado / WalMart, Connecticut / and so on. Lastly - Why stop there? Why not sell the naming rights of this country to the highest bidder? We could soon be known as the United States of China!
