Once upon a time we used to name public buildings after prominent citizens we, for whatever reason, felt deserved that particular remembrance. Sometimes the applied names are even related to the facility's intended function. The Mahalia Jackson Theater For The Performing Arts seems like a natural fit, for example. Louis Armstrong International Airport, much less so.
The Louisiana Legislature tried and failed to rename the Superdome after former Governor John McKeithen, the man most responsible for its construction. Sometimes the politician most responsible for a monument's coming into being goes right ahead and names it himself. Huey Long named a bridge after himself. Marc Morial did the same for a bunch of trash cans.
But lately we tend to hold our public facilities nameless until they can be sold as billboards for whatever faceless corporate entity happens to have enough cash to blow from its advertising budget. So where once we dedicated these monuments to the memory of cultural icons or at least notable public servants we devote them now to the celebration of crass commercial corruption.
But I'm not writing this to whine about the devolution of old practices. Instead I'd like to propose we move forward by cleverly combining the old concept of naming things after prominent persons with the new one of celebrating hollow opportunism. One excellent way to do this might be... say naming the New Orleans Arena after Sidney Barthelemey.
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