The votes are coming in fast and furious. The "Greenbush Path" is ahead by
far. Early next week I'll fire up the vote counting computers and produce a
final Florida-certified tally.
I've so far tried not to influence the choice of names except in subtle
and insidious ways but it's time to get a grip.
Two ideas have been floated, both of which deserve a sound drubbing.
First, I'm not dead so no path should/can/will be named after me.
Thanks though to all the kind words from folks that suggested it. You'll
have to arrange for an accident if you want to pursue this idea further.
Second, the "Southwest Path" has the sex appeal of a parking ticket.
However, it is being promoted by a very small but powerful elite. It's a
bad name for the existing path and a worse name for a new path that doesn't
even head southwest. Come-on this town is full of creative people and we
can't come up with a better name than the southwest path? Why not just give
all our streets numbers and be done with it?
The new path heads to the North-West for most of its length and while
it does connect to the existing southwest path at its western terminus, it
will also connect to the Blackhawk Trail eventually, probably somewhere
near Mills Street. As Mike R. so kindly pointed out, the path was first
conceptualized as a connector to what is now the Blackhawk Trail. Should we
therefore, name the new path that serves as a link between downtown paths
the Blackhawk-Southwest-Brittingham Park Path?
We have interesting and historically tied Street names in this city,
why name out bike paths as if our creative spirit has been replaced with a
shopping list?
The Greenbush neighborhood has a long and interesting history. For
photos and some of its history see:
http://www.wpr.org/hereonearth/archive_050814k.cfm
Since the new path passes through the Greenbush neighborhood and the name
seems to be popular, why not use this as an opportunity to add additional
color to our great city and remind us of our historical ties? When we
retain a link to our past we are better equipped to move into the future.
I'm not promoting my favorite name here, it's not even in the
running. What I am doing is suggesting that Madison can and should do a
whole lot better than the "southwest path".
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