Adopting this attitude strikes me as cutting off one's nose to spite one's face. If someone wants to make a donation to the library in order to get their name on it I say let them. If they turn out to be the next Enron, then we rename the library. If they don't, then the name is no more harmful than the Target Center or the Xcel Arena.
Naming things for corporate sponsors is an old tradition, and you probably use such names all the time without even thinking about it. Who was Seward? Nobody seems sure, but it doesn't make life in Seward Neighborhood any different than if it was called Neighborhood X. If naming it the Irwin Jacobs Public Library means that it's going to have a planetarium and three more full-time librarians than it would if it were called the Minneapolis Public Library, then by gum I say send Mr. Jacobs an invoice and hire someone to engrave the cornerstone. Fifty years from now kids getting off the hoverbus at the intersection of Hohmann Avenue and Riese St. won't have any idea who Irwin Jacobs was, nor will they care. They'll just want a good library, with a planetarium that they can use to study their astronomics in order to get a good Lunar job... Unless someone has a better idea on how to fund the library? Bob Alberti, President Sanction, Inc. Data Security http://www.sanction.net Cusp of Longfellow and Seward "A Tempest! Grab the teabag and hang on for your life!" _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:mpls@;mnforum.org Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
