The privatization of public assets and corporatization of our public spaces as marketing is one of the three most dangerous trends in American life, locally as well as nationally. If the public owns it,and you/we definitely own our libraries it is essential we keep the public's name on it and assure that citizens retain the sense of ownership that keeps them willing to contribute to its continuing service.
It is a dangerous trend because the more politicians deprive our public institutions and assets of their ability to function in a word, starving them to death the more those institutions become willing to turn public assets into private ones - and we lose control and accountability over their construction and operation. It's being done to our education systems, our parks and open spaces, our libraries, and our civic arenas. The next thing you know, thanks to the Legislature's blind-siding their constituents, city halls, county courthouses and the state capitol will be called the Halliburton Capitol or the Minnegasco Library (I know, it's called something else now). Once you plaster a corporate name on a building or a park or anything else that's public, the ownership transfers in the mind's eye and ear to that corporation and we lose the sense of investment, perhaps the investment itself to the private, for-profit sector. It not only grants the corporation millions beyond its investment in unpaid advertising in perpetuity, it dissociates the public asset from its owners and their responsibility to maintain it. After all, the only thing the corporation pays for is the name on the asset, not the operating budget. Previous writers also correctly cite the strings that could attach to these contributions. Public building and other public assets should never become what amounts to a forever-billboard for their business. Andy Driscoll Saint Paul -- on 8/17/05 7:26 PM, md wrote: > > The question to ask when a corporation gives money > to a library (or to any other .org) is: > > WHAT..... do they expect in return? > > > Madeline Douglass > Kingfield REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
