July 1959: Eisenhower calls for $500 million mass transit system to eb built by 1980.
September 1965: {President) Johnson signs legislation authorizing 25 mile, $431 million system.
November 1966: Johnson signs a bill creating the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). MD & VA governments sign on later the same month.
December 1969: WMATA breaks ground at Judicary Square.
With the next twenty-five or so years comes the occasional influx of DOT funds, the same as you might expect to see go to any state for use in public transportation projects. Would the feds do the same sort of thing to (for example) Iowa- withhold funding to get the name of a railroad stop changed to “John Wayne Station”? And what’s taking them so long to twist Maryland’s arm into changing the name of the Assowoman Bridge to something that won’t cause impressionable young boys to giggle & think unclean thoughts when passing by that sign while riding in the parent’s car?
The WMATA was born out of heavy Department of Transportation funding, to the tune of millions & millions of dollars- fine. But how does that give the feds the right to dictate station names any more than it gives them the right to insist that all the busses be painted bright fuchsia & have dippy-birds mounted on the dashboards? Why not make all states with the word “new” in their names change the color of the stripe down the middle of the road from yellow to orange?
Maybe in cases where public safety is concerned (like withholding money for failure to enforce speed limits) I can understand government nosing in on the state’s authority, but for the name of a freaking subway stop?
Oh but DC isn’t a state, you say? Oh well then I guess it’s okay in that case. :rolleyes:
Unnecessary arm-twisting by Capitol Hill, or a mountain out of a mole hill?
Bob Barr is a partisan idiot, no doubt in my mind.
The funniest argument I ever heard about renaming the airport (whilst I was covering the hill for a living)(two years of wading in muck up to my knees. Trust me folks, there ain’t a politician in this town worth his weight in shit, don’t let 'em fool you) was when I was told by a Republican staffer, “The Federal government is paying for it. It should be named after a president.”
Sorry guys, your wrong.
First,all he wants is for METRO use the correct name of the airport. METRO recently changed their signs to reflect the new stations and new names for stations but did not use the airports correct name.
Also, the airport was originally named for a city that was named after a president, not “named after a president”.
Well, but Metro didn’t have the “correct name” of the airport before either…the stop was always named “National Airport”, not Washington National Airport.
Also, when National was built, it was made quite clear that it was being named after George Washington., and that the “Washington” in the name referred to him.
And I won’t even get into the impropriety behind changing the name of the airport…that’s a topic for another thread.
I don’t want to split hairs with Capn, nor do I want to hijack this thread…BUT
Washington National Airport seems to me to have been named National not Washington. Look at other airports…the name of the location is generaly in the name. Also, I don’t ever remember a monument to George at the airport or anything else that would lead me to believe it was named for him. I wasent around in 1941, but people I know who were also seem to think the Washington in the old name of the airport refers to DC and not George.
The STCUM just changed the name of Ile-Sainte-Hélène metro to Jean-Drapeau. That was the name of a very long-serving mayor of Montreal, who brought us the Metro, Place des Arts and Expo 67. Of course, he ALSO brought us the Olympics and the accompanying stadium, the Decarie Expressway, and the expulsion of the gay community from downtown right before Expo. Oh well.
And then there’s Lionel-Groulx metro, named after a historian at the U. of Montreal, who originated out of thin air the idea that the conquest of Quebec had been an unmitigated disaster for the Quebecois. He therefore caused the next ninety years of political ninnyhammering from questionable scholarship, not to mention being a great big anti-Semite. sigh
The correct name? Is that all he wants? In that case I’m sure you are going to firmly support the following changes:
With regard to the following stations:
Smithsonian station: The word “Institution” must to all Metro maps & signs.
The Woodly Park-Zoo station: All literature & signage must be altered to read “Woodly Park-National Zoo”.
The Arlington Cemetery station must be acknowledged on all Metro maps as “Arlington National Cemetery”.
The L’Enfant Plaza station must now be known on all signs & maps as the “Pierre-Charles L’Enfant Station”. How could we stand for anything less when we are talking about the man who designed the plan for the Federal City?
The Lafayette Park station is about as close to the White House as the National Airport station is to the Airport. The name of the Lafayette Park station must be changed to “The White House”.
All signs reading “Foggy Bottom-GWU” must be changed to read “Foggy Bottom-George Washington University”, because the University’s correct name is not “GW”. (Not to mention, you would think that Howard University [Metro station “Howard U”], Southeast University [Metro station “Waterfront-SEU”], American University [Metro station “Tenleytown-AU”], University of DC [Metro station “Van Ness-UDC”] & Catholic University [Metro station “CUA”] should be up in arms because of the “incorrect” wording of the stations named for their campuses.)
The Capitol South station must now be known as “Capitol Hill South”, as it sits just south of Capitol Hill.
Excellent bit in this morning’s Post about this ridiculous matter. It brings up the facts that:
The National Airport Metro stop is not part of the airport, or operated by the airport, so whether its name matches that of the airport is irrelevant.
Name changes at Metro stops must be initiated by the jurisdiction in which the stop resides.
The National Airport stop is located in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
The cost of changing signs, literature and Metro maps throughout the system would cost Metro about $400,000.
So Barr is using the threat of withholding money for further Metro development in the District to coerce Arlingotn Co., Virginia into doing something they don’t want to do (petition to change the stop name) and to get Metro to do something they don’t want to do (change all their signs). Barr just wants to hear Metro drivers say the words “Ronald Reagan” dozens of times a day to satisfy his own sense of hero-worship. This is the most important thing on Bob Barr’s mind right now.
Tell me again why we continue to put these jokers in office?
Long distance relationships just don’t work, hon. You can consider us virtually married as long as you don’t start nagging me for at least three years.
I especially like this suggestion from Guinastasia’s
‘Name everything for Reagan’ link:
To honor one of the last requests of the late Sen. Paul Coverdell (R-GA), we are working to lobby Congress to put Ronald Reagan on the $10 bill
Hmmm:
Ronald Reagan, a OK president
an so-so actor
Alexander Hamilton, Founding Father
Fought in Revolutionary War
NY Delegate to Constituional Conventions
Author of Federalist Papers
First Secretary of the Treasury under new constituion.
And so on.
Well, maybe the protrait could be a composite of both of them playing ping-pong together or something.
Although your post had me in hysterics, I should point out that the Ronald Reagan Freeway (originally known by the unwieldly name of “The Simi Valley-San Fernando Valley Freeway”) does serve a purpose, as it is the main artery between Los Angeles and the bedroom communities of Simi Valley and Moorpark. (Whether that counts as equivilent to “nowhere” is up for debate.)
On the other hand, there’s the Marina Del Rey Freeway (SR-90) which is basically a glorified offramp. It used to be known as the “Richard M. Nixon Freeway.” Now THAT was an appropriate name…
Don’t let anyone fool you into thinking that the renaming of the National Airport station is something new–this controversy was in the papers here over a year ago. Maybe not with Barr’s name attached, but present all the same. Then, as now, Metro balked.
Metro could have very well changed the name when they made up new maps and signs just a couple of months ago. They added several stations and had to change everything anyway.
Or they could have done it last year on at least two occassions when they changed the name of a couple of other stations. There may be reasons Metro doesn’t want to do it; but money ain’t it.
Changing the name of even a midline station would require a huge amount of work. It would require replacing
all the line maps in all of the stations in the yellow and blue lines;
all the system maps in all the trains;
all the system maps in all the stations;
all free maps (both rail system and full system);
all publicity;
all electronic systems that use that station’s name;
all signage inside the station;
all mention of that station in the “times and fares” boards in all stations in the network;
all internal documents,
for starters.
At least the Jean-Drapeau renaming is taking place gradually over several months so that the maps that need to be replaced are being replaced in the course of the normal quasi-yearly updates. Of course, this means that half of the maps say Île-Sainte-Hélène and the other half say Jean-Drapeau, with no explanation.
(Incidentally, I’m also pissed that the new maps don’t say something like “anciennement Île-Sainte-Hélène” or something. That station serves the Expo 67 grounds, a major park, historical spots, the Casino, the Biosphere, and La Ronde amusement park - basically, lots of tourist spots. Come summer, I’m anticipating a lot of tourists with out-of-date guidebooks scratching their heads over maps with no mention of the old name, going “so where the hell’s Île-Sainte-Hélène?”)