Today I linked from the Main Street WIRE web page to the FERI Institute web page for the planned memorial. I was somewhat taken aback at language indicating that donors of $100,000 or more may have "naming opportunities" at the site if the memorial is built.
I am not so naive to not realize that with big donations come the "right" to attach one's name to a project but somehow I had not heard of this practive attached to this project.
Every time I visit great museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art here in NYC I can't help but notice the benefactors names listed on the walls and be amazed at their generousity. But I don't recall seeing such "walls" at outdoor memorials before. They must exist but I guess where such memorials were built as national memorials I figured the funds were mostly government monies etc. Perhaps I am somewhat naive.
Anyhow I had not heard of this before in regards to this project and the idea somehow bothers me. What's your opinion?
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FDR has been dead for 63 years, and Eleanor for 46 years. Aren't there enough things that have been named after him already, like this entire island, and the Drive that faces it?
ReplyDeleteFDR's legacy is mixed at best. On the minus side, he stood for a big and overreaching public sector that soaks up way too much of the private sector's tax dollars and does not yield a good or efficient enough product. NYC and NY State still have not learned this lesson, as spending continues to spiral even in the face of recession. Until fundamental and structural changes are made to both state and city governments, they remain subject to the rise and fall of the economy to a greater extent than should be the case.