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The name game

Over in Cambridge, some people want to rename the Lechmere area not because some developer thinks his millions entitle him to name it after his luxury condo/retail project but because Old Man Lechmere turns out to have been a cranky anti-American slave owner. On the other side of the river, some equally Croesussian types think "Downtown Crossing" isn't a good enough name for the gilded city within a city they want to build atop the ashes of Filene's. That gets Mike Mennonno to thinking:

... A third overpaid consultant then went in for the kill: "Now, 'luxury' has no negative associations. How does 'The Thomas M. Menino Memorial Luxury Living and Shopping Promenade' grab you? On a big glittery gold-leaf sign stretching over Washington Street all lit up with twinkly Christmas lights all year round?" ...


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Comments

Hmm. You seem to have a problem with the people at NorthPoint wanting to change the name. They are paying for part of the relocation and rebuilding of the new station, something sorely needed. Are you suggesting that they do it for nothing?

Why did we rename the Auditorium stop "ICA"? Why should the ICA have a stop named after them? Why should JFK/UMass be named after a private museum? Why should Charles St/MGH be named Charles St/MGH? Why the hell should the Aquarium, and the MFA get stops named after them, and no one else?

Oh, right, if it's a corporation that wants something, they shouldn't get it.

Sorry to break it to you, those other places are corporations, too.

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i really doubt that most of the things you just named are relevant comparisons.... i think the museums, university, and hospitals are on the stops because of the social weight they carry in the community, and also because they are spots that tourists may be looking for.

the northpoint developers arent moving the T station because of altruism or naming rights alone. Some of the development is on currently and formerly MBTA-owned land, and the move and construction was written into the deal

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The North Point developers are getting the land now occupied by the current Lechmere station. That is all they need to get. Leave the station name alone.

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They should rename the ICA T stop, especially since the ICA has moved.

But if we had to rename everything because some ancient white dude had slaves, we'd have to rename our country's capital city.

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I'm just a middle-aged white girl from the Fenway, but it strikes me that the real agenda here is to send all the school-skipping young people of color to, well - ELSEWHERE.

It's like a form of racial eminent domain, - rich, white guys takin' back the 'hood in the name of, um, luxury retail.

Downtown Crossing is a very vibrant street scene right now,- it just doesn't appeal to the people with money.

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