In the News Index

Source: Philadelphia Daily News
Date: June 7, 2004
Byline: Jonathan Schmalzbach, Philadelphia

Letter to the Editor

In your "Skate Off" editorial of June 3, you write that "corporate sponsorship or support of municipal functions or properties is a tempting idea... but selling ourselves for a fast buck is a slippery slope we should avoid."

I suppose the $95 million Citizens Bank handed over for naming rights to our new ballpark should be returned, and we should call it the New Veterans Stadium. Let's also ask Wachovia, Lincoln Financial and Comcast to withdraw their names as we don't want to be complicit in "pimping ourselves." I suppose I'm tainted already because I've attended the Mellon Jazz Fest.

And no more July 4th revelry for me. Though our Independence Day celebration is a municipal affair, it is called Sunoco Welcome America! I feel like a john being serviced by corporate whores just by the thought of attending.

A slippery slope is a precarious situation that leads to disaster. In your advocacy of caution, can you seriously believe that Philadelphia will succumb to corporate sponsorship notions of "The Taco Liberty Bell" or "Liberty Financial's Independence Hall"?