Tuesday, September 27th, 2005...9:53 pm
The Doritos Cool Ranch Ft. Bowie Historical Site
Some of you may remember a contraversial hoax back in 1996, when Taco Bell claimed that they had bought the naming rights for the Liberty Bell. It turned out to be a gag, and Taco Bell donated money to a fund that paid for preservation of important historical sites.
Folks breathed a sign of relief when the gag was revealed, but some worried if it was a warning about what could be possible.
Richard Pombo, a Republican US House Member from Tracy, California, has suggested that $2.4 Billion could be raised by selling off some of our national parks. Some wonder if this could be a ploy to boost his proposal to open the Alaska National Wildlife Reguge to drilling.
Some are taking this as a serious threat though. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the Democratic Delegate from the District of Columbia, is regarding it with “deadly seriousness.” I spoke to a staffer for Rep. Raúl Grijalva and she thought this cockamamie scheme may actually come up for a vote. God help us.
One of the parks on Pombo’s list is our own Ft. Bowie Historical Site, where Geronimo surrendered in 1886, a defining event in the history of this part of the country. Most notably though, is the inclusion of Roosevelt Island on the list. Do I really need to explain the irony of taking something named for a trust-busting conservationist and selling it off to be developed by some multinational corporation?
Pombo’s proposal is incredibly detailed for something that is just “brainstorming;” it includes revenue figures for selling naming rights to visitor centers and allowing billboards and other advertising. I find it really hard to believe that he would have wasted this much staff time just for a lark. Plus, Pombo has a history of punitive screwball anti-environmental legislation. And in this congress, it could get through.
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