October 30, 2007
Convention Center Gets New Name
The Washington Business Journal reported yesterday that the Washington Convention Center will be officially renamed to honor D.C.'s first elected mayor, Walter E. Washington. Apparently the D.C. Council approved the name change last year, though we can't recall having heard about it at the time.
The idea is a fine one though, and Washington is certainly worthy of having his legacy honored. So what's the problem? As of Nov. 5, the building will officially become the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Perhaps you can see it now.
City Paper's Erik Wemple makes a good case:
My objection is to the name itself: Take a close look. Right now, the place is called the Washington Convention Center. The guy they’re hoping to honor is Walter E. Washington. The new name, if I read the press release right, is “Walter E. Washington Convention Center.”
That’s bullshit. It should be “Walter E. Washington Washington Convention Center.” This is like calling our landing strip across the river the “Ronald Washington National Airport.” Or calling our low-cost landing strip the “Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Airport.”
Pretty funny stuff, though in reality less sinister -- the more accurate comparison would be if the folks who went around renaming area airports had just done away with the old names altogether and called them "Ronald Reagan Airport" and "Thurgood Marshall Airport." Granted, those simplified names would have been confusing for travelers and met with a deserved amount of hostility from the locals. Still, there's nothing that dictates the Washington Convention Center has to contain its location in its name. In fact, the current name with the location is already vague enough that neither our convention center nor the one in downtown Seattle has bothered to register www.washingtonconventioncenter.com. So let's just name the building only after a person, and be done with it.
|
People seem to be able to find the Jacob Javits Center pretty well without it being called Jacob Javits West Side of Manhattan Convention Center.
I've always thought that Erik Wemple was a moron, but this really confirms it.
How about the "Walter E. Washington Pepsi Sprint/Nextel Washington Convention Center". Just toss some corporate names in there between the name Washington and the place Washington and you'll be all set. You know it's going to happen eventually anyway.
DC Zoning says it's in Center City, So how about calling it the Washington Washington Center Center?
Oooh, I hope this means they'll change every single Metro sign, map, and placard - all on our dime.
Mike Licht,
Wouldn't that be the "Washington Center Washington Center"? Or maybe they can do something palindromic, like "Washington Center, City Center, Washington"?
WHO'S ON FIRST?
CRAP! I got confused. So it'd be: "Washington Center City: Center, Washington".
/mind, broken.
How much will this cost? I think I remember hearing that it would cost $2.1 million to rename BWI as Thurgood Marshall. This is an interesting scenario since the name of the person being honored is already included in the name of the center. Not that renaming a convention center would cost anywhere near what renaming an airport would, but I assume this will cost less because of the shared name.
Without taking anything away from Thurgood Marshall's accomplishments, I was opposed to renaming BWI simply because of the cost and how unnecessary it was (or at least that there were better things the money could be spent on). And don't get me started on Reagan. Politically, these proposals are impossible to oppose though.
Fist:
Either "Washington Washington Center Center" or "Washington Center, Washington Center" would save on sign-making money - just bulk-order half-signs.
Mike Licht:
BRILLIANT. I love it!
The Moscone Center in San Francisco works pretty well without having the name of the city in there. Or McCormick Place in Chicago. As someone mentioned Jacob Javits works well too. I actually LIKE the fact that Walter E.'s name runs into the convention center in that cool way that still mentions the city name. It's a neat trick. Erik Wemple is being stupid. As usual.
Can't they just order "Walter E." signs and then nail them onto the existing "Washington Convention Center" sign?
That'd be a cheap way to do it.
I don't see what the difference is. People are still going to call it the Washington Convention Center----it just randomly happens to be referring to Walter, not George, for whom the city was named.
Because it is essentially the same name, now with a first name, I sincerely hope they do not change any signs!
How about the "Washington Surrounded by Boarded Up Buildings And Crime Convention Center, "?
I know. Not very poetic. But accurate.
They may want to work a bit more on developing the neighborhood and getting crime under control before they start worrying about naming rights.
Rumor on the street is major conventions are refusing to book at the Convention Center because previous conventioneers are complaining about how much crime there is, how DC cops don't seem to care (surprise), and how there's not really that much for them to do within a couple blocks's walk.
A few comments to correct some errors regarding some of the statements previous to this one:
1. The name change was mandated by the DC City Council not the Convention Center Authority itself.
2. RE: Nailing signs on the name to add "Walter E". The center is having "Walter E." engraved above the current wording on the granite blocks which currently has the name of the building. This is helping to keep the cost down. To redo the entire granite block redone several large blocks of granite and limestone would have to be removed and re-cut to fit.
3. RE: Conventions refusing to book due to crime issues, DC cops attitude, and not much to do within a couple of blocks....
This is flat out not true...as someone directly involved in selling DC to national and international conventions I can assure you that statement has no bearing on selecting DC as a destination.
4. RE: The boarded up buildings on 9th and 7th St. NW
There are major plans in the works for both of those streets. If you lived here during the life of the previous center at 9th/H/NY/11th Sts, the area surrounding it was a wasteland for approximately the first 7 years until the Grand Hyatt was built, the the Renaissance Washington Hotel, and the area still remained semi-rough until the MCI/Verizon Center opened in 1997 which began the transition of the Gallery Place area.
ah, yes. Major plans. Funny. That's the exact phrase the city used back when the convention center opened. And how long ago was that?
As for conventions not booking, all I can say is I have heard this from parties that would know..... Maybe it is just rumor but nonetheless that is the reputation it is getting in the business world.
And saying that area isnt as unsafe and rundown as it used to be simply isnt good enough, especially when your competition is centers that dont have crime and boarded up blocks.
And you better hurry with those 'major plans.' National Harbor is going to eat you for breakfast, even if it does have the humorous name Gaylord attached to it.
I mean, really. DC Convention Center is a grand building, but conventioneers that wander outside get to get bum rushed by street thugs, and they get to view the lovely scene of boarded up buildings stretching for blocks.
Hell, you can't even run a decent taxi stand, as evidenced by the clusterfuck that is taxi service in front of the Convention Center. I mean, really, how hard can this be?
By contrast, National Harbor looks like it will be stunning. Tons of hotel rooms onsite, tons of restaurants and shops onsite, a waterfront setting, and - get this - NO STREET THUGS. Or, at least, very few.
So get your shit together already with the Convention Center and the surrounding streets. Otherwise it'll be the biggest 3/4 of a billion dollars the DC taxpayers wasted in recent memory.
Seriously. Get it together already.
The reference to the old center and the development of the neighborhood had more to do with the time frame that is involved in changing a neighborhood. Let me rephrase one item that needs some clariity...that is the one of "major plans", I have personal knowledge of the developments that are going forward, they are not pipe dreams.
With regard to National Harbor and Gaylord, there is room for them as well in the DC market. The Convention Center and Gaylord go after similar but different markets. There are plenty of things that they cannot handle and many which the Center will pass to them and vice versa. National Harbor and Gaylord are a welcome addition to the convention market in the region. The DC market, like other major convention markets, will now have multiple venues of significant size in which to offer multiple national and international events whereas previously only the major hotels north of Dupont on Ct. Ave could be additional venues.
DB: If you won't even acknowledge the real and perceived crime around the convention center then I fear the worst. You can't just stick your head in the sand and hope no one notices the crack whores and thugs..... That may have worked when you had no local competition..... It won't work when National Harbor opens.
How about Walter E. Washington [squared] Convention Center? That way, you just have to plug a superscript 2 in there.
I'm sure the office cube and inevitable Starbucks Jemal is plugging in to the old Restaurant AV site will scare away the thugs. Word on the street is the O Street Crew can't stand burnt coffee. In fact, those survivors who made it into their dotage have switched to Postum. Only the most hardcore gangstas do chicory.
Straight up, bitches.
In 20 years time, every single interchange, traffic cirle, intersection, bus stop, manhole cover, stretch of sidewalk, convention center, Jamba Juice, avenue, onramp, offramp, traffic light, elevator, subdivision, school, daycare center, and church will be named after a person.
Sicksadworld.
i don't know why everyone is so upset...this is going to make a great "Before & After" for the wheel of fortune; Walter E. Washington Convention Center.
i hope fenty invites pat and vanna for the dedication.
NBIDNZ:
I hope these naming rights are as affordable as the personalized brick I bought for Jim and Tammy Faye's Walk Of Honor back at the Praise The Lord theme park....
Talk about a wise investment..... I pat myself on the back daily for that one.
Hillman: You are absolutely obsessed with crime. DCist could post something about Butterstick and you'd find a way to talk about crime.
You're right. Butterstick has always struck me as shifty. And talk about the ultimate rent control - that ungrateful entitlement-sucker don't pay near market rate for that sweet zoo setup....
I'm obsessed with crime because we have an abnormally high crime rate and no one here thinks that's odd. We have far more crime than NYC and other major areas, yet our city officials and many residents pretend that what we have is normal. It isn't. And it isn't going to get better until we start acknowledging that it exists and that it isn't normal, and that it can be changed if we really want to.