What’s in a name? Big bucks, according to some Republicans in the Massachusetts legislature, who wanted to sell naming rights to the state’s parks, forests, and recreation areas to the highest bidder. The lawmakers came up with the idea in order to cope with a $3 billion budget deficit. Imagine the possibilities: Nickerson State Park could be Nike State Park; Wahconah Falls, Wachovia Falls. Plymouth Rock? Pfizer Rock!
"We’re paying the legislature with taxpayer dollars," notes James McCaffrey, the Sierra Club’s Massachusetts Chapter director. "We should just cut to the chase and demand that they sell billboard space in their front yards to pay for themselves." Pressure from Sierra Club members and other outraged citizens reduced the proposal to a study, which was then killed in conference committee in June. —Paul Rauber
