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Tufts pays to have subway station renamed
By adamg on Thu, 03/25/2010 - 10:16am
Tufts Medical Center paid the MBTA $150,000 for the recent re-naming of New England Medical Center stop on the Orange Line, spokesman Joe Pesaturo says. Pesaturo adds the new name will eventually be added to maps across the system as part of a two-year map replacement project.
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Comments
The Orange Line operators have revised
their station announcements. They are now stating "Attention Passengers. New England Medical Center station is now Tufts Medical Center. Tufts Medical Center is next."
And I thought the T just completed a system-wide map replacement project. Now they're going to have to do it all over again to defend extorting money from a private entity (i.e. we'll rename the station for YOUR hospital if you pay us enough)?
BTW, as a long-time NEMC/Tufts patient, I'm sure glad to see my increased co-pays going to such essential services as "rebranding" and advertising - NOT!
Completed?
They've barely begun! In fact, I could have sworn the other day that the very first "new" map, at Government Center, had been replaced again with an "old" one (not an old old one, like the ones at Downtown Crossing that still show the Arborway line, but the ones that still show the Silver line as split in two).
Double standard much?
So it's ok for one private entity to charge another private entity money for naming rights, but it's not ok for the T to do the same?
Frankly, I'd like to see more of this type of activity from the T. For example, the deep pocket organizations who lobbied for the new Kenmore Square Station should have picked up a portion of the tab for the construction. If you're the owner of a business who is going to be a significant benefactor from an infrastructure investment, shouldn't you be paying for some of it?
That's a novel idea - we
That's a novel idea - we could call it "taxes"!!!
Actually, I'm opposed to any naming rights, regardless of
whether the owner of the facility that is being renamed is a private firm or a public entity. Naming rights is simply a very arrogant way for the marketing people to force yet more advertising on society.
Ok, perhaps "extort" is too strong a term to use in this case. However, once again, the T has capitulated to a private company and put their interests above the needs of the riders (little surprise there, but some disappointment). But the T gets a pot of money out of it, so I suppose that justifies it?
Heck, let's rename all the subway stations for the nearest store or bank that happens to be closest to the station, if we can gouge the companies enough to do it - BTW, the T tried this years back, and it went over like a (insert famous rock band name here).
And while we're at it, let's let private homeowners put paid advertisements on their outside walls. I'm sure many homeowners would be willing to put a McDonald's ad on their property for a couple of years if they got the mortgage paid off in exchange for it.
It's interesting how so many people who claim to be concerned about government intervention in our daily lives continue to be so blind to the negative impacts of the subtle and not so subtle means by which the marketing executives are increasingly forcing their messages upon the public at large. I guess they figure, heck - it's private money, and we all know how private industry can do no wrong and really knows what's best for the country, so who cares that society is slowly and increasingly being totally manipulated by these tactics.
And the T could have very easily avoided the whole issue by at least renaming the station "Medical Center", with NO private affiliation attached to it. Or, better still, choosing a new name that reflects wither the street the station is on, or the geographical area the station serves - like transit agenices have done for over a century- instead of capitulating to a private company's "need" to rebrand itself.
As for your comment about people paying the costs of "public" improvements that directly benefit them, I generally agree with the concept, especially when it comes to "non-essential" components of the design such as astethic treatments and landscaping, or improvements that directly benefit a few private entities.
For example, if the Kenmore Square improvements included building a direct connection from the station into Fenway Park, yes it would be reasonable that the Red Sox organization pay for that part of the improvements. But to argue (hypothetically) that the Red Sox and BU Bookstore and other abutters to Kenmore Station should pay some of the cost for installing new elevators and escalators in a public subway station is, frankly, an absurd notion. Not to mention the fact that it would further drag out the planning process for projects of this type.
Not a private company
Tufts Medical Center (and the previous named entity) is a non profit organization. Precedent has already been set for this on the T: Northeastern, BU, Boston College, JFK/UMass, Symphony, Museum of Fine Arts, Charles/MGH, Kendall/MIT, Harvard, Science Park (MOS), Community College, etc.
Naming stations after cultural institutions, hospitals, and colleges is a common in mass transit worldwide. Kinda helps out for people who are visiting from out of town.
If Tufts Medical Center hadn't chipped in there would be howling about how they don't contribute their fair share. De-twist thy knickers.
A couple things...
First, the station had been named for NEMC before, so the T was changing the name of the station to reflect the modified name of an existing institution. Not exactly the same as renaming it the "McDonald's Orange Line Stop" or "Gillette Station"... I don't think there anything wrong with having a transit station for a private institution, if the institution in question is important / permanent enough. For example, do you think it's inappropriate to have a station on campus at Northeastern named "Northeastern"? They've been there for a while, they're not going anywhere, and a lot of people who are headed there via public transit will have an easier time finding it with a simple name like that.
By the same token, if "Tufts Medical" is the name the hospital wants on the signs, then I see nothing wrong with making them pay for it. I'll still be referring to the hospital and T station to NEMC for decades, just like I still call the Tweeter Center or whatever the hell it is "Greatwoods".
And my point about the Kenmore Square station was not that all abutters should be required to contribute to infrastructure improvements in all cases. My point was that if the Red Sox and BU (not the bookstore, but the multi-billion dollar institution) actively lobbied the state and/or the MBTA to upgrade the station for the benefit of Red Sox fans and BU students (aka their customers), then it's not inappropriate for the T to say "Sure, we're happy to modernize that station, but we're pretty short on cash these days...."
Another example of that is when the T was talking about shutting down several of the stops on the B line on campus at BU. If BU wanted those stops to stay open badly enough that they were willing to pay for it, what's the problem? Same goes for discontinuing E line service on weekends or whatever it was... If the hospitals at Longwood want to get together and pay to subsidize "extra" service that the T otherwise can't afford to offer, why not work out a deal?
"Medical Center" would be a bad station name
Before this station opened, I recall the MBTA took public comment on what name it should have. One of the choices at the time was 'Medical Center', but it was rejected for a very good reason: Boston has multiple 'medical centers' (Mass General, Longwood, and what was then the Boston City Hospital/BU Hospital complex in the South End), and the name 'Medical Center' alone would cause some people to go to the wrong station.
You would perhaps prefer to
You would perhaps prefer to call it South Cove? That's a nice geographically descriptive name. But wait, there's a South Cove Medical Center. Oh no!
Tufts is already there
On the new maps, anyway, so it's not like they'll be replacing the new maps (most of which aren't up yet, but it's nice to see they actually had some forethought in the creation of these signs).
Just noticed that
I noticed Tufts was already on the new maps at the World Trade Center station on the Silver Line.
Yet another annoucement too?
So in addition to the unstoppable drone of announcements encouraging various states of paranoia we get to hear a marketing announcement? Selling visual space is one thing; I can close my eyes. Selling my hearing is another; it's harder to close my ears. Why can't the folks who manage the T understand that inundating riders with a drone of words that become a non-stop ramble turns the stations into giant noise boxes? Do they need therapists to help them discover the pleasure that arises from quiet?
Of course we had the precedent of the Dred Line robot voice announcing MGH followed by the added voice letting everyone know that Mass Eye & Ear was there too, just like the little brother jumping up and down shouting "Me too, me too."
Buy headphones
Get over it and buy headphones--some people can't see the stops (the types of people who actually might be going to Mass "Eye" & Ear for one) and the announcements are for them. In a crowded car it is helpful to have an announcement if you are blocked in and have lost track or are unfamiliar.
Geez, it is an urban environment, there will be noise. Buy some fricken headphones or move to rural Montana.
Redundant Noise
Thanks for the "get over it." It's easy to respond: buy glasses (whoops, that's why you're going to Mass Eye and Ear right?) The point is that there is too much noise. Announcements which serve a genuine purpose are good. But in the case of Mass Eye and Ear it is up to the rider to know what stop they need to reach that destination. The name could be by its longitude and latitude; but the responsibility to know which stop to use rests with the rider, not the T system.
As for the issue of noise in general we are living in an environment where quality of life is substantially diminished by the non-stop noise. Some folks may prefer the chaotic environs of motorcylces that shake your house when they pass, or being woken at all hours by boom-boom cars, or being unable to simply sit quietly on a subway while riding from home to work. But anyone who wants a night sleep, or to enjoy a quiet dinner, or just quiet time with a friend or lover can forget it when they are inundated with noise.
The funny thing about quiet is that it is something that requires non-action; it requires literally doing nothing (which granted is probably not idea for an economy, but is good for overall health).
To rationalize that noise is inevitable because this is an urban environment rationalizes trash in the street, diseased rats, gang violence, etc. These are also inevitable by-products of urban environments.
Urban environments are the marrow of civilized living. They can be exciting and beautiful and lift the spirit. But if an urban environments is allowed to disintegrate into a flat topographical Tower of Babel then we only substituting the pollution of trash with the pollution of noise.
BPL
A couple of years ago, the T was claiming they couldn't change the name of Copley Station to Copley/Boston Public Library because it would be too expensive and time-consuming to change all the signs and maps. They have since changed the name of Hynes Convention Center/ICA to just Hynes Convention Center and changed NEMC to Tufts Medical Center. Why didn't they change Copley to Copley/BPL then? They're already making the new maps, why not change both at the same time and only print it once?
Apparently you missed this
Apparently you missed this part of what you wrote:
The library is going to close branches, should they really spend money on 'T maps? Tufts gets the name change because they will pay for it. Hynes got a name change because ICA no longer applies. As for changing Copley at the same time, they likely won't produce entirely new maps, just an applique to cover the NEMC part of the map.
Because the T is Inscrutable
The T can not be fathomed. They are like God in the Book of Job. Who are we, mere pedestrians, limited to the slow pace of walking, cattle for the subways, sardines for the busses, to even try to know the inscrutable plans and designs of T managers.