Nashville Metro Parks' "public" status is leveraged

[Peace]

Oh boy.  Just what we all wanted.  Now corporations will have a vested interest in our public spaces, ... and through the side door (instead of the back door) have sway over how we use our public property.

 

Genius.

 

Let 'em grow wild, let them be wild spaces.  Police them and let them be... but don't sell them off to the highest bidder!

 

ok, your turn.  Am I seeing this wrong?

 

http://wkrn.com/story/23591597/paid-sponsorships-in-metro-parks

Edited October 2, 2013 by Peace

[UncleJak]

It was only a matter of time...

[cj0e]

I don't have a problem with sponsorships in parks, but they need to be tasteful.

 

Have specific rules for signage size, shape, and fonts. Company Logos can be used, limit size on signage, limit color palette available (eg white on forest green/etc whatever would match other city signage).

 

So, the dog crap mitts would have their normal sign for usage, with another just below where you get the mitts indicating the sponsor.

 

Benches sponsored by a company could have a small sign on the back where you lean letting you know who sponsored the bench - similar to how many service projects will have a sign indicating who sponsored the bench/garbage bins, batboxes, tree identification project, etc.

 

If it turns into a bunch of MTA billboard benches and giant flashy signs on every last fixture in the park, I'd be ticked. But if done right, it could be a good thing, for the businesses and the park.

 

I know I take time to read the signage on service project and sponsored park fixtures, if it's a person/civic group its fine. If it's a business that's fine too. It just has to be tasteful.

[Peace]

     I'm not as concerned about the looks of it as the politics of it.  I could embrace it if there were stringent dollar amounts/year/sponsor attached to it - with no loopholes for shadow sponsors.

 

     When the parks become addicted to outside funding and can't (don't want to) function without them, then the parks will do as the financiers wish.

[Spiffy]

I thought the only thing that ran wild in the urban environment was the FSA. At least they didn't convert it into parking lots.