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"The city of Portland just had to raise their rates significantly and it put the youth programs in a difficult position,” he said. “That makes it difficult for the lower income kids to afford it.”
And he said it allows businesses to have a local impact.
“Actually I think it’s a good thing because it shows which local organizations are supporting the community,” he said. “I think it’s working hand in hand with companies. Rivermark sponsors one of the fields, and I went and got a Rivermark checking account when I had to set up one for my son who’s going away to school.”
Zinzer said it keeps the field aesthetics clean – instead of a host of businesses plastered around the field, they have one sign behind the backstop – and he said it makes it easier to indicate fields for tournaments. Instead of teams having to find fields one, two or three, they look for Providence Field or Rivermark Field.
Zinzer said the board of both the parks district and the county, which oversees the district, have been supportive of such sponsorships.
The district also has smaller sponsorships, for buses and the video screen it projects onto in the summer.
But he said they also have a policy to ensure appropriate entities’ names are up there.
“There’s a naming policy here at the county,” he said. “If it doesn’t fit into the mission of the county there are times when somebody could come up and say you’re not going to have a porno shop” advertised on a public field.
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I see no problem naming a park after a sponsor. such as
Safeway's
North Clackamas Park
Most of our kids sports are subsidized by sponsors. Baseball and Sports are entertainment and they are expensive to run and they all need a boost to stay afloat.
If you think it is selling out, ask yourself
when was the last time you donated your time (I coach 20 years and some years that included 6 teams) or wrote a check for $1,000 to a league.
Why should anyone donate money if they are not going to get some kind of return for that money. We don't have that many Phil Knights living in the neighborhoods.
Advertising creates jobs for the parents and kids so they can pursue the fun things in life, such as sports and enjoying our parks.
The other choice is raising taxes and forcing people to volunteer their money for the parks.
(email verified)
Sat, Jun 20, 2009 at 07:38 AM
Wrigley Field is a baseball stadium in Chicago, Illinois, United States that has served as the home ballpark of the Chicago Cubs since 1916. It was built in 1914 as Weeghman Park for the Chicago Federal League baseball team, the Chicago Whales. It was called Cubs Park between 1920 and 1926 before being renamed for then Cubs team owner and chewing gum magnate, William Wrigley Jr..
(email verified)
Sat, Jun 20, 2009 at 08:04 AM
Fenway Park
Former owner John I. Taylor claimed the name Fenway Park came from its location in the Fenway district of Boston, which was partially created late in the nineteenth century by filling in marshland or "fens".[2] However, given that Taylor's family also owned the Fenway Realty Company, the promotional value of the naming at the time has been cited as well
(email verified)
Sat, Jun 20, 2009 at 08:07 AM
If you want to do an honorable thing name the park after someone who actually made a difference then gave back to the community.
Jeff Klein
----------------------------
I'm always baffled by this statement. In order to give back, you had to take something in the first place.
People do thing because they benefit by doing it. The benefit can be the warm feeling inside or supporting their kids friends or neighbors. Or advertising.
(email verified)
Sat, Jun 20, 2009 at 08:24 AM
By no stretch of the imagination am I old yet, but possibly I'm old fashioned. My stomach turns on this concept. This article reminded me of how I had something near a heartache when I discovered how much of Yellowstone was corporately operated by Xanterra. Finding a "Yellowstone" employee to just have a casual conversation about (being in this field) was near impossible. It was nearly the same at Yosemite.
Possibly growing up in the rural country and having the ability to play in the woods and the streams creates a mind block for me on being open to capitalizing on contracted corporations so heavily in our natural settings. I feel torn at the word "corporate" (or any name) fitting into a place where we can catch a crawdad in a stream, pick milk-weed or take note on which peaks seem so original as they've been heavily stamped by a glacier taking a slice out of them. Regardless of how much money someone can toss at maintaining a path, or promising not to develop a piece of land - a "Corporate" name just doesn't feel "worthy" of things that money could never produce and experiences that you should never really have to pay for in the first place. Maintaining and protecting our natural resources is something we should really keep on the government to help us do. Corporations are money focused. If we move away from the park aspect and look at buildings for recreation, again - I would implore Districts and cities to put their corporate sponsor’s names on signs at an event or a plaque inside. Name your fields and buildings after something remarkable. "Cell Phone Company A" is not.
Keep corporations separate from what's pure and can't or should not have to be bought /monetarily marketed to anyone because they are simply ours in the first place. Support the vision of open space and recreation with extraordinary people and historical themes connected to it's matter.
(email verified)
Wed, Jun 24, 2009 at 08:35 AM
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Re: Corporate names for county's parks?
What do Fenway Park, Yankee Stadium and Wrigley Field have in common? They never sold out. North Clackamas Park is a baseball field. Baseball is a sport played by young men and women. It builds character, teamwork and discipline. It teaches us if we work hard and trust one another we can become something greater than the sum of our parts.
Selling the naming rights to a park and using our children to sell a few widgets is not fundraising it is disgraceful. Supporting youth sports is a charitable act. Buying ad space is advertising. See the difference?
If you want to do an honorable thing name the park after someone who actually made a difference then gave back to the community. Jerry Zimmerman grew up and played baseball for Milwaukie High School. He signed a contact with the Boston Red Sox before breaking into the big league with the Reds in 61 and making it to the World Series where he played against guys like Mantle and Maris. He was traded and played with the Twins until 68. He got back to the World Series again in 65 and was lucky enough to play against greats like Kofax and Drysdale. Not bad for a Milwaukie boy.
After he retired he stayed with baseball as a coach and later as a scout. He never forgot where he came from, though he was born in Omaha, Oregon was his home. He raised a family and supported local youth sports in and around Milwaukie up until his death in 98.
The North Clackamas Park would be lucky to have the name Zimmerman Fields. We can learn a lot from children playing baseball and be part of something greater for once.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Zimmerman
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/z/zimmeje01.shtml
"Jeff Klein"
(email verified)
Fri, Jun 19, 2009 at 11:16 PM