(rshsdepot) Name rights for Connecticut transit stations may be up for sale

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From today's New Haven Register.
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
Name rights for transit stations may be up for sale  
Gregory B.  Hladky , Capitol Bureau Chief  
 
HARTFORD — Imagine coming into Connecticut by rail a few years from now and  
getting off at the new Toyota-West Haven Station, or passing the Foxwoods  
Casino-North Branford platform on your way to Springfield. 

Those names are fictional, but state officials say selling or leasing  naming 
rights to transit facilities could produce millions of dollars a year for  
new mass transportation projects and they are asking for legislative permission  
to look into such deals.
 
But some lawmakers are more than a little doubtful about naming public bus  
or train stations for corporations in return for cash.
 
"My first impression is that we’re whoring the state out," said state Rep.  
Peter Panaroni, D-Branford, who is a member of the legislature’s Transportation 
 Committee. "I’m not opposed yet … but people in Connecticut should have a 
chance  to comment on whether we want to have a train station named for Nextel 
or  something."
 
State Rep. Paul Davis, D-Orange, is both curious about the idea and  wary.
 
"I like the idea of that the Department of Transportation is looking for  
ways beyond public financing for everything," Davis said Thursday. But Davis,  
who is also on the transportation panel, added he is "not entirely certain about 
 using public facilities for advertising."
 
"It’s a somewhat novel approach, but it’s better than some of the stuff  
they (DOT) give us," said the co-chairman of the Transportation Committee, state  
Sen. Donald J. DeFronzo, D-New Britain.
 
DeFronzo said the bill to authorize the DOT to set up procedures for  leasing 
or selling transit facility naming rights is coming up for a public  hearing 
at the Legislative Office Building beginning at 10 a.m. Monday. DeFronzo  said 
he’d be interested to find out what the public thinks of the concept.
 
Cities from New York to San Diego have been getting into lucrative  corporate 
sponsorship deals for years, Connecticut transportation officials  point out.
 
In 2003, Las Vegas sold naming rights to its municipal convention center  
rail station and to one of its light rail trains to Nextel Communications Inc.  
for $50 million over 12 years.
 
Cities and towns in the Midwest have been selling naming rights to local  
baseball and football fields, following the trend set by professional football,  
baseball and basketball franchises selling names of their arenas.
 
One Texas community of 125 people changed its name in 2005 from Clark to  
"DISH" in order to get free satellite TV service for its residents.
 
New Jersey and other states also are investigating the possibility of  
generating revenue through similar schemes.
 
"We just saw this as an opportunity to raise funds for upcoming mass  transit 
projects," said Charles S. Barone, DOT bureau chief for policy and  planning.
 
"We’re not really certain how it would work out for Connecticut," said  
Barone. "Obviously, we’re not Las Vegas."
 
Barone said his agency plans to look first to the possibility of selling  
naming rights to some of the bus stations being planned for the proposed New  
Britain-Hartford "Busway" corridor. The cost of that project alone is estimated  
at $235 million.
 
The DOT’s transit operation has for years sold advertising both inside and  
outside its state-owned buses.
 
Michael Sanders, the agency’s transit administrator, said at one time,  
Connecticut was reaping more than $1 million a year from selling ad space on its  
buses. But Sanders said the advertising market has weakened recently and state  
bus ad revenues are down below $700,000 annually.
 
Barone said the DOT plans to look initially to the potential for selling or  
leasing naming rights to new facilities. Those could include new rail stations 
 planned for the proposed New Haven-Hartford-Springfield commuter line or for 
 planned New Haven Line stations in West Haven and Orange.
 
But he doubts that commuters will be seeing corporate logos replacing the  
Union Station signs in New Haven any time soon.
 
"The established stations would be the most difficult," said Barone, citing  
the likelihood of strong local attachments to the "long-standing community 
names  for them."
 
Barone said he isn’t sure how much money the sale or lease of bus and train  
station naming rights could produce. "It really depends on the extent of any  
(naming rights) program," he said. "Is there a market for it? We won’t know  
until we try."
 
The idea of selling naming rights to public facilities has drawn strong  
criticism from some experts and activists, who oppose commercialization of  
government. Several years ago, such opposition blocked a proposal to sell naming  
rights of several Boston subway stations.
 
DeFronzo said he is concerned selling corporations the naming rights to  
public facilities could create future problems. "There are going to be times  when 
you want to name a facility after a war hero or a great public figure," he  
said.
 
The top Republican on the transportation panel, state Sen. John McKinney of  
Fairfield, applauds the DOT "for thinking outside the box" but said there 
should  be tight restrictions on final authority for naming facilities.
 
"I don’t know that I’d be comfortable giving any department full,  
unfettered authority to out and sell the naming rights to a station," McKinney  said. 
"What if an adult video store bought the rights to put its name on a train  
station? That’s unlikely perhaps, but it’s the kind of thing we need to  
consider."
 

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Gregory  B. Hladky can be contacted at _ghladky_@_nhregister.com_ 
(mailto:ghladky_@_nhregister.com)  or (860)  524-0719.  


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