Monday, January 25, 2010

Perspective, Metro?

I'm posting this from the Metro Blue Line, returning home from Long Beach. (Currently passing through 103rd/Kenneth Hahn station.) I've noticed something about the stations on the Blue Line. There are, as far as I can tell, three named stations on the line: Pico-Chick Hearn, 103rd-Kenneth Hahn, and Imperial/Wilmington- Rosa Parks. Now, at 103rd and Pico, you'll see the dedications appear prominently on all station signage. Anywhere you see the name of the station, you see that dedication. This is NOT, however, the case at Imperial/Wilmington- Rosa Parks. The automated announcements clearly refer to the station as "Rosa Parks", and there is a plaque there commemorating the civil rights activist, but the station signage lacks her name.

Why is this? Why do Mr's. Hahn and Hearn get their names on the signs, when Ms. Parks does not?
Now, Rosa Parks is a name familiar to any school child, but I had to look up the other two. Kenneth Hahn was a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, and an ardent supporter of the 1960's civil rights movement. (Okay, he can get a train station.) Chick Hearn was an especially prolific basketball announcer.

Wait, what?

Yes, here in Los Angeles, Metro treats a basketball announcer better than a famous civil rights activist. Something's wrong here.

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