Renaming things, redux:

A while ago, I posted about why I think that renaming buildings and streets is a bad idea. This has currently become relevant in Atlanta, where, since the death of former Mayor Maynard Jackson, people have been talking about renaming Hartsfield Airport for him. Now, I think this is a bad idea, not so much for the reasons in the earlier post, but for at least two new reasons.

First, the impracticality. Not only will it cost the state, the city, and the airlines a fortune to change the name, but it will replace a distinctive name with an undistinctive one. If I say I want to fly to Jackson, do I mean Atlanta-Jackson International Airport, or do I mean Jackson, MS? Even though Atlanta's airport code isn't based on the name of the airport, I imagine that everything from air traffic controllers systems to luggage handling to street signs will have to be changed.

There are times when this impracticality might be outweighed by the benefits of changing the name. For example, renaming Saddam Hussein International Airport is probably a good idea, no matter how you feel about the war. But here I don't see that. Hartsfield was a political realist, and hardly free from racism, but he was a progressive politican who did some good things for the black population of Atlanta. He met with black leaders, something unheard of until them, and his response to learning that blacks would be able to vote was "well, then, I'd better make sure they vote for me." Maybe not the best motives, but the outcome was OK.

And above all, the airport was Hartsfield's baby, not Jackson's. Hartsfield brought the airport to Atlanta, fighting off Birmingham for new federal ATC systems and actually building the first terminal building. Jackson only built the new terminal. Hartsfield changed the airport from a shed with a dirt runway to an international airport, Jackson changed the airport from an international airport to an international airport with a new terminal.

Let the man who "dragged Atlanta kicking and screaming into the twentieth century" have his monument. He deserves it.