I found it surprising that, despite the $5 toll each car is charged to cross its span from Marin into San Francisco, that the Golden Gate Bridge is  still financially strapped and is currently facing a projected deficit of a whopping $80 million. But even  more surprising to me was the news, following an August 24th meeting,  that the operators of this national landmark (one of the top five attractions in the United States) are seriously considering getting corporate sponsorship to cover the historic bridge's overwhelming bills.   What this means is that like SBC Park or Pacific Bell Park or AT&T Park (or whatever name it happens to go by)  that likely soon the Bay's most famous attraction may be renamed something like the Verizon Span, or the  Google Gate Bridge, or perhaps something like "the Golden Gate Bridge brought to you by Pepsi."   Now according to the overseers of the bridge, who will meet again this month to make the final decision on the matter, they are assuring all concerned that they will not do anything "tacky"  like the aforementioned renaming in their handling of this proposed "corporate partnership."  But frankly  I have my doubts and I worry that this type of proposed sponsorship may set an unhealthy precedent with US national monuments and landmarks, and that soon Mount Rushmore, the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, and even the White House will be up for corporate partnership.      (If you have any funny or ironic ideas of what sponsors might be matched with what national landmarks please add them in the COMMENTS box below. And if you wish to voice your concerns about the proposal for the GG Bridge email districtsecretary@goldengate.org).

Anyways this whole idea of sponsorship or selling out or cashing in, depending on how you look at it, is really just part and parcel of these United States of Consumerism in which we dwell and where really nothing is sacred and everything is up for sale especially when it comes to ad space in exchange for dollars - be it on TV, radio, online, sides of buildings and buses, or on an individual's personal car or even on their face!