Monday, August 27, 2007

Golden Gate Bridge Corporate Sponsor - Is the Roosevelt Island Aerial Tramway Next?


An article in yesterday's NY Times describes a plan to alleviate a portion of the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge's projected $80 million operating deficit in the next 5 years with funds generated from advertising sponsorships from corporate sponsors.
According to the article:

a committee of the board that runs the financially strapped Golden Gate Bridge did pass along a plan for a so-called corporate partnership for the structure, sending a proposal to a vote in front of the full board next month. Even as it did so, however, activists here were already preparing for the possibility that the Golden Gate — the engineering wonder, international tourist attraction and perpetual suicide magnet — might soon be brought to you by Coca-Cola, for example.
Some people think it is a bad idea:
a board member who opposes the plan, said the idea of corporate sponsorship was equivalent to slapping an advertisement on the side of the White House. “I don’t think you take your iconic properties and turn them into advertising opportunities,” ... “There are places in the world that should be kept clean.
Others like it:
But much of the board committee seemed to support the plan. The full board — 19 members from six Bay Area counties — will take up the issue on Sept. 28.
... viewed the sponsorship plan as a chance to upgrade the experience for visitors to the bridge, experience, now limited to a gift shop, a garden and a viewing platform.

“Right now, we don’t really get the story of the bridge,” ...“This is an opportunity to get other people to help us tell that story."
How does this apply to Roosevelt Island? Given the costs associated with the operation and continued maintenance of the Roosevelt Island Tram the temptation must be great to find alternative additional revenue sources. Are corporate sponsorships a possibility for the Tram and if so is that a good idea or not? If it is good enough for the Golden Gate Bridge, is it good enough for the Tram, or even the Brooklyn Bridge as well as other iconic, decaying, New York City infrastructure?