Call it like it is

I was disappointed when I read that Thousand Oaks had "sold-out" to corporate America by changing the name of our Civic Arts Plaza.

I can completely understand the need for the Alliance for the Arts to have corporate sponsors and support of local and national businesses. I can understand the desire to reward those who are willing to fund local arts programs. But what I can’t understand is why the city of Thousand Oaks thinks it is OK to take the name of our publicly-funded city hall complex and turn it into a giant billboard for Countrywide.

Beside the fact that Countrywide isn’t even based within the city limits, let alone in our county, why should any company have the right to demand or even expect to have a civic building named for them when they donate to a nonprofit organization?

If this were a true donation, then Countrywide should have had a giving heart and should be happy with the fact that their $4.27 million will help to further the arts in Southern California for years to come and provide them, Countrywide, with a huge tax break.

According to the Countrywide press release on this "generous gift," the Alliance for the Arts has already successfully raised tens of millions of dollars without compromising our Civic Arts Plaza. Why did they feel it was necessary to plaster the name of Countrywide across the 101 Freeway like a giant banner for millions of drivers to see each day?

Why will each ticket, every promotional listing, not mention the listing in the phone book, bear the name "Countrywide?" The answer: because Countrywide was willing to pay the inexpensive price to buy the naming rights for our civic center.

I just wish that the City Council, Civic Arts Plaza officials, the Alliance for the Arts, and Countrywide just call this "donation" what it really is: paid advertising.
D. Schreiber

Thousand Oaks