Wednesday, September 15, 2004
BARRIE BARBERTHE SAGINAW NEWS
Though it took three years to land a Fortune 500 company to headline the Saginaw County Event Center -- now TheDow Event Center -- it didn't arrive without controversy today.
Saginaw County Board of Commissioners members OK'd the 10-year, $2.5 million naming rights deal with Dow Chemical Co. in an 11-1 vote.
Commissioners raised concerns over how quickly they were asked to approve the deal and questioned if the community had surrendered a piece of its identity to an out-of-town corporation.
Commissioner Terry Sangster, a Saginaw Democrat, said the naming rights process should have involved more citizens and small businesses to build community support.
"This is an icon in the community and it's been here for years," he said.
But county officials said commissioners had endorsed a public-private partnership three years ago that included finding a corporate sponsor.
Commissioner Connie D. Smith, a Saginaw Democrat and the sole no vote, worried that the county would lose some of its identity: People could too easily confuse the Event Center's location with the chemical giant's headquarters in Midland, she said.
County Controller Marc A. McGill said corporate sponsorship of an entertainment complex was "a common, normal, accepted practice" that will draw regional attention to downtown Saginaw.
Commissioner James M. Graham, a James Township Democrat, said that while he welcomes the partnership with Dow, public leaders must still hold the company accountable for any link between it and dioxin contamination in the Tittabawassee and Saginaw rivers. t
© 2004 Saginaw News.
For additional articles like this one, go to the Tittabawasse River Watch web site www.trwnews.net for complete coverage of the Tittabawassee River Dow Chemical dioxin contamination saga. . The Newspaper / Media page of our site contains an extensive archive of media articles dating back to January 2002. The source organization's web site link is listed to the right of the article, visit often for other news in our area. The Newspaper / Media page may be accessed by scrolling down to the bottom of the CONTENTS section and clicking on the Newspaper/Media link.