Good news:
Due to popular demand, Arizona politicians have reversed their plans to rename Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport to Goldwater Sky Harbor International Airport. The late Senator had become a crank and disgrace in his last two decades, as he appeared to have lost both his mind and any control of his mouth - all to liberal applause.
(Few remember that as early as 1980 Goldwater was seen to have "lost it" when he was the only Rep senator to almost lose his seat in the Reagan landslide - it took a couple of days to determine that Reagan's win had pulled Goldwater in for one last term).
Rimsza scraps plan to rename airport
By Chris Fiscus
The Arizona Republic
July 10, 1998
Acknowledging he may have
made a mistake, Mayor Skip
Rimsza on Thursday dropped
his effort to rename Sky Harbor
International Airport in honor of
Barry Goldwater.
"I just think that it's time to move
on," Rimsza said.
The proposed name change had
turned into one of the biggest
political gaffes in Rimsza's tenure
as mayor of Phoenix.
He recommended on June 2 that
the Phoenix City Council change
Sky Harbor's name to
Goldwater International Airport
in honor of the former senator
and presidential candidate who
died May 29.
After thousands of callers
protested the change, he
suggested a compromise:
Goldwater Sky Harbor
International Airport. By a 6-3
vote, the council tentatively
approved that change June 16.
When callers continued to
object, the mayor postponed a
final vote until Sept. 2 and
decided to hold public hearings
this summer on whether to
change the airport's name.
But Rimsza threw in the towel
Thursday. The name will remain
the same.
"You know, if I made a mistake
in all of this, it was a mistake of
the heart," he said in a prepared
statement. "And to anyone who
took even the slightest bit of
offense by any of this, I want to
offer up an apology from the
bottom of that same heart."
In an interview, Rimsza called Goldwater "a true Arizona hero,
certainly one of my heroes." He said Goldwater should be "honored
and remembered after his passing in a big way, and I think we
would be wise to do it for ourselves as a community. We need
heroes to look up to as a community."
He said he did not have any ideas as to what should be renamed in
Goldwater's honor.
Rimsza had pushed hard to rename the airport to honor Goldwater.
He conceded the backlash over the airport name "has grown into
Everest" in recent weeks.
"I know it's a big deal for 2,000 people to call my office in a single
day to disagree with me," Rimsza wrote in the statement. "But I also
know that we need more elected officials who have heartfelt beliefs,
not fewer. And that's why I could never vote NO on honoring
Barry Goldwater. I just couldn't."
Instead, the vote was scrubbed.
The chain of events made some City Council members laugh openly
at one line in Rimsza's statement Thursday, which read: "This is a
matter that goes to my heart and soul. I know exactly where I stand
-- and I have the honor to look you in the eye and tell you. You
don't have to guess -- you don't have to watch me dance a
sidestep."
If he felt that passionately about the name change, they said, then
why cancel the vote?
Council member Doug Lingner said he is just glad the issue is over.
"I think the mayor made a smart move, but he did leave the door
open for other naming opportunities," he said. "That's what I'm
hearing from a lot of people. They say 'don't name the airport after
him' but there are other options to honor the man."
azcentral.com
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