My biggest pet peeves - freeways should be named after kids!

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Geowhizkid26
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09 Jan 2005, 4:08 pm

January 9, 2005

Hello and how are you today all of you?

I wanted to get one of my pet peeves off my chest. Names of freeways,
freeways and bridges that are dedicated to the memory of people.

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, and any of the
AS people reading this live in the Bay Area or have visited the
San Francisco Bay Area, you have probably seen signs on freeways
dedicating the freeway to the memory of a specific individual. What
really gets my goat is that.....they are all adults!! ! I know a
child development/psychology professor (he has a Ph.D. and he
wrote a book on Child Development; his name is Dr. Robert "Bob"
Cooper and he teaches at a 4 year state university I attended
in 1997. I'm good friends with him) and anyway this is what he said...
When I mentioned about freeways named after just adults in the
San Francisco Bay Area, he said "wrong.....not just adults.....RICH
white adults!! !". If you look at San Francisco Bay Area maps, ALL
our freeways or bridges are named after either state legislators,
congressmen, generals, or admirals....you get my point. Interstate
880 from San Jose to Oakland is called the Nimitz Freeway named
after Adm. Chester A. Nimitz from the World War II, Interstate 580
from Hayward through Oakland is called the MacArthur Freeway named
after Gen. Douglas MacArthur. Interstate 580 between Hayward
eastward to Tracy in the San Joaquin Valley is named after Arthur
H. Breed, Jr., who was a state legislator. Interstate 205 freeway in
Tracy, California, is named for Robert T. Monagan. Interstate 5
between Stockton and Sacramento is named for someone named
Carlton E. Forbes. And so on and so on. Most of these legislators
and generals or others who have freeways named after them are
dead, and some of them have been long dead (for example, Douglas
MacArthur, who died in 1964). Can any of you figure out what this
is now leading to?? In almost every college I have been to, the
library was named after the first president of the university, who is
often long since deceased.

How about the children???! ! Why aren't there any roads, freeways,
libraries, road tunnels, bridges, and parks named after toddlers
and children that are killed by serial killers or die in some sort of
tragedy??? What is the problem with adults?? All I keep seeing is
that we SAY that children are important (and chances are, if there
were no children in this world, I wouldn't be even writing this post,
because I would cease to exist), everyone says that children are
important, that they are the light of the world. That is what we SAY.
But, gee, we don't really seem to show that very much in action,
do we??? Actions speak louder than words. To my knowledge, as
far as I know, I have never seen any structure or any bridge or
tunnel or freeway named after a child under 18, except for one
place. If any of you are history buffs or know very much about
history, there is a highway on the Outer Banks of North Carolina
that is named for a child. However, she was the first English child
born on the continent, in 1587. Her name was Virginia Dare and she
was born August 18, 1587 in Manteo, Roanoke Island, North Carolina.
Her parents were Eleanor and Ananias Dare, who also have streets
named for them in downtown Manteo. Her grandfather was John
White. John White was the leader of the Lost Colony of 1587. What
happened was that in 1587, White sailed back to England for badly
needed supplies, leaving the 150 some colonists on Roanoke Island
itself. However, he couldn't get back until 1590, because there was
a war called the Spanish Armada where England was fighting against
Spain. By the time White got back, the colonists were gone and the
only clue was the word "CRO" and "Croatoan" carved on a tree.
It is believed that the colonists may have joined friendly Indians
who gave them food. Or the Indians may have just killed the
colonists. No one is sure about what exactly happened. However,
if you were hungry and starved and these friendly Indians all said
we can take care of you and feed you, naturally, wouldn't you go??
I think that the Lost Colony people married into the Indian tribe
and were forgotten. The reason why I think this is because there
is a group of Native Americans called the Lumbee, or Croatan Indians,
that live in North Carolina, near Lumberton. And many many of
those Native Americans have the white settlers' surnames. If they
the Indians just got rid of the colonists, why would they adopt their
surname??? So anyway thats what I think happened.

But going off on a tangent, back to Virginia Dare now. She is the only
child I know of in the whole United States history that I know has
a highway named after her. It is called the Virginia Dare Trail and
basically speaking it is Beach road North Carolina Highway 12 which
runs from Kitty Hawk where the Wright Brothers first flew their
airplane, down to Nags Head and across the Washington Baum Bridge
into the city of Manteo. Many many hotels, motels, businesses,
real estate companies, restaurants, etc. in Nags Head and in
Kill Devil Hills and in Kitty Hawk and Manteo are on the Virginia
Dare Trail, and their addresses bear the name, such as 2617 S.
Virginia Dare Trail, Nags Head, North Carolina......well you get the
picture. In 2002, there was a new bridge from Manteo going westward
that is 5 1/2 miles long. It was dedicated and opened in 2002, and is
called the Virginia Dare Bridge.

So why just Virginia Dare?? What is so wrong about naming a
bridge or freeway or highway after a deceased child?? Aren't
toddlers important too?? Most people I talked to, Asperger's Syndrome
or NTs, said that it would be a GREAT idea to name freeways after
children. Would it be so hard to go and name Highway 101 in
Petaluma, California, as the "Polly H(annah) Klaas Memorial
Freeway"??? One of the suggestions I have been working on is
with Oregon. There are almost no freeways named after ANYONE,
child or adult, in Oregon. I mentioned about 4 year old Lee Iseli
in my last posts, and I just was wondering, why not rename Interstate
5 as the "Lee J. Iseli Memorial Freeway" from downtown Portland
to the Interstate Bridge that goes over the Columbia River linking
Portland, Oregon to Vancouver, Washington (its sister city). Interstate
5 south of downtown Portland is already called the Baldock Freeway
and that goes down to Salem, the state capital. And Interstate 84
in Portland is called the Banfield Freeway. Having been the focus
of one of the Portland Police Bureau's most intense searches for
a missing person, there ought to be a freeway named after Lee
Iseli. With his dad's permission of course. We could put a nice
sign at the junction of Interstate 5 and 405 in downtown Portland
saying "Lee J. Iseli Memorial Freeway and down below that on the
same sign the 5 North shield and then "To Seattle". And we could
have like 2 signs on the freeway itself that say "Lee J. Iseli Memorial
Freeway" and finally at the Interstate Bridge up in Portland, we could
have a big sign overhead hanging down from the bridge where it
says "Leaving Portland" where it would say "ODOT (Oregon Department
of Transportation) [and below that] Thank you for traveling with us
on the Lee J. Iseli Memorial Freeway......come back again soon!".
And of course, there should be a sign after that that says "Thank you
for visiting Oregon", because it is also the end of Oregon and the
beginning of Washington State. What do you think?? I called up
the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) and they told me
that they did not name the freeways, the State Legislature is the
one that does it. If I somehow can just get a bill into the state
legislature, I might be able to see this dream become a reality, because
I am sure that everyone would vote yes on it. Many people in Portland
still remember Lee Iseli, and I think it would pass.

I recall back in 2000 I was almost crying because I was so touched about
something I had read in the Oklahoma City newspaper online. I still
have the article saved somewhere. The article stated in Amber,
Oklahoma (30 miles southwest of Oklahoma City), they renamed
the elementary school's library after 18 month old toddler Blake
Ryan Kennedy, who died in the Oklahoma bombing in April 1995.
Ironically, Blake Ryan Kennedy was one of the children that was
actually comforting another child on the day of the bombing, according
to what his mother testified at Timothy McVeigh's trial in 1997. Blake
Ryan was only 18 months old, but he sure had sensitivities. There
was the little girl (who apparently lived, I guess) - her name was
Erin, I read in the trial transcripts, who was crying because she was
scared that she didn't know any of the new daycare teachers there,
and he patted her on the back, and sat her down, etc. Anyway,
Blake Ryan Kennedy never attended Amber-Poccaset Elementary
School in Amber, Oklahoma (he would have if he had survived
the bombing, though), BUT they renamed the library the "Blake
Ryan Kennedy Memorial Library" and it has 30,000 books, which is
a pretty good size for a elementary school library. I have never
been there, but I hope to go some day. Every single day, every child
that goes through the library sees his smiling face in a picture on the
wall. How touching....

But anyway, to sum everything up, there really needs to be more
highways and freeways named after deceased kids who were
in tragedies or tragic situations. What is wrong with legislators???
I hope if I can get the freeway in Portland named after Lee Iseli,
then maybe other states will see it, and use it as an example, and
likewise also start naming freeways and bridges and tunnels and
highways after toddlers and preschoolers and children.

Anyway, I just wanted to get this off my chest. We must always
remember the children. Children are our future, and without
children, people would not be very happy in this world. If there
were no children, there would not be any joy in this world, no
real pleasure. There would not be amusement parks with merry
go rounds or any kiddie rides. There would not be any Christmas
because there would be no Santa Claus, if there were no children
on Earth. There certainly would be no Teletubbies or Sesame
Street or any children's programmes. We probably wouldn't even
have an Easter Bunny, or celebrate Easter at all, period. No
cartoons. In short, without the spontaneity and concern and
caring and kindness of toddlers, preschoolers, and children, there
would be virtaully nothing. So children are really important and people
need to realize that. But that is not what I am seeing in adult
actions - nothing to memorialize kids. And, like I said, if there were
no toddlers or children in this world, I would cease to exist and I
would not be posting on this board right now because I probably
would be very cold down below the Earth somewhere.

Well I hope all of you have a great day and think about what I
said. I hope this makes some sense. At least to a lot of NTs, apparently
it does.

(((((HUGS))))))))

Warm regards
Preston "Baby Ben" the eternal toddler
28 years old going on 2

BTW - TELETUBBIES RULE!! ! :P I never miss Teletubbies



aspergian_mutant
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11 Feb 2005, 1:53 pm

Nice Rant, but if you was to go ask the people who's loved ones contributed much to society and wanting there loved ones to be remembered as well, - what do you think they would say them selves?, esp if you was one of them to have lost a loved one who dedicated most of his or her life to people?!? but I understand how you are feeling.



MishLuvsHer2Boys
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11 Feb 2005, 2:22 pm

Ask the politicians, they are usually the ones responsible for that. After all most are named after people who either lost their lives for a cause or fought for one, I'd say that is a pretty good reason why they get streets and such named after them. They and their families are being rewarded for what they did likely to help the country or whatever. If you want to gripe, blame the government.

I as a parent wouldn't want my child if something happened to them be on a street sign. I'd rather it be on a scholarship or something that is going to benefit society or individuals.



hale_bopp
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11 Feb 2005, 7:58 pm

I didn't read all that - I can't stand long reading on forums, so sorry if I say something silly :oops:

But wouldn't the freeways be built a long time ago?

There aren't enough freeways to be named after everyone?



chamoisee
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11 Feb 2005, 11:50 pm

Ya know, I didn't read this post at first...because for soem reason, I thought it was an extension of the saying "aw, go play on the freeway!". I thought it was that you didn't LIKE kids. Man, was I ever wrong... :? :P

I for one think that many place and street names are insufferably boring and very hard to remember (sometimes). I have a hard time remembering a street name unless it conjures up an image in my mind, or I can picture myself seeiing the sign ...arghhh...sidetracked again...



TheBladeRoden
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12 Feb 2005, 2:06 am

Interesting, all our highways are named after numbers. :roll:



MrMeaner
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12 Feb 2005, 12:30 pm

I live in San Antonio, and we have 2 streets and a parkway with these names..Wurzbach St., Harry Wurzbach, and the Wurzbach Parkway (built 5 yrs ago)..Now...did they run out of people to name the streets after?! ! They don't intersect each other! These are 3 different highways!! I think they should've just named one street after the guy...period! I got nothing against the guy, i'm sure he was a great American..but there were several great Americans..our city council probably should've broadened they search for a street name...



FuzzyChickens
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12 Feb 2005, 3:36 pm

Think about what you're doing.

You're bitching about freeway names.

I mean, of all the skrewy things in this world to b***h about, of all the injustices and colossal fudge-ups, you pick freeway names?

I've lived in the bay area for 20 years, and I've never even noticed these names. Everyone still refers to them by number.



MrMeaner
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13 Feb 2005, 10:11 pm

..well we can b**** about how society misunderstands and mistreats us, but you know, that gets old, even for me



hale_bopp
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14 Feb 2005, 5:29 am

FuzzyChickens wrote:
Think about what you're doing.
Bla Bla Bla Bla


People can b***h about what they want. If you don't like the idea of a topic, don't read it or reply to it. :D



lostonearth35
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02 Apr 2015, 3:22 pm

We don't have freeways in Canada. We have highways. And if I want my memory to be dedicated to anything, having my name stuck to a place where there's huge traffic jams and pollution and noise and road rage is not one of them. I want to be remembered for my talents, my arts, my crafts. As if that'll ever happen. :(



progaspie
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03 Apr 2015, 4:41 pm

lostonearth35 wrote:
We don't have freeways in Canada. We have highways. And if I want my memory to be dedicated to anything, having my name stuck to a place where there's huge traffic jams and pollution and noise and road rage is not one of them. I want to be remembered for my talents, my arts, my crafts. As if that'll ever happen. :(


Always wondered why they are called "free"-ways. Not free in the sense of "free" moving traffic. They jam up traffic at the exits. Here in Melbourne we have another name for them. We call them car parks.

Not free in the sense of not costing money to use. Here they put tolls on them because the government is so lousy they don't want to pay for them, so companies build them to extract money from the poor motorist.



Ettina
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03 Apr 2015, 6:31 pm

MishLuvsHer2Boys wrote:
I as a parent wouldn't want my child if something happened to them be on a street sign. I'd rather it be on a scholarship or something that is going to benefit society or individuals.


And a lot of those are named after kids.



elkclan
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04 Apr 2015, 6:01 am

St Pancras station (major railway station in London and international rail junction) is named after a child (14 yr old martyr) and the patron saint of children. Not sure if that counts.