What's In a Name?

William Shakespeare once asked “What’s in a name?” I think he was on to something because I can think of many items that would touch upon the names of a few of my personal interests and civic activities.  Such topics include the Charlotte Bobcats professional basketball team changing its name, the naming rights deal that was proposed and put on hold a couple of years ago, why the Newton Taxpayers Association named the 2013 anti-override ballot question committee Moving Newton Forward With Fiscal Responsibility and even naming the successor group to the old Newton Taxpayers Association:

Charlotte Bobcats: Charlotte’s first professional basketball team was the Hornets.  Despite mixed success on the court, it generated strong attendance from 1988-1997.  Once attendance dropped off due to Hornet fans growing disgusted former Hornets owner George Shinn’s antics, Shinn moved the team to New Orleans in 2002.  In 2012, Tom Benson bought the New Orleans Hornets and renamed them as the Pelicans one year later. 

In 2004, BET Founder Bob Johnson bought an expansion basketball franchise in Charlotte and named it the Bobcats.  The Bobcats weren’t as successful as the old Hornets and he sold them to NBA legend Michael Jordan in 2010.  When New Orleans relinquished its Hornets nickname, Jordan began the process of renaming the Charlotte Bobcats as the Charlotte Hornets and the Charlotte Bobcats will be officially known as the Charlotte Hornets in April 2014. 

This interests me because the first professional basketball game I saw was at the old Boston Garden featuring the Celtics against the Hornets and I remembered the Hornets years of success from 1992-1998.  I also remembered that former British General Charles Cornwallis referred to Charlotte as a “Hornet’s nest of rebellion”.  The new Newton Taxpayers Association sees itself as a hornet’s nest of opposition to fiscal waste, mismanagement and poor stewardship of assets.

Naming Rights: We support the sale of naming rights because the Newton Schools Foundation was projecting $2.1M/year from the sale of naming rights.  However, Ward 7 Democratic Chairman Professor Lisle Baker and his former aldermanic colleagues were adamantly opposed to the sale of naming rights because they wanted a bigger override and because  they want to use this override as a building block to go back to the voters again for more overrides.  Lisle Baker and his associates insist on more tax increase overrides to fund technology and buildings, while opposing raising money through naming rights. Which would you prefer?

Moving Newton Forward With Fiscal Responsibility: Jerry Reilly thought we were trying to mislead voters because the 2008 override group was called Move Newton Forward.  Newton blogger “Tricia” claimed that we were using a catchphrase of Mayor Warren’s.  They were both wrong.  We chose the name Moving Newton Forward for two reasons, satirizing the pro-override side and creating a positive group name.  As Move Newton Forward’s leadership combined with Newton for Fiscal Responsibility’s leadership to push the 2013 override, anyone could tell that Move Newton Forward (AKA Citizens for Newton’s Future) effectively merged with Newton for Fiscal Responsibility and we chose our name to express  our critique at the merger of Move Newton Forward with Newton for Fiscal Responsibility.

As Jeff Seideman had created Newton for Fiscal Responsibility while serving as the President of the Newton Taxpayers Association and as Move Newton Forward effectively merged with NFFR to create Building Newton’s Future, it was obvious that those brand names were available for the Newton Taxpayers to reclaim and use for a ballot question committee.  So we reclaimed and combined both names into Moving Newton Forward with Fiscal Responsibility because it is a powerful sounding group name that shows a positive and responsible outlook to fiscal responsibility and stewardship because we are positive, forward-thinking, responsible citizens interested in fiscal responsibility and stewardship.

Newton Taxpayers Association: After the override election concluded, we disbanded MNF and decided to continue our efforts as part of the Newton Taxpayers Association.  I refer to it as the new Newton Taxpayers Association because we are a new and improved organization.  We also reclaimed our NTA acronym as we were the original NTA and our organization has been around longer than the Newton Teachers Association.  Also, we couldn’t believe that our acronym was previously changed from NTA to NTxA.

In conclusion, “What’s in a name?” you ask?  Based on my observations about the Charlotte Hornets, the Newton School Foundation’s naming rights proposal, our former anti-override ballot question committee and even our acronym; I can see that there is plenty in a name.  Newton's taxpayers can count on the Newton Taxpayers Association to highlight the $1.16 Billion in debt and retirement benefit liabilities that Newton's government has incurred and saddled on the backs on Newton's taxpayers.  This represents a de facto lien on the houses of Newton taxpayers of at least $38,103.  Yes, each taxpaying homeowner “owes” $38,103 to the City because Newton mayor Setti Warren, the Board of Aldermen and the School Committee have been funding their spending with IOUs in the form of increased debt and future obligations for which you – the homeowners – are responsible.