Rantings of a New Yorker

The MTA has sold the naming rights to the Atlantic Avenue subway station in Brooklyn to Barclay’s.

If a $4 million deal is approved on Wednesday, the nexus of subway stops at Atlantic Avenue, Pacific Street and Flatbush Avenue in Downtown Brooklyn will add an additional name to its already lengthy title: Barclays.

Once upon a time, geographic relevance determined a station’s name, but now, the authority says it is open to any naming agreements that can raise revenue for its transit system, including ones not directly tied to location.

“It’s always a question of balancing our need for revenue and our stewardship of public space,” said Jeremy Soffin, a spokesman for the agency. Advertising may make the most sense for a company associated with a station, he said, “but we’re not closing anything out.”

How about you start with the extremely high salaries that some MTA employees get paid?  That would surely raise a bit of money and you wouldn’t have to rely on corporations to bail you out.