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Have We Got a Bridge for You!(selling New York City)
New York City was founded on cash. While other cities arose where settlers happened to end up--or where some king decided to start a kingdom--New York came about in 1626 because a Dutch guy named Peter Minuit gave $24 worth of beads, axes, jew's-harps, hoes, awls and cloth to the local Lenape Indians. In exchange he got Manhattan.
The mythic deal has long figured in New Yorkers' swaggering self- confidence. We got this place for a mere $24! Now it's worth trillions! But I've always had a different interpretation. It wasn't the Dutch who got the great deal; it was the Lenape. Native Americans didn't "own" land, strictly speaking. As they saw it, the deal allowed them to walk off with valuable trinkets--yet surrender nothing. It was the New World's first big con.
The ghost of the Lenape haunted city hall the other day, when Mayor Mike Bloomberg became the first mayor to accept my interpretation of New York's founding myth. Strapped for cash, he let it be known that, henceforth, the city would begin selling a commodity it doesn't own: its good name.
Officially, Bloomberg was announcing the hiring of the city's first- ever chief marketing officer. His job? To "aggressively market all of our competitive advantages and centralize them into a comprehensive value proposition to corporate sponsors and build a consistent brand."
Understand? Don't worry, nobody else did. Apparently, the mayor hopes to "sell" corporations the right to affiliate themselves with a New York City landmark. In other words, a famous soft-drink manufacturer could put up $10 million to plant trees. In return, the city would install a plaque that reads WELCOME TO THE TROPICANA GROVE. Actually, New York has been doing this for years. Some time ago, for instance, the Central ...
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