Buying a name | The Salt Lake Tribune

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Re "Family steps up with $4 million to rescue Capitol Theatre project" (Tribune, June 19):

I suppose I should be grateful to the Janet Quinney Lawson Foundation for saving the Capitol Theatre renovation just in the nick of time, but frankly, I'm irked that the theater will be permanently renamed the Janet Quinney Lawson Capitol Theatre — for a paltry $4.5 million!

Why not name it the Salt Lake County Capitol Theatre, since the county chipped in a whopping $11.4 million? Or Ballet West's Capitol Theatre, since the dance company raised $13.5 million? Compared to those amounts, only the lobby should be named for Lawson, not the entire structure.

At the very least, the naming should be for a specific amount of time. After all, EnergySolutions (and formerly Delta Air Lines) pays each year to have its name on the Jazz's sports arena.

Thank heavens Utah's late billionaire didn't ask that because of his donation for the renovation of Salt Lake's Catholic cathedral that it be renamed the James LeVoy Sorenson Cathedral of the Madeleine. Had one of the Eccles family made the donation, it probably would have been renamed.

Why must rich people have their name on everything?

Victor Boyd

Salt Lake City