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Some location names just make sense. It makes sense that the city of New York is part of the state New York. Sometimes things aren’t so simple. For example, guess which state Kansas City belongs to? Kansas would be a reasonable guess. And you’d be right! …kinda. You see, there is a Kansas City, Kansas, but the Kansas City you probably want to go to is actually is Kansas City, Missouri. As it turns out, the confusion is deliberate — Kansas created a Kansas City with the intention of stealing valor from the more popular Kansas City, Missouri. Oakland looks to be setting up tourists to get duped just like Kansas did over a century ago. David Chiu is willing to go to court to stop it. From NBC:
San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu on Monday fired off a letter to the Port of Oakland Commission, threatening legal action if the port persisted in its plan to change the name of Oakland’s airport to “San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport.”
Chiu called out the plan for its potential for confusion and noted it was a particularly acute problem for an “audience of international travelers” who may not speak or read English.
If left unchecked, the name change could lead to several mishaps: confused travelers, packages going to the wrong place, and trademark violations. These all seem like common sense objections to the name change — how did the idea even get this far? Traveling internationally is hard enough without Oakland pulling a Kansas City. If the goal was to attract people, they’d probably be better off by figuring out a way to cut costs that benefit customers rather than a name change that will have customer service profusely apologizing for all the foreseeable mix-ups and ruined itineraries.
The Port of Oakland Board will meet up on Thursday to decide the fate of the airport’s name. If common sense and the threat of lawsuits aren’t enough to deter their obvious mishap in the making, maybe Kendrick can push the button to change their course.
San Francisco Threatens Legal Action Over Oakland Airport Name Change Proposal [NBC Bay Area]
Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s. He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.
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