An Arlington councilman said Sunday he will not give up on his effort to sell the naming rights to city parks.
The city denied the proposal on Tuesday. But Councilman Robert Rivera said getting corporate sponsors could save taxpayers money.
"We are talking about potentially millions of dollars put into our park system to benefit our youth, to benefit and improve our quality of life at no cost to our taxpayer," he said.
Arlington resident Cindy Ahlers said finding corporate sponsors makes sense.
"I just think it's kind of silly to take the tax route when you can let the private sector and free enterprise bring in the needed revenue," she said.
Danny Foreman said he has to drive far from his Arlington home to find a park suitable to take his daughter.
"All these parks, if you look at any of toys or anything out there, they need paint, they could use a little bit of restoration," he said.
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Foreman said any sponsorships would need to be done tastefully.
"Probably they're worried about just commercializing everything, having billboards," he said.
Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that he thinks it's inappropriate for a municipality to name things for money.
But the city made a deal with AT&T for $500,000 almost 10 years ago.
"There was a discussion of AT&T providing money to pay for a park, and so with that, the council decided to accept the money and agree for future naming rights," Rivera said.
He said the City Council was concerned corporate labels would tarnish the city's image.
"We could control which corporate sponsor would be associated with that park," Rivera said. "The name of the historical figure that the park was named after could still be the prominent focal point."
