Amazon’s long-awaited, heavily courted second headquarters will be split between New York City and Northern Virginia, the trillion-dollar mega-company revealed Tuesday.
The announced plan, which guarantees the online organization greater influence in both Wall Street and Congress, has led to confusion as the company’s Tuesday statement refers to the area where it plans to settle in Arlington County as “National Landing.” As a former longtime resident of Northern Virginia, I can assure you there’s no such place as “National Landing.”
The company’s statement describes the area as follows:
That’s Crystal City. Amazon just described Crystal City in Arlington County.
So, the answer is: Yes, Amazon has created a neighborhood name from thin air, “rebranding” the Crystal City and Pentagon City areas as “National Landing.” Because it can and because the state of Virginia, which is giving Amazon more than a half-billion dollars in incentives, and Arlington County officials, who’ve agreed to give the online company an additional $23 million, have agreed to it.
“National Landing” is “a newly branded neighborhood encompassing parts of Pentagon City and Crystal City in Arlington and Potomac Yard in Alexandria,” Arlington County explained in a press release that includes Arlington and Alexandria officials using the term “National Landing” like it’s a real place and not just a name created by a trillion-dollar e-commerce giant.
If this all seems weird to you, it shouldn’t. As it turns out, it isn’t that uncommon for cities, towns, counties, etc. to agree to name changes in exchange for money, jobs, prestige, or any combination of the three.
In 1950, for example, Hot Springs, N.M., changed its name to “Truth or Consequences” in response to a promise from radio host Ralph Edwards that he’d broadcast his program from the first town to rename itself after his game show.
In 1993, a Kansas radio station convinced the Montana town of Ismay to change its name to “Joe” to commemorate the Kansas City Chiefs acquiring football quarterback Joe Montana. The town kept the name “Joe” for nearly eight years.
In 2000, officials in Halfway, Ore., agreed to change the town’s name for one year to half.com, named after the online company purchased later by eBay for an estimated $300 million. In return, the Oregon town got 20 computers and “other financial perks.”
In 2005, Santa, Idaho, agreed to change its name to SecretSanta.com for one year in return for $20,000.
Also in 2005, Clark, Texas, officials agreed to rename their town to “DISH” in return for a promise that its residents get 10 years’ worth of free satellite TV from EchoStar Communication Corp. The town is still named “DISH.”
Then, of course, there are all the name changes that state and county officials in Florida have agreed to in order to keep Disney happy, including the 1996 founding of Celebration, Fla., in Osceola County.
Arlington County is just the latest in a long string of territories that have adopted name changes in order to please big talent and/or corporate overlords. It won’t be the last.
