Boston Councilman Wants CITGO Sign Gone…

If one politician has his way, Boston’s oldest and most recognizable neon sign will be coming down from high atop its perch in Kenmore Square.

The CITGO sign in Boston’s Kenmore Square, as seen from Fenway Park.

From ESPN.com, via the AP:

Boston city councilor wants CITGO sign taken down

BOSTON — A city councilor wants a landmark CITGO sign taken down in response to a speech in which Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez called President Bush “the devil.”

Citgo is a subsidiary of Venezuela’s state oil company, and Councilor Jerry McDermott wants to replace the sign, which is visible from Fenway Park, with a U.S. flag.

“Given the hatred of the United States displayed by dictator Hugo Chavez, it would be more fitting to see an American flag when you drive through Kenmore Square,” McDermott told The Boston Herald. “I think people would soon forget the Citgo sign.”

Citgo paid $1 million to refurbish the sign last year, said company spokesman David McCollum, who downplayed McDermott’s proposed, nonbinding resolution.

“We leave the politics to the politicians,” he said.

Chavez called Bush “the devil” in a speech to the United Nations on Wednesday.

You know, way too much has been made of these comments by Chavez at the UN. Did anyone really expect that he was going to come here and speak favorably? We know the man is a nut and all the attention we give him for his “devil” comments are doing nothing more than to give him press. The Right clearly has gone overboard with the coverage and analysis of his speech, but now it’s not just us.
Councilman McDermott wants to tear down the CITGO sign which is a landmark in the Hub. CITGO has been owned by Venezuela’s state-owned oil company since 1990 and Chavez is the president of Venezuela.
It’s a nice little game of connect the dots, and I get where the Councilman is coming from but…well…this just isn’t the answer. The CITGO sign isn’t just a landmark, it’s part of the landscape when you see a home run leave Fenway Park over the Green Monster. People don’t love the sign because it’s CITGO, they love the sign because it’s Boston.
Pulling down the sign isn’t going to do a thing. It won’t send any kind of message to Chavez or Venezuela and it won’t affect CITGO’s bottom line. CITGO is free to do business here in America, but that doesn’t mean anyone has to actually buy gas from them. If you want to send them a message, that’s your best recourse.
Either way, this Chavez thing has had far more than fifteen minutes and it’s time for it to go away.
William Smith
ConservativeBlogger.com