Skip to main contentTriMet is dealing with public outcry over the revelation that it bypassed the most popular name suggestion for its new transit bridge, longtime street musician "Working" Kirk Reeves.
WW first reported Friday that more than 840 people suggested Reeves' name for the Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail Bridge—far more than submitted the four names TriMet chose as finalists.
Today, the regional transit agency responded by deploying the chair of the naming committee to explain why Reeves wasn't a good pick.
Chet Orloff, the director emeritus of the Oregon Historical Society, writes that the selection "has never been a popularity contest."
"What will be Kirk's historical and cultural significance to all of us in our region in 25, 50, 150 years?" Orloff writes. "Yes, he may have represented a certain type of individual—artist, independent soul, etc.—that we like to recognize. But, so was the case with all the other individuals and couples the committee considered."
Reeves became the center of an online bridge-naming campaign because he played trumpet near the Hawthorne Bridge before he committed suicide in 2012. But Orloff argues that Reeves did not have the "historical and lasting significance" required for the bridge's name.
Here's Orloff's central case. He suggests Reeves would be better honored with a sculpture near the Hawthorne Bridge.
WWeek 2015