If you ever wanted an illustration of how bureaucratic local government matters can be, just consider the debate over whether to change the Navy Yard Metro stop to add a Curly W in there. Navy Yard, of course, is the stop where Nationals Park is located. On Monday, the Advisory Neighborhood Commission 6D Branch voted to support changing the station name to "Navy Yard - W," with the "W" to be a Curly W Nationals logo.
This is apparently a significant vote because adding an actual logo to a station name is unprecedented. Via the report:
The discussion on Monday night centered around whether using the logo would set a dangerous precedent, whether it would be confusing in terms of pronouncing the station name, whether it's de facto advertising, and whether riders with vision impairments would or would not be better served by having a logo versus a spelled-out "Ballpark."
The reason spelling out "Ballpark" might be an issue is that it gets closer to running up against the 19-character limit for metro stations. Yup, these are things that require serious consideration in an ANC 6D branch meeting.
For an even more hilarious objection to the OUTRAGEOUS idea of adding a logo to a Metro stop's name, including a suggestion that riders might think the "W" is a nod to the 43rd US President instead of the Nationals, click here.