San Francisco has sued Oakland after officials there voted in favor of changing the name of the city’s airport to San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport.

San Francisco on Thursday sued Oakland after officials there voted in favor of changing the name of the city’s airport to San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport, saying the change will cause confusion and is already affecting its airport financially.

Last week, the Board of Commissioners for the Port of Oakland voted unanimously to move forward with the name-change and scheduled a second vote for final approval on May 9. The airport is currently called Oakland International Airport.

“We had hoped Oakland would come to its senses, but their refusal to collaborate on an acceptable alternative name leaves us no choice but to file a lawsuit to protect SFO’s trademark,” San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu said in a statement.

  • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
    61·
    7 months ago

    I don’t think that the city of San Francisco should get to own the term “San Francisco Bay”. The city of San Francisco (population 808,437) is only a minority part of the San Francisco Bay Area (population 9.71 million)

    None of that is to say that the airport should be called that, but I don’t think I like the city of San Francisco heading in this direction.

    EDIT: Though if the city of San Francisco wants to have a name more-distinct from the whole San Francisco Bay Area, they could do a rename:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco

    The city has officially been known as San Francisco since 1847, when Washington Allon Bartlett, then serving as the city’s alcalde, renamed it from Yerba Buena (Spanish for “Good Herb”), which had been name used throughout the Spanish and Mexican eras since approximately 1776. The name Yerba Buena continues to be used in locations in the city, such as on Yerba Buena Island and in the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and Yerba Buena Gardens.

    “Yerba Buena” kinda rolls off the tongue nicely, and the ICAO code “YBO” appears to be free if SFO wants it.

    EDIT2: And the San Francisco Bay had the name before the city-currently-known-as-San-Francisco adopted it:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Bay

    The first recorded European discovery of San Francisco Bay was on November 4, 1769, when Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portolá, unable to find the Port of Monterey, continued north close to what is now Pacifica and reached the summit of the 1,200-foot-high (370 m) Sweeney Ridge, now marked as the place where he first sighted San Francisco Bay. Portolá and his party did not realize what they had discovered, thinking they had arrived at a large arm of what is now called Drakes Bay.[12] At the time, Drakes Bay went by the name Bahia de San Francisco and thus both bodies of water became associated with the name. Eventually, the larger, more important body of water fully appropriated the name San Francisco Bay.

    Here’s an 1845 map of California with the city of Yerba Buena on the Bahia de San Francisco:

    https://i.pinimg.com/originals/71/2a/2a/712a2a6af54c1eef7bdabee9488c8862.jpg

    • Jarix@lemmy.world
      2·
      7 months ago

      All canadian airports use Y as the first letter. But its not only canadian airports that use Y as the first letter in the code.

      Weird

      • Cheesus@lemmy.world
        2·
        7 months ago

        Not all Canadian airports use Y. They use Y to denote yes it has a radio beacon. If it doesn’t, they start with W for without.

        • Jarix@lemmy.world
          2·
          7 months ago

          Oh it was my understanding that was the way it used to be but was changed years ago, appreciate the correction!