Letters to the Editor: CITGO sign a part of Boston’s heritage

Re: “The CITGO sign – one bad landmark,” (page 3, Nov. 16)

I realize I’m going to run the risk of sounding like an angry Bay Stater, but I feel I need to dispute Mr. Kaplan’s feelings about the CITGO sign. I have lived in Worcester County, Massachusetts for essentially my whole life. And even out in Central and Western Mass., the CITGO sign is synonymous with Boston.

The CITGO sign is indeed a staple of Boston and has been — as was stated in the article — since 1965. Why has it become a staple? I’m not really sure. All I remember is going to my first Red Sox game when I was four (it was against the Yankees) and being in complete awe of this massive beacon that lit up the night sky. I remember my mother, who also grew up in Worcester and was two when the sign was constructed, telling me of the times she went to see the Sox of the Carlton Fisk and Carl Yastrzemski days of the 1970s. Even then, in its earliest days, the CITGO sign was a monument.

Now, a good point was brought up in the article that CITGO is based out of Oklahoma and that it somehow doesn’t make sense for an Oklahoman company (that more than likely supported George W. Bush) to have a sign in Boston (a city that resoundingly voted for John Kerry). But let us not forget that one of the greatest symbols of these United States was given to us by (gasp!) France. I refer, of course, to the Statue of Liberty.

Boston is a huge college city, and as such, a lot of people from all over the country and the world come here. Mr. Kaplan, for instance, is from New Jersey. I understand they’re not going to think of the CITGO sign as some awe-inspiring landmark, and that’s fine. But to Boston and Massachusetts, it is. Boston is also a very stubborn city, much to the chagrin of the rest of the country. Boston fears change. Maybe that’s a bit too far. Boston is very, very comfortable with where it is right now. Why do you think Fenway Park is still here? Why do you think there was a huge uproar in 1995 when the real Boston Garden was torn down to make way for the Fleet Center (now renamed the TD Banknorth Garden)?

Now, I don’t mean to offend anyone from the Philadelphia area. I have family and very close friends who live there. It is a beautiful city, home of the Continental Congress, and a fellow sister with Boston in promoting democracy in the 1770s and 1780s. The reason I bring up Philadelphia is because I want to relate the CITGO sign to Mr. Kaplan who, judging by the Phillies cap in his photo, has an affinity with Philadelphia. The CITGO sign, at the very least, is a real thing. Outside the Philadelphia Spectrum is a statue of the fictional movie character Rocky. Philadelphia, like so many other cities, has its monuments. We have ours. Can’t we all just get along, as the old adage goes?

I mean, it could be worse. The CITGO sign was originally green with the red triangle and blue letters.

The CITGO sign is a monument. It is a landmark. It is Boston.

Emery Markles

CAS ’08