How Will President Bush be Remembered?

Citizens of San Francisco, one of America's most liberal cities, are to be balloted in November on whether to rename a city sewage works after the outgoing President.

Organisers of the ballot gathered over 12,000 signatures on a petition for the change of name and, under election rules, this qualifies the motion (no pun intended) to be listed on the ballot paper in the city in November at the same time as voters are electing the next President.

Brian McConnell, organiser of the petition, said he came up with the idea over a beer with friends. If successful, the measure will result in the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant being renamed the George W. Bush Sewage Plant. McConnell said the intent is to remember the Bush administration and what the group sees as the President's mistakes, including the war in Iraq.

Naming public buildings after former Presidents has an illustrious history in the United States. But as Jesse McKinley explains in the New York Times,

Reagan has his highways. Lincoln has his memorial. Washington has the capital (and a state, too). But President Bush may soon be the sole president to have a memorial named after him that you can contribute to from the bathroom.

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