Someone has proposed changing the name of the Centennial Auditorium to the "Joni Mitchell Centre of the Arts" or something of that flavour.

Why change the name at all, and why name it after someone who, as a "flower child," left our city to become a music great, at about the same time the building itself was built (1967)?

How many times has Mitchell come back to Saskatoon in the last 30 years to really give back something to the city she calls home?

I know the donations to such places as the Mendel Gallery have put her name in the public eye on occasion, but shouldn't a building of any kind be named after someone who has shown a direct contribution to the building and its related use, either financially or in the initial construction concept and/or related theme of the building?

For example, the Mendel Art Gallery, Diefenbaker Centre and the city yards named after a long-time city employee.

Maybe they should have named the auditorium after someone such as Sid Buckwold, or whoever was on the committee to build the place back in the 1960s.

To rename a building more than 30 years post-construction after someone such as Mitchell kind of sounds like any professional sports arena selling its name to the highest bidder, with the highest profile ... doesn't it?