What color for future MARTA rail line?

[Pink Jazz]

I was wondering, if MARTA were to come up with a fifth rail line (heavy rail or light rail), what color should it be? MARTA has a Red, Gold, Blue, and Green Line.

My first choice would be the Pink Line. However, if the line were to serve the gay neighborhoods, then I would choose the Brown Line, since pink would be promoting stereotypes. If you remember, the Asian-American communities objected to the Yellow Line, which is why it was renamed the Gold Line.

[geneking7320]

MARTA could have a contest and let the riders suggest a color.

[MTRSP1900-CTA3200]

Welcome to the forums, Pink Jazz!

MARTA could have a contest and let the riders suggest a color.

I second that. My main question is does MARTA even have a line under construction or planned?

[Busjack]

... If you remember, the Asian-American communities objected to the Yellow Line, which is why it was renamed the Gold Line.

Apparently they didn't object in Skokie.

[Pink Jazz]

Apparently they didn't object in Skokie.

Interesting. I wonder why would the Asian-American residents in Atlanta object to the Yellow Line but not the Asian-American residents of Skokie. Of course, Chicago has had color designations for its rail lines well before Atlanta, and perhaps at the time the Asian-American population in Skokie was much smaller at the time the Yellow Line was named as such.

[rvwnsd]

Interesting. I wonder why would the Asian-American residents in Atlanta object to the Yellow Line but not the Asian-American residents of Skokie. Of course, Chicago has had color designations for its rail lines well before Atlanta, and perhaps at the time the Asian-American population in Skokie was much smaller at the time the Yellow Line was named as such.

Skokie has had a large Asian, Indian (which is part of Asia), and Russian population since before the CTA lines were color-coded.

[Pink Jazz]

Skokie has had a large Asian, Indian (which is part of Asia), and Russian population since before the CTA lines were color-coded.

At least no city has a Red Line that serves a Native American reservation. I don't think any city would even think about adding a Black Line or a White Line due to perceived racism. I wonder though, would Latinos object to a Brown Line? As long as there are no Latino communities along the line it would work fine, which is why I suggested it for MARTA if a new rail line serves the gay (non-Latino) neighborhoods of Atlanta. Assigning the Pink Line to the gay neighborhoods would be bad, since it promotes a stereotype that all gay men like the color pink (which is not true at all; in fact just as many if not more straight men like the color pink).

[garmon757]

At least no city has a Red Line that serves a Native American reservation. I don't think any city would even think about adding a Black Line or a White Line due to perceived racism. I wonder though, would Latinos object to a Brown Line? As long as there are no Latino communities along the line it would work fine, which is why I suggested it for MARTA if a new rail line serves the gay (non-Latino) neighborhoods of Atlanta. Assigning the Pink Line to the gay neighborhoods would be bad, since it promotes a stereotype that all gay men like the color pink (which is not true at all; in fact just as many if not more straight men like the color pink).

Oh lord, if that ever happened in this city then I'm running! Nice to meet you!

[Busjack]

At least no city has a Red Line that serves a Native American reservation. I don't think any city would even think about adding a Black Line or a White Line due to perceived racism. I wonder though, would Latinos object to a Brown Line? As long as there are no Latino communities along the line it would work fine, which is why I suggested it for MARTA if a new rail line serves the gay (non-Latino) neighborhoods of Atlanta. Assigning the Pink Line to the gay neighborhoods would be bad, since it promotes a stereotype that all gay men like the color pink (which is not true at all; in fact just as many if not more straight men like the color pink).

Things above seem pretty screwed up.

The Pink Line here is because some little girl in Unity Jr. HS (at the end of the line in Cicero) won a contest.

Chicago's Brown Line goes through numerous brown neighborhoods, although not necessarily Latino. It also goes through a neighborhood with a lot of crooked politicians, including one serving 14 years in prison. He only rode in black luxury SUVs. Besides that, car cards (such as for the former X80 bus) referred to "la linea Cafe," which I doubt was directed to the Vietnamese community near Roosevelt HS.

Supposedly there are Native American communities in Uptown near the Wilson Red Line stop.

Given the multicolor obelisks erected by the city on Halsted between Belmont and Broadway, I don't think that the gay community is hung up on color. However, I wonder if those obelisks imply that straight people aren't welcome.

Your pink comment gets back to the Yellow Line, which, as mentioned, at the time Skokie had a lot of Holocaust survivors, who, in Nazi Germany had to wear yellow stars. They protested the (as the Blues Brothers said) the f'n Illinois Nazis marching there, and more lately they protested some consultant's plan to put a Yellow Line station on the grounds of Niles North HS., but they have never protested the Yellow Line.

I don't know if you are in Atlanta or Chicago, but if you reflect what the sentiment is in Atlanta, political correctness there seems to have run amok.

[ctrabs74]

Things above seem pretty screwed up.

The Pink Line here is because some little girl in Unity Jr. HS (at the end of the line in Cicero) won a contest.

Chicago's Brown Line goes through numerous brown neighborhoods, although not necessarily Latino. It also goes through a neighborhood with a lot of crooked politicians, including one serving 14 years in prison. He only rode in black luxury SUVs. Besides that, car cards (such as for the former X80 bus) referred to "la linea Cafe," which I doubt was directed to the Vietnamese community near Roosevelt HS.

Supposedly there are Native American communities in Uptown near the Wilson Red Line stop.

Given the multicolor obelisks erected by the city on Halsted between Belmont and Broadway, I don't think that the gay community is hung up on color. However, I wonder if those obelisks imply that straight people aren't welcome.

Your pink comment gets back to the Yellow Line, which, as mentioned, at the time Skokie had a lot of Holocaust survivors, who, in Nazi Germany had to wear yellow stars. They protested the (as the Blues Brothers said) the f'n Illinois Nazis marching there, and more lately they protested some consultant's plan to put a Yellow Line station on the grounds of Niles North HS., but they have never protested the Yellow Line.

I don't know if you are in Atlanta or Chicago, but if you reflect what the sentiment is in Atlanta, political correctness there seems to have run amok.

I'm probably guilty of that (indirectly) myself. I did a work-study job at my community college's public relations office a few years ago where our school's colors were blue and yellow, though I pointed out that we had a modest, but growing, Asian student population. So, the school refers to our colors as blue and gold.

Semi-related: from my days as a free-lance sports writer, referees in most sports don't describe uniforms as "yellow" but "gold" instead; it's not racially related, but in the old days, calling someone "yellow" questioned their manhood. Or at least that's what one referee once told me, but that's another story.

Getting back to the original topic (somewhat), I know that in LA, their new light rail line is known as the "Expo Line" as opposed to giving it a color. I'm sure if some transit system eventually runs out of colors, they could always go that route.

[Busjack]

...

Getting back to the original topic (somewhat), I know that in LA, their new light rail line is known as the "Expo Line" as opposed to giving it a color. I'm sure if some transit system eventually runs out of colors, they could always go that route.

Assuming that any transit plan is of any value, the Circle Line was not given a color. However, the Circle Line plan assumed that the Pink Line would be part of the Brown Line (both the Douglas and Midway were assumed to be interlined with the Ravenswood), and certainly a Douglas version would have gone through Black and Brown communities, especially Pilsen and N. Lawndale.

I'm sure that the only reason that CTA lines have color are (1) those not conversant in languages with Latin alphabets (like the Koreans near Kimball) needed something other than a black sign that said "Ravenswood," and (2) the colors were on the maps long before they were made official names of lines (i.e. the Lake-Dan Ryan was green) and hence it is a question for the cartographers, which I assume are Dennis McClendon and Roy Benedict.

[Pink Jazz]

Semi-related: from my days as a free-lance sports writer, referees in most sports don't describe uniforms as "yellow" but "gold" instead; it's not racially related, but in the old days, calling someone "yellow" questioned their manhood. Or at least that's what one referee once told me, but that's another story.

From what I heard, the reason is because referees prefer to use one-syllable colors whenever possible (Gold is one syllable, Yellow is two syllables). Sometimes "Purple" is substituted with "Blue" and "Orange" is substituted with "Red" (or "Gold" if playing against a red team) as well. Imagine having to say "Magenta" when "Pink" is so much easier.