Put Bing on the map

With Bloomsday now and Hoopfest next month putting Spokane on the map, visitors come from all over and wonder why there are no public monuments to Spokane’s most famous citizen, Bing Crosby. Tacoma (his May 3 birthplace) also claims him as a favorite son, but from toddler age Spokane was his real home.

We have Crosby’s home and a statue, both on the Gonzaga University campus, and the Bing Theater, but there are no city-owned monuments in his honor.

Right now, the city has two short streets in the Indian Trail neighborhood, Bing Court and Crosby Court. Ironically, both are downwind from the old city dump, hardly a fitting remembrance. Why not rename the street or place plaques on portions of the street on which he lived, Sharp Avenue?

Between Washington Street and Mission Avenue, there are breaks at both ends, and such a 12-block long area would be ideal for an avenue or road. Remember his “Road To …” movies?

It’s high time we showed our pride in Bing Crosby and put him on the map, literally.

Dale Roloff

Spokane