It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood and one local man recently started a petition through Change.org, to change the name of Pittsburgh Airport.

For those of you not so familiar with the line “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood”, it’s from the children’s TV show Mister Rogers Neighborhood.

The show was created by Fred Rogers. He starred in it for over 30 years. When I think of the show, the famous red sweater (shown above) comes to mind.

USA Today mentions how Rogers “grew up near Pittsburgh” and the show was “produced at Pittsburgh’s public TV station, WQED“.

Rogers means a lot to the city of Pittsburgh. There’s already an exhibit dedicated to Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood at Pittsburgh International Airport, “a special gallery at the Heinz History Center and a statue dedicated to him in the city.

The man who started the petition, Ian Miller wrote a little about why he feels the airport’s name should be changed.

From the petition at Change.org, “Fred Rogers, a television pioneer and children’s entertainer, shared Pittsburgh’s sense of community with the world through his PBS show, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.  Pittsburgh is still an active transit hub and, for many people, our airport will be their first experience in Pittsburgh.  We wish to welcome everybody to our neighborhood.”

I think it’s a fun idea and signed the petition. It now has over 12,000 signatures but it’s unlikely that the airport’s name will be changed.

The Allegheny County Airport Authority’s spokesman Bob Kerlik said that the airport was rebranded in 2016 “to better match the ongoing renaissance of the Pittsburgh region“.

What do you think about the idea of renaming an airport to honor a local celebrity? I think it’s a fun idea and appears that Mister Rogers would be a good candidate but in many other scenarios it could definitely be a stretch.

Check out the Change.org petition here.