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In September 2021, various news outlets and websites reported that the city of Portland, Oregon, had renamed a recently opened bridge in honor of Ned Flanders, affable neighbor and charitable Christian from The Simpsons. On Sept. 12, for example, the New York Post wrote: For its part, The Oregonian reported that: Those reports were accurate. The pedestrian and bicycle bridge, which crosses Interstate 405 and connects the Pearl District and Northwest District in Portland, was opened in June 2021, and originally called Flanders Crossing. However, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler re-named the bridge Ned Flanders Crossing in September. The official mayoral proclamation describes Ned Flanders as a quintessential emblem of good neighborliness for over 30 years, keeping his cool and trying his best to be a good neighbor even when confronted with his rather difficult neighbors, the Simpsons, and calls him a symbol of the kind of neighborly connection we should strive for in Portland. The re-dedication is a case of life imitating art imitating life. Simpsons creator Matt Groening grew up in Portland in the 1950s and 1960s, and named several characters after streets and landmarks in the city — including Ned Flanders, who was named after Flanders Street, which runs east and west on either side of Ned Flanders Crossing. Groening shared those real-life inspirations with renowned television critic David Bianculli in a 1997 New York Daily News interview:
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