Thousands of New Yorkers want to resurrect the name of the Tappan Zee Bridge as the moniker for its modern replacement, now known as the Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge.
There’s a big obstacle: current Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whose administration built the new $4 billion Hudson River span that bears his father’s name. Lawmakers approved the name last year. Cuomo has called efforts to remove Mario’s name “personally hurtful.”
A petition supporting Tappan Zee has nearly 110,000 signatures. One supporter, Westchester County grandmother Theresa Westmoreland, says the old name should be preserved for history’s sake. “Tappan” refers to a nearby Native American group while “Zee” is Dutch for sea.
The issue may be moot for many. Local Assemblyman Tom Abinanti says nearly everyone he talks to still uses the old name.
(AP)
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2 Responses
The people will decide the name of the bridge. Ask anybody who lives or works on Avenue of the Americas where he/she lives or works, and he/she will tell you, “Sixth Avenue.” Sixth Avenue was officially renamed “Avenue of the Americas” in the late 1940’s – some 70 years ago – and the official name has not yet caught on.
As for the Andrew Cuomo administration’s building the new bridge, I like to think that the taxpayers were major contributors.
Mario-Zee