Petition Asking For Bridge Name Change Delivered To Albany: POLL

TARRYTOWN, NY — An online petition demanding the state reverse its decision to call the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement by the name “Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge” was delivered to officials in Albany late last week. The petition, penned by Port Chester resident Monroe Mann, has received almost 110,000 signatures.

As of midday Tuesday, 109,745 signatures were received, with the amount still increasing. The petition can be viewed here.

Mann updated the Change.org site to say that the two bills currently before the state legislature — A8914-A in the Assembly and S7671 in the Senate — are identical in that they’ve reached a compromise “to change the bridge name to ‘The Governor Mario M. Cuomo Tappan Zee Bridge,’ " Mann said.

The new bridge is replacing one that was officially named the “Governor Malcolm Wilson Tappan Zee Bridge.”

Mann said that the compromise is not being unanimously greeted with approval.

He said the original petition was never just about getting rid of Cuomo’s name from the bridge.

“It was about preserving the Tappan Zee name on the bridge,” Mann said.

He said that sometimes to accomplish something compromises have to be reached or nothing will get done.

“These bills are a fair compromise that honor the Tappan and the Dutch, preserve NY history, avoid the spending of countless wasteful dollars to replace all the signs in NY state, and yes, allow Gov. Andrew Cuomo to honor his father at the same time,” Mann said.

Mann thought the bills were the only way that the public would be able to see the words Tappan Zee on the bridge.

The Assembly’s bill was referred to the Transportation Committee in April. The Senate bill has advanced to its third reading.

It is not known whether there are enough votes for the bills to pass, much less whether there will be enough to votes to override a possible veto from the governor.

Rockland County Executive Ed Day said he supported the addition of “Tappan Zee” to the new bridge’s current name.

“This is a viable compromise to what has become both embarrassing and insulting to the lower Hudson Valley,” he said. “This common-sense solution will help restore the tradition and history of our area by honoring the Tappan Native Americans who resided here as well as the early Dutch settlers.”

Day said that, in a time when so much of the world around us is changing, “it is so important that we retain a true sense of our history; these bills will help us do exactly that.”

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Photo caption: Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge, Tuesday, June 12, 2018. Photo credit: NYS Thruway Authority webcam.