One of the things that happened under Andrew Cuomo’s New York governor’s administration was the construction of a new bridge to replace the Tappan Zee Bridge, because the old Tappan Zee Bridge was rotten and dilapidated. The new bridge was built parallel to the old bridge, and like the old bridge connects Westchester and Rockland counties, just north of New York City. That new bridge is technically called the Mario M. Cuomo Governor’s Bridge, because Andrew Cuomo wanted to do a good deed for his father, a three-term former governor of New York.
The only problem is that people still call the new bridge Tappan Zee, because the name Cuomo today makes a terrible impression and Tappan Zee is fun to say. Also, Tappan Zee is a name that has stood the test of time, in the same way that for me it will always be the 59th Street Bridge and not the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, and it will always be the Triborough Bridge and not the Bridge. Robert F. Kennedy, and it will always be the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, not the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel. Hell, if I had a hair dryer, we would still call John F. Kennedy International Airport Idlewild. Stop naming things after people! we did To be on this.
Anyway, WPIX This week’s report that James Skoufis, a New York Democratic state senator who seems to be a smart guy, has a bill that would once again officially name the bridge connecting Westchester and Rockland counties the Tappan Zee Bridge.
James Skoufis, who sponsored the name change bill, said many people living in the Hudson Valley still refer to the bridge as Tappan Zee.
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“This is not about rejecting Mario Cuomo as former governor, and finding some bridge, highway, or tunnel to dedicate to him and his service, but to restore a name that many feel has been stolen,” he said.
The New York Post Office Also fill in a bit of history hereThis is not surprising at all.
Disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo, heavily armed lawmakers gave the green light to the moniker “Mario” as part of a late-night legislative behind-the-scenes deal to pass a bill that aggregates it all in 2017, when finishing touches were underway on nearly $4 billion in structures.
In exchange for paying tribute to Cuomo’s father, Republicans received numerous concessions – including larger retirement benefits for uniformed first responders injured on the job. , lower Manhattan real estate tax relief, three-year county sales tax extension for both upstate and New York City, up to $50 million in flood assistance for Lake Ontario, and easing restrictions about land in part of Adirondack Park.
Skoufis and his allies seem hopeful that the bill could pass this year, because he is a Democrat and Democrats control the New York legislature and governor’s office. , after a Republican tried and failed with a similar bill last year. Tappan Zee is also an opulent homage to Tappan, who lived in the area when the Dutch arrived in the 17th century — zee are Dutch for the sea.
It should also be said that, officially, the former Tappan Zee is Governor Malcolm Wilson Tappan Zee Bridge, changed in 1994 to honor another former governor of New York that even fewer people remember. Except I’m not sure anyone has ever called a bridge that. The bridge is simply Tappan Zee and it always will be.
