The battle to rename the new Tappan Zee Bridge is being revisited by a Hudson Valley assemblyman.
Putnam County Assemblyman Kevin Byrne (R-Mahopac) recently announced that he intends to file a bill to revert the name of the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge, named by Governor Andrew Cuomo earlier this year when the new bridge was completed, back to the Malcolm Wilson Tappan Zee Bridge.
“I voted against renaming the Tappan Zee Bridge earlier this year and I remain opposed to it today,” Byrne wrote the Daily Voice in a letter. “The outpouring of opposition to this name change has made it clear that the public disagrees with this hasty decision. An online petition has already garnered 90,000+ signatures demanding the bridge be renamed to reflect its previous historical name.”
The petition Byrne referred to was started by a Port Chester lawyer, and has since received more than 100,000 signatures. Previously, Cuomo has called the overwhelming outcry against the naming of the bridge “vindictive,” “hurtful,” and “mean” through a spokesperson.
“The bill passed overwhelmingly by Democrats and Republicans,” Cuomo’s said. “Something like 90 percent.”
Byrne, in his letter, expressed that renaming the bridge “ignores … ‘the historical significance of the indigenous tribe and early Dutch inhabitants” by removing the Tappan Zee name entirely.’”
In a poll released by Reclaim New York Initiative earlier this year, it was determined that 53.8 percent of Hudson Valley residents disapprove of renaming the bridge in the name of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s father, and 80 percent believe that Westchester and Rockland residents should have had a say on the vote.
What do you think? Should the name stay as the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge?
