The Pete Seeger Tappan Zee Bridge? One municipal official in Westchester County thinks it’s got a nice ring to it.
The death Monday of Seeger, the folk musician and long-time political activist who founded a Poughkeepsie-based, river-sailing environmental group to advocate for an unpolluted Hudson River, has inspired a proposal to name the in-construction new Tappan Zee Bridge after the music legend.
Seeger, 94 and a resident of Beacon for more than six decades, died of natural causes at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan, according to a family member quoted in published reports. Seeger, who in the late 1940s built a log cabin on his 17-acre property overlooking the Hudson in Dutchess County for which he reportedly paid $100 an acre, was said to have been chopping wood at his home just 10 days before his death.
A leading figure in the American folk music revival in the decades after World War II, Seeger wrote songs that became anthems of the civil rights and antiwar movements of the 1960s, including “We Shall Overcome,” “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” and “If I Had a Hammer.”
An undaunted activist who wove political statements and social justice messages into traditional folk lyrics, Seeger in the 1950s was blacklisted from performing on television and in commercial concert venues for his left-wing politics and affiliation with the Communist Party. His 1961 conviction on contempt of Congress charges was later overturned by an appeals court.
Seeger in 1969 launched the Clearwater, a 106-foot sailing sloop built at his expense as a crusading vessel for the cleanup of the industrially polluted Hudson. He founded the nonprofit Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, a leading environmental organization in legal actions and public education efforts to clean up the river and protect its ecology.
For that effort, Seeger should be honored with his name on the new Tappan Zee Bridge, Feiner said Tuesday.
Feiner said he will write to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and members of the state Legislature to urge them to consider naming the new Tappan Zee bridge in Seeger”™s memory. The nearly 60-year-old existing bridge in 1994 was renamed in honor of the late Gov. Malcolm Wilson, a Yonkers resident who served 15 years as the state”™s lieutenant governor under Nelson Rockefeller.
“Pete Seeger was a leader in environmental causes,” Feiner said. “When one thinks of the Hudson River and the environment one of the first names we think of is Pete Seeger.”
“A world class new bridge should be named for a world class environmentalist who made our region a better place.”
What a wonderful idea! So fitting, so perfect. Let it be so!
A lovely tribute. Like the Tappan Zee, whose name implies a bridge between the Dutch settlers and the regional Indians, the “Seeger Span” is fitting in his lifelong attempts to build peace. Might the SEEGER TAPPAN ZEE respect them all!?
Absolutely a fitting tribute to a gentle man and humanitarian, who loved New York and all its beauty. Will definitely back Mr. Feiner on this. A wonderful idea!
This is perhaps the most wonderful way to honor the man who saved our beautiful river. Pete’s contributions to saving our environment were rooted in his live of the Hudson River Valley. Let us join Paul Feiner’s lead and reach out to the governor to promote this brilliant idea. Why name a bridge for a politico when you can name it after a truly great American?!
Or ,The Clearwater Span, its the ongoing effort of this American Folk heros legacy
YES! The Pete Seeger Clearwater Bridge!! Do IT!!
The Pete Seeger Tappan Zee Bridge. Perfect!!! Let’s mount the necessary pressure–people pressure!–to get this done. Write officials, get ready to march, sing!
Who will now lead us when the good people of this country wake up, & take our country back? Pete Seeger was a leader of many generations. He was a poet, & always got his message out peacefully. He has left us with many of his words of wisdom in his music, just listen, & you will learn how words can effect not just your own lives, but the lives of millions. My generation has a special connection to his music. He helped walk this country out of a violent time, one song after another, Peacefully! I will miss your continued lessons that you’ve taught us throughout your life, but I have been listening. God speed Pete, we will miss you!
GREAT idea to name the new bridge after Pete! And why aren’t flags in NY State flying at half-staff? Pete was a special New Yorker and a true American patriot!
Why not rename the Beacon Newburgh Bridge as the Pete and Toshi Seeger Bridge?
Name a bridge after him? That people drive on and pollute the air with? I think he would either be horrified or think it was funny. Donate time and money to his causes instead.