The Pete Seeger Tappan Zee Bridge? A Greenburgh official”™s proposal to name the twin-span crossing now under construction after the Hudson Valley legend has picked up a strong tailwind of grassroots support on its way to Albany.
“It”™s amazing,” Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner said of the response to his pitch to state officials to name the Hudson River bridge after the folk singer and environmental activist, who died Jan. 27 at the age of 94. Within several hours after the Business Journal first reported his proposal on its website, westfaironline.com, Feiner said he was “swamped with emails and phone calls from Pete Seeger fans who are excited about the possibility.”
At westfaironline, comments poured in from readers who enthusiastically backed Feiner”™s idea.
“Absolutely a fitting tribute to a gentle man and humanitarian, who loved New York and all its beauty. ”¦A wonderful idea!” wrote Ronnie Campbell, president and owner of The Burrell Group Ltd. in New York City.
“This is perhaps the most wonderful way to honor the man who saved our beautiful river,” wrote Varda Amdur, owner of Varda Amdur Promotions Ltd. in White Plains. “Pete”™s contributions to saving our environment were rooted in his love 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?”
Other readers suggested the Tappan Zee span linking Rockland and Westchester counties be named the Pete Seeger Clearwater Bridge.
A Dutchess Junction resident for more than six decades, Seeger in 1969 launched the Clearwater, a 106-foot sloop built at his expense that sailed the Hudson as a crusading vessel for the cleanup of the industrially polluted river. He founded the Beacon-based nonprofit Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, a leading environmental organization in legal actions and public education efforts to restore the river and protect its ecology.
In the late 1940s Seeger built a log cabin on his 17-acre property overlooking the Hudson in Dutchess County, for which he reportedly paid $100 an acre. A family member said he had been chopping wood at his home just 10 days before his death, according to one published report.
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 songs, 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.
Calling Seeger “a New York icon and folk music legend,” Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in a statement mourning his loss said he “used his music to make our society and state a better place. He was a champion of civil rights, labor, peace and the environment who used his influence to try and improve the country we live in. As we continue to make New York state the progressive capital of the nation, we are proud to have been the place Pete called home.”
Feiner said he sent letters to the governor and the Westchester delegation in the state Legislature urging them to name the new bridge in Seeger”™s honor. The first span is scheduled to open in 2016 and the approximately $4 billion project is scheduled for completion in 2018 by Tappan Zee Constructors L.L.C.
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 lieutenant governor under Nelson Rockefeller.
Instead of a politician, said Feiner, the new Tappan Zee bridge should bear the name of an environmentalist who “did so much for the river.”
“Pete Seeger was a leader in environmental causes,” he said. “When one thinks of the Hudson River and the environment one of the first names we think of is Pete Seeger.”
One day after floating his proposal, Feiner said three online petitions had been started by residents of Brooklyn, Manhattan and Long Island urging Cuomo and state legislators to name the bridge in Seeger”™s memory. “It”™s on Albany blogs,” he said.
Bill Swersey, a digital technologist in Manhattan who was raised in Westchester, said he “felt a real pang of emotion” when he awakened to the news of Seeger”™s death. Seeger”™s songs for children, which his mother played to him, “made a huge impact on me.”
A former photographer at Gannett newspapers in Westchester, Swersey said he had never before created on online petition. But hearing about Feiner”™s proposal among the flood of radio tributes to Seeger in the wake of his death, he decided to start one at change.org. Like Feiner”™s letter, the fast-accumulating collected signatures of supporters will be sent to Cuomo and members of the state Senate and Assembly.
“Twitter has been really helpful,” Swersey said. “On Twitter, the right person with a large following can multiply your impact very, very quickly.”
Swersey said he”™s received a few comments dismissing the proposed naming. One person said Seeger himself would not want his name on a bridge that is being built without mass transit lanes to reduce its heavy car and truck traffic.
One wit suggested the singing activist would be more aptly honored if the Tappan Zee span was named the Pete Seeger Causeway.
“I didn”™t ever think that it was really going to get any reaction,” Feiner said. “It”™s really captured people”™s imagination. This is one of those things that”™s taken on a life of its own, and with this grassroots movement maybe they (Albany officials) will think about doing this when they weren”™t originally.”
“I think it”™s something that will be exciting for the bridge,” he said. “While crossing, it will inspire thoughts of what we can do individually and collectively to keep the river clean.”
A great idea for a great humanitarian that can and should be endorsed by everyone.