An online petition is urging the state Legislature to drop plans to name the $3.98 billion Tappan Zee Bridge replacement after Gov. Mario M. Cuomo.
The petition, “Return the Cuomo Bridge its original name: The Tappan Zee,” was created nearly two weeks ago on change.org and has already amassed more than 41,000 signatures as of Monday morning.
“While Mr. Cuomo may be deserving of something named after him, it should not be at the expense of history, and the original settlers of our land: the Tappan Indians and the Dutch,” the petition”™s creator, Monroe Mann, said, “and certainly not at taxpayer expense.”
In June, the state Legislature approved a bill that would name the bridge after the three-term New York governor. The bill was signed the same day by Mario Cuomo”™s son, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who led the charge for the renaming. The name change, which was approved in an extraordinary legislative session called to settle a number of issues before the end of the legislative term, caused an uproar among some residents.
“We are furious that the state Legislature voted to rename our bridge the Cuomo Bridge in the dead of night without any input from the public,” Mann said in the online petition.
The former bridge was called The Governor Malcolm Wilson”“Tappan Zee Bridge. Both the Tappan Zee name and honor to the late Wilson are dropped in the new title.
“We want our bridge”™s name back,” Mann said in the petition.
Abbey Fashouer, first deputy press secretary for Gov. Cuomo’s office, called the comments included in the petition “politically partisan.”“The law was passed by an overwhelming majority of both Democrats and Republicans and it is a fitting tribute to a life-long public servant who achieved great things for the people of New York,” she said.
Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner had pushed for the bridge to be named after late folk singer Pete Seeger, which was the subject of a 2014 change.org petition.
The new bridge that connects Westchester and Rockland counties is scheduled for a full opening in 2018.
When completed, the 3.1-mile-long bridge will feature eight general traffic lanes, four breakdown and emergency lanes, space for future bus rapid transit and commuter rail, a bicycle and walking path and viewing areas, cashless tolling and LED lighting.
The construction project is one of the largest in the nation and the biggest in the history of the New York State Thruway Authority.
