A New York state senator is sponsoring a bill that would strip the name of a former New York governor from the former Tappan Zee bridge - but Governor Kathy Hochul has yet to decide if she’d sign off on the legislation.
Speaking on 710 WOR’s Len Berman and Michael Riedel in the Morning program, state Senator James Skoufis (D-Woodbury) says many local residents are still calling the structure that connects Rockland and Westchester counties the Tappan Zee Bridge, even though it was formally re-named the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge by Governor Andrew Cuomo in 2017. “Let’s find a tunnel or a bridge that doesn’t have a name already associated with it,” says Skoufis. “This isn’t about naming or not naming something after Mario Cuomo; in fact, he served the state well… but [the bridge] deserves a naming, not a re-naming.”
Hochul has not said if she would sign any legislation to remove Cuomo’s name. Then-Governor Andrew Cuomo picked Hochul to be his lieutenant-governor in 2015, and she replaced him as governor when he resigned in 2021. Hochul has remained non-committed, simply saying, “I would certainly look at anything that passes at the time, but it is too premature.”
The Queens Mid-Town Tunnel had been suggested when the proposal to name an alternate structure was first raised three years ago. Skoufis told Berman and Riedel, “The Cuomos are from Queens. That would have been a perfect fit. In this case, though, they ripped away the Tappan Zee name.”
Skoufis hopes to see the name change pass before the legislative session ends on June 8th. He is the first Democrat to sponsor a name change for the span.