The New York state legislature on Thursday approved a name for the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement across the Hudson River: The Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge.
Cuomo, a three-term Democrat governor and the father of current Gov. Andrew Cuomo, didn't want such honors during his time in office, and Andrew Cuomo says his father, who died in 2015, probably would've been uncomfortable with a bridge named after him, The Journal News reported.
"However, he did have a deep respect for the institution of government and government service," the younger Cuomo said Thursday, according to the newspaper. "While (Mario Cuomo) was alive, the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel was named for Gov. Hugh Carey, and he thought that was very important and proper and that people who make a contribution to public service should be held up as a model."
The bridge's first span between Rockland and Westchester counties is scheduled to open in August, and the current bridge — The Governor Malcolm Wilson Tappan Zee Bridge — will be torn down.
Republicans have been critical of the bridge's new name honoring the liberal icon.
"Mario Cuomo has nothing to do with the Tappan Zee Bridge whatsoever – whatsoever with the building of the Tappan Zee Bridge, the original one, the new one; with Westchester or Rockland," said Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, The Journal News reported. "He has nothing do with anything – other than having been a governor."
Twitter users seemed to agree.
Someone had already created a Twitter account as the new bridge.
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