Andrew Cuomo’s 2017 decision to rename the rebuilt Tappan Zee Bridge after his father has sparked a growing campaign to undo that change. A petition that began on Nov. 23—just weeks after Cuomo’s loss in the New York City mayoral race—calls on the state to restore the bridge’s historic “Tappan Zee Bridge” name, the one that has linked the 1,200‑foot span across the Hudson River to its cultural roots for nearly six decades. The petition explains that “[For nearly six decades, New Yorkers knew this critical Hudson River crossing by its traditional name: Tappan Zee—a name that honored both the Indigenous Tappan people of the region and the Dutch heritage of early New York settlement (‘zee’ meaning sea),]” and accuses Cuomo’s 2017 move of “bypassed longstanding naming norms and erased a meaningful part of the region’s cultural and linguistic history.” Residents of Nyack and Tarrytown, who signed a petition garnering over 100,000 signatures at the time, have long resisted the new name, and the petition notes that “The renaming was pushed through during a moment of concentrated political influence and has remained unpopular with residents ever since,” adding that the public’s voice is now “clear: New Yorkers want the original name back.” With more than 1,000 signatures, the appeal urges the state Senate and Assembly to introduce legislation to restore the bridge’s former title, a step that would require Governor Hochul’s sign‑off. The petition stresses that “Restoring the historic name is a nonpartisan correction, not a political statement,” and that “Bridges and place names form part of a community’s shared identity. Changing such a significant name for political reasons sets a poor precedent.” It also argues that reversing the rename would cost “virtually nothing” while honoring an important Indigenous and regional heritage. Even after the 2017 change, many people still refer to the span as the Tappan Zee Bridge; Westchester politicians have campaigned for its restoration since Cuomo left office in 2021. State Senator James Skoufis (D‑Woodbury) told The Post in 2023 that “Everyone in the Hudson Valley still calls the bridge the Tappan Zee for a reason,” and he co‑sponsored a bill that year—though a GOP‑led Legislature ultimately left the effort stalled.
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