Push to Restore Tappan Zee Bridge Name After Cuomo’s Decision

Following a recent setback for Andrew Cuomo, there’s a growing movement to revert his choice to name the rebuilt Tappan Zee Bridge after his father. This initiative is gaining traction.

A petition launched on November 23, not long after Cuomo’s loss in the New York City mayoral race, aims to reinstate the bridge’s original name, the “Tappan Zee Bridge.” The structure spans 1,200 feet across the Hudson River, linking Rockland and Westchester counties.

According to the petition, “For nearly 60 years, New Yorkers have known this important Hudson River crossing by its traditional name, Tappan Zee, a name that honors both the region’s indigenous Tappan people and the Dutch heritage of the early settlements of New York (the ‘zee’ means sea).”

At the time, Cuomo’s effort to rename the bridge in 2017 was criticized for bypassing established naming conventions and erasing a significant part of local cultural history.

The decision faced sharp backlash from residents in Nyack and Tarrytown, with over 100,000 individuals signing a petition to maintain the bridge’s original name, which has been in use since its opening in 1955.

The petition highlights that the name change, which occurred amid a period of heavy political influence, has not been well-received by locals. “Today, national sentiment is increasingly clear: New Yorkers want the original name restored,” it states.

With more than 1,000 signatures already, the petition urges the state Senate and Assembly to propose new legislation to change the name back. For any bill to pass, it would require the signature of Governor Hochul.

“Restoring historic names is a bipartisan amendment and not a political statement,” the petition notes. “Bridges and place names form part of a community’s common identity. Changing such important names for political reasons sets a bad precedent.”

The advocates argue that reverting the name would cost the state almost nothing and would satisfy the wishes of daily bridge users, while also recognizing significant Indigenous and regional names.

Even after the 2017 renaming, many continue to call it the Tappan Zee Bridge. After Cuomo’s departure from office in 2021, local politicians in Westchester have been actively campaigning to reclaim the bridge’s original name.

“There’s a reason everyone in the Hudson Valley still calls this bridge Tappan Zee,” said state Sen. James Skoufis (D-Woodbury) in 2023. He expressed support for the name’s restoration.

That year, Skoufis sponsored a bill aimed at reinstating the Tappan Zee name, but the Republican-led initiative did not advance within the Democratic-controlled state Legislature.