June 6, 2008
Triborough Bridge Will Be Renamed for RFK
In January former Governor Spitzer addressed the idea of former New York senator Robert F. Kennedy claiming name to the Triborough Bridge. It immediately rose questions about RFK's carpetbagger status, and his importance (or lack thereof) to New York's history.
Most of you voted "nay" on the renaming of the bridge, but lawmakers have just voted for it. amNewYork reports that the final legislative approval was made on June 4th, just two days before the anniversary of his death (today). There will be "minimal budgetary impact for the cost of changing signs," but will anyone actually change what they call the bridge? The NY Times says no.
“It’s been that way for a million years,” said Morton Mozzar, an automobile-service consultant in Queens. “If they had renamed it right afterwards, O.K., like they did with J.F.K. Airport.” (The airport was called Idlewild but was renamed after President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963. It only seems as if the Triborough has been around for a million years. Next month it will have been open for 72 years.)Renaming has happened before, and often doesn't stick. The Times brings up 6th Avenue vs. Avenue of the Americas (most call it the former), and starting in 2014 the New York Public Library will be named the Stephen A. Schwarzman Library. Here's a list of old New York street names -- maybe name changes can stick, no one calls Great Jones...Minthorne Street anymore. As for when the Triborough Bridge's name change will go into effect, Gov. Paterson still has to sign the bill.
Original photo via Triborough's Flickr.
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It won't stick. It'll always be the Triborough Bridge in my book.
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Lame. The bridge is likely to fall down before the name truly sticks.
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Then you can take the the FDR to the RFK to the GCP to the LIE to the BQE.
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nice one jen chungs bra
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Unfortunately our elected representatives are morons with nothing better to do.
There are developing countries where they rename streets & bridges all the time. Everyone hates it and no-one can find their way around, least of all visitors. Developed countries normally just point at them and laugh, but sadly the US leaves itself behind with them time and time again.
But hey, who needs to know where they're going or to help people new to the city, when we can all kiss ass of the next irrelevant big name?
This message was brought to you by the Hilary Clinton Memorial "Thanks for Trying" Highway and the number: Dick Cheney Hates America.
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I don't think it will stick. No one calls the West Side Highway the Joe DiMaggio highway.
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It will always be the triborough.
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this renaming is a patently ridiculous idea.
"triboro" is a very practical name because it says exactly what the bridge does. while i respect RFK as a historical figure, his name is meaningless here. RFK bridge could be in any state over any tributary.
at least GWB and Verrazano have local relevance.
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This is irksome to me, like renaming the interboro parkway, or W. Side Hway. What a freaking waste of money which will lead to confusion - and increase traffic when they change the damn signs.
How to start a campaign for Gov to veto the bill? I am emailing him now with the subject 'Please veto A10789 / S07231'.
http://161.11.121.121/
or,
http://161.11.121.121/govemail
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"...starting in 2014 the New York Public Library will be named the Stephen A. Schwarzman Library."
That change only applies the main branch at 42nd St., not the library system.
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Similar topic, who the hell is Major Deegan. Too lazy to wiki.
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Though I may have spoken of the Triborough Bridge once or twice in my life, I now predict the new and improved RFK Bridge to come up in conversation all the time, out of reverence for the man. Also, @lanciano, the GW was once the Hudson River Bridge and I'm not sure how you could argue RFK has no local relevance. I think it'll stick eventually.
As for the 6th Ave/Avenue of the Americas thing, LaGuardia should have known it wouldn't stick. I mean, it's a numbered street and much easier to say as "Sixth Ave" than "Avenue of the Americas." Now it's just a trap for locals to identify tourists.
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The choose the wrong Robert. If anything, it should be the Robert Moses Bridge, as he was responsible for bringing the idea to fruition with New Deal money in the '30s.
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Given RFK's contribution to the city and state, I am sure there is some pedestrian bridge in Staten Island that could be named after him.
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Sorry, RFK just doesn't roll off the tongue like Triborough.
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Are we going to have to name something after Ted in a few years? And why doesn't Boston have anything named after RFK? They just had plenty of new naming opportunities associated with the Big Dig but instead went with the Ted Williams Tunnel, the Tip O'Neil Tunnel, the Rose Kennedy Greenway and the Leonard P Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge.
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@dbc: you must be new here. Robert Moses isn't really deserving of any accolades these days after everyone realized that he was, um, a villian whose hell-bent obsession with building roads, highways and bridges cost NYC a fortune in neighborhoods destroyed in "slum clearing" operations and lost opportunities to improve public transportation. Why don't we rename the Cross Bronx Expressway after Moses? That way, whenever you're stuck in traffic on it, you can curse his name everytime in honor of his handiwork.
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How long are they going to have those signs up that say "THE INTERBORO IS NOW THE JACKIE ROBINSON PARKWAY"? It's 11 years, already. haha
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@msl422004:
I'm not new here, and I am quite familiar with Moses' handiwork (as well as the public opinion of him).
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Why not? This is the same idiot city that elected "long time New Yorker" Hillary Clinton as a senator because she "really appreciated the issues facing NY."
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How about the Ari Halberstram Memorial Bridge? I think it's time Ari got upgraded from just that one onramp to the Brooklyn Bridge (where he was shot and killed, yes I know).
"RFK" has a good chance of sticking because it's short and sweet, not some drawn out nonsense like Avenue of the Americas. It might even come to be known as "the Kennedy," which is easier to say than Triborough.
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I'm sorry, I don't think of RFK as New York. Moynihan is more New York, but he's already got a train station in the works.
This is just an example of lawmakers getting nostalgic and jumping on the Kennedy bandwagon because of A. the anniversary of RFK's assassination and B. Teddy's surgery.
It's silliness.
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These names clearly don't mean anything if politicians are ready to slap a new name on stuff at every emotional whim. They don't even know if the new name they're slapping on something might be replacing another name that was slapped on at another emotional moment. ridiculous.
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Robert Moses must be rolling over in his grave.
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I don't mind calling it the "RFK" or simply the "Kennedy Bridge", but I just don't think it's gonna catch on.
For example: That linked NY Times article says that the Jackie Robinson Parkway is one of the names changes that stuck. Certainly not with me. I've been living here for 30 years and on the rare occasion I need to take it, I still call it the Interboro. It was the Interboro when I was growing up, it's all I know it as.
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I like Michael Miscione's idea of renaming the Triborough Bridge after Andrew H. Green, a city planner who had a strong role in the creation of Central Park, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, American Museum of Natural History, New York Public Library, the Bronx Zoo, etc. He is known as "the Father of Greater New York" for leading the effort to consolidate the 5 boroughs into one of united city of New York. Makes much more sense to rename it the Andrew H. Green Bridge. Plus, everyone wants to go green these days.
more info: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/22/nyregion/22nyc.html
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There's already an Ambassador Bridge, so all we need is a tollway from Detoirt to the RFK Bridge named the Sirhan Sirhan Turnpike.
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Erm, Detroit.