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Spitzer Proposes Naming Triborough Bridge After RFK
By
Jen Carlson
Published Jan 9, 2008
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Jan 9, 2008
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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Would a bridge by any other name, bring you to JFK Airport just as smoothly as the Triborough? In all likelihood, yes, but the big question here is should it be renamed after JFK's younger brother, former New York senator Robert F. Kennedy.
The NY Sun reports the Governor will address this during his State of the State address today, making him the latest governor to consider it. Governor Carey planned to rename it after RFK in 1975, but Robert Moses got in the way (typical!). Governor Pataki considered it but never acted (even more typical!), and so now it's Spitzer's turn.
Robert Kennedy Jr. told the Sun his father "would be really, really happy that the bridge was going to be named in his honor. One of the things he made an effort to do was connect people from upstate New York with the city and Long Island. So it's really appropriate because the Triborough physically does that." However, New York City historian and Columbia professor Kenneth Jackson raises the issue of RFK's carpetbagger status, "He really wasn't a resident of New York. It's awful the way he died. He certainly was an important person in American history, just not an important person in New York history."
Should the naming of things be kept simple, and less personal? Or should RFK be honored in NYC? And the Sun recalls a 2004 column by Jack Newfield, who wrote, "Ethel Kennedy's idea of re-naming the Triborough Bridge seems ideal in this way, since it links three boroughs of immigrant diversity. RFK was able to build bridges between blacks and whites, young and old, left and right, rich and poor. He was a bridge over troubled waters."
Photo via AllWaysNY's Flickr.
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robert moses
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Triborough Bridge
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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