In City, a Bridge for Koch and a Tunnel for Carey

[Shortline Bus]

In City, a Bridge for Koch and a Tunnel for Carey

By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM and THOMAS KAPLAN

NY Times Writers

 

December 8, 2010

Get ready to take the Koch Bridge to the Carey Tunnel.

 

The Bloomberg administration is set to announce plans on Wednesday to rename the Queensboro Bridge, the Midtown muse of Simon and Garfunkel and a steel signature of the city’s skyline, after former Mayor Edward I. Koch, who turns 86 this month.

 

The 101-year-old bridge, which cantilevers over the East River from 59th Street in Manhattan to Long Island City, Queens, is not the only structure to be rechristened this week. State legislators voted on Tuesday to rename the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel after former Gov. Hugh L. Carey.

 

The two renamings would be the most significant change to New York City nomenclature since the Triborough Bridge took the mantle of Robert F. Kennedy two years ago.

 

Mr. Koch, reached shortly after he got the news in a telephone call from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, said he considered his new 7,500-foot-long namesake to be a perfect fit.

 

“It’s a workhorse bridge,” Mr. Koch said. “And that’s what I am, I’m a workhorse. Always have been. I feel very compatible with it.”

 

The former mayor, fresh from a visit to Bellevue Hospital after some trouble with his teeth, pronounced himself shocked and thrilled by the news. And he said he had no concerns that Mr. Carey’s simultaneous triumph might upstage his own.

 

“I have been trying for years to get something named for Hugh Carey,” Mr. Koch said. “I think he’s the greatest governor of the modern era.”

 

Mr. Koch said he had urged the Paterson administration to find an appropriate monument for Mr. Carey, who will turn 92 in April.

 

The creation of the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge must be approved by the City Council; Speaker Christine C. Quinn said Tuesday that she supported it, adding that Mr. Koch “deserves way more than a street.” The renaming of the tunnel awaits only the expected signature of Gov. David A. Paterson. The 60-year-old tunnel originates in Brooklyn, Mr. Carey’s birthplace. And the Queensboro Bridge crosses into the former Congressional district of Mr. Koch.

 

The city plans to raise private money to pay for updated road signs with the bridge’s new name. The renaming of the Triborough cost the city and state about $4 million for new signs.

 

The bridge underwent tens of millions of dollars worth of renovations during Mr. Koch’s tenure as mayor.

 

Mr. Bloomberg compared the Queensboro to the indefatigable Mr. Koch, who remains active in politics and is a part-time movie critic.

 

Like Mr. Koch, the mayor said in a statement, the bridge is an “icon of the city that’s been bringing people together for a long time.”

 

Mr. Koch put it another way: “It’s not soaring, beautiful, handsome, like the George Washington or the Verrazano,” he said. “It’s rugged, it’s hard working — and that’s me.”

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/08/nyregion/08koch.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=ed%20koch&st=cse

[Kamen Rider]

Please, watch the Nazi Banksters Crimes Ripple Effect at http://jforjustice.co.uk/banksters

[Dan05979]

This is whats bloomberg is doing while theres no jobs in the city and I run over the same goddamn pothole on the vanwyck everyday.

[BZGuy]

This is whats bloomberg is doing while theres no jobs in the city and I run over the same goddamn pothole on the vanwyck everyday.

 

And people will still call it the Queensboro.

[MHV9218]

Please, watch the Nazi Banksters Crimes Ripple Effect at http://jforjustice.co.uk/banksters

[Gorgor]

Renaming them is dumb, keep the names as they are because it helps describe them and where they'll take you. And am I the only one or does anyone else here think that the 59th street bridge isn't really the best thing to be named after?

 

And I can already see people calling it the Crotch Bridge...

[NX Express]

does anyone else here think that the 59th street bridge isn't really the best thing to be named after?

Well...the 59th Street Bridge takes you to 59th Street. That makes sense.:tup:

 

BTW, does Bloomberg seriously have nothing else to do with the city's money?

[Dan05979]

And people will still call it the Queensboro.

 

Same way everyone I know calles the "rfk" the tri-boro, because when they tought me in 3rd grade the reason why its called the "tri-boro" because it connects to 3 boro's. That had to be the dumbest move ever.

[IRT Bronx Express]

 

BTW, does Bloomberg seriously have nothing else to do with the city's money?

He should donate most of his money to the MTA. :tup:

[Shortline Bus]

Same way everyone I know calles the "rfk" the tri-boro, because when they tought me in 3rd grade the reason why its called the "tri-boro" because it connects to 3 boro's. That had to be the dumbest move ever.

 

Driving into the 'city' and listening to 1010 WINS almost all of the traffic reporters(maybe being politcally correct)now call the Tri-Boro the "RFK Bridge.'

 

Not trying to sound dumb but I thought the honor of naming highways/streets, airports and bridges came for someone who was already dead.:eek:

[Dan05979]

Driving into the 'city' and listening to 1010 WINS almost all of the traffic reporters(maybe being politcally correct)now call the Tri-Boro the "RFK Bridge.'

 

Not trying to sound dumb but I thought the honor of naming highways/streets, airports and bridges came for someone who was already dead.:eek:

 

Didn't they rename the west side highway Joe Dimaggio highway or something like that? I never hear anyone using that one, also the jackie robinson, I hear interboro. I think the tri-boro was fine the way it was.

[Locomotion69]

I like Koch, but renaming a bridge after him is a little over the top I think. The guy takes like 12 different pills a day which he calls them "life extending". He once said to "never retire." For someone his age he sure has a lot of energy.

 

He was great as the judge in the People's Court on channel 4

several years ago. At least he had more of a personality then Bloomberg.

[Shortline Bus]

I like Koch, but renaming a bridge after him is a little over the top I think. The guy takes like 12 different pills a day which he calls them "life extending". He once said to "never retire." For someone his age he sure has a lot of energy.

 

He was great as the judge in the People's Court on channel 4

several years ago. At least he had more of a personality then Bloomberg.

 

Both Koch and Carey did a great job in leading both NYC and NY state out of the fiscal crisis of the 1970's. With that said, they did not peform anything out of the orindary ie Martin Luther King Jr., Abe Lincoln or even FDR to warrant a huge honor of a major crossing named after them.

 

Naming a major citywide bridge and tunnel after them is a bit much especially since both of them are both still alive.

 

I think something like naming a future NYC High School or local street would be more apporiate IMO.

[NX Express]

What's next? Brooklyn Bridge will be Bloomberg Bridge?

[lilbluefoxie]

I still wonder whos bright idea was it to rename the Triboro anyway, even the Interboro and Richmond Parkway renamings were a waste of money

[Roadcruiser1]

There is an expressway in Staten Island that's called the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Expressway, and in Harlem they named a street the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Also they named a High School in Brooklyn (Abraham Lincoln H.S.)

[lilbluefoxie]

There is an expressway in Staten Island that's called the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Expressway, and in Harlem they named a street the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Also they named a High School in Brooklyn (Abraham Lincoln H.S.)

 

they could have left that the Willowbrook Expressway as well, saved some money.

[Nova RTS 9147]

I don't understand why they picked the ugliest bridge in the state to name after him.

 

Also, is this going to be like the "Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Expressway" where no one actually calls it the "Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Expressway"?

 

Didn't they rename the west side highway Joe Dimaggio highway or something like that? I never hear anyone using that one, also the jackie robinson, I hear interboro. I think the tri-boro was fine the way it was.

 

Youre right about the Joe Dimaggio highway, but I have never heard the term "Interboro" to describe the parkway before.

 

What's next? Brooklyn Bridge will be Bloomberg Bridge?

 

I think I tasted vomit.....

[Shortline Bus]

I still wonder whos bright idea was it to rename the Triboro anyway, even the Interboro and Richmond Parkway renamings were a waste of money

 

 

I could be wrong but I believe I read somewhere it was Eliot Spitzer's idea right before he left office in Albany.

[R68 Subway Car]

Stop wasting our tax dollars and remaning bridges. First the ******* Triborough is called the RFK Bridge, and now they are naming the 59th Street Bridge the Ed Koch Bridge? Stop changing the names of these roads! I still refer to the Avenue of the Americas as 6th Avenue and I will still call the RFK Bridge the Triborough Bridge.

[Tokkemon]

7th Ave is supposedly Fashion Ave you know.

 

Brooklyn Bridge becoming the Bloomberg Bridge. Oh dear.

[Grand Concourse]

As if the RFK thing wasn't stupid enough and the street sign changes... more money pissed away for nothing.

Doomberg should stick to his lame ass pedestrian plazas. Leave the current bridge names alone.

[Trainmaster5]

Triborough Bridge,Interborough Parkway,Pennsylvania,Stone,Hopkinson, Reid, Sumner, Lenox avenues, 125th St. No disrespect meant toward the new names or the people behind the names but as a native Brooklynite and a lifelong New Yorker I say leave well enough alone. Just my opinion.

[Messino]

Politicians pissing away money to glorify past politicians..

 

What was so great about Koch anyway? BFD!

 

Its still the triboro and interborough to me too..

[Shortline Bus]

Politicians pissing away money to glorify past politicians..

 

What was so great about Koch anyway? BFD!

 

Its still the triboro and interborough to me too..

 

In the case of the highway formely the "Interboro' it was named after Jackie Robinson a pioneer in MLB baseball and sports history.