Bureaucratic M. Nonsense

(Photo: Peter Carr/The Journal News)

On our way home from Yankee Stadium Monday night, Sean noticed the lights of a bridge overhead.

Shining over the Hudson River, the bridge -- stretching over the Tappan Zee area of the river, at its widest point -- is known to most of us by its original name.

The Tappan Zee Bridge, or more formally, the Malcolm Wilson Tappan Zee Bridge. Wilson was governor of New York in 1973-1974.

Of course, officially, the Tappan Zee Bridge is gone, replaced with what was codenamed "The New NY Bridge." That moniker struck me as weird, but it all made sense when New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo made a last-second legislature push to name the bridge after his father, Mario Cuomo.

Mario M. Cuomo, to be exact.

The signs went up along with the collective blood pressure of the Hudson Valley.

As we often find out, what's in a name is quite a bit. A few crossings in New York City have been renamed, including the (Robert. F. Kennedy) Triboro Bridge, the (Hugh Carey) Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, and the (Ed Koch) Queensboro Bridge.

Those newer names haven't been accepted so kindly.

On the other hand, there was once a place called Idlewild Airport. We now know it as John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Names are funny things. We have a deli on Secor Road in Mahopac that older folks still call "George's." I don't think George has owned the deli since the 1980s.

To some of us, Franklin Delano Roosevelt State Park is still "Mohansic," which was its given name.

Among a large portion of my road friends, the bridge renamings haven't gone over well.

There are others, however, who think "we" need to get over it. I get it. I respect it.

But I'll readily admit this is one that I've dug my heels in on.

The Journal News is adamant that their stylebook says they must call it the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge.

On the radio, I've made it clear that I absolutely refuse to do so.

For the record, part of the West Side Highway in Manhattan is known as the Joe DiMaggio Highway. Nobody -- me included -- calls it that.

Despite efforts to rename it as the "Tappan Zee Bridge," or compromise as the "Governor Mario M. Cuomo Tappan Zee Bridge," the Cuomo name has stayed in place.

And that's where the story has taken its dumbest turn. Earlier today, reports -- including from the Journal News, via LoHud.com -- have indicated that crews will be adding a single letter to previously-installed signs.

Where the signs said "Mario Cuomo Bridge," they now will be corrected to "Mario M. Cuomo Bridge."

You can't make this stuff up.

The pure arrogance of this situation is astounding and embarrassing.

And better yet? We the taxpayers get to foot the bill for Andy's Folly.

"We are currently in the process of installing overlays on existing signs for the sake of uniformity across the state highway and Thruway systems, and to ensure every sign reflects the official name of the new bridge," spokesman Joseph Morrissey said in a statement.

I mean, are you kidding me? This is Andrew Cuomo thumbing his nose at everyone, money be damned.

And it's not Cuomo's first sign screw up. He cost the state $14 million 514 signs that were against the standards of the Federal Highway Administration.

But New York pays the price. Literally.

It is a stunningly beautiful crossing. A gorgeous twin cable-stayed span that replaced the 1955 original. It is fantastic to see as night, as noted by Sean.

But it will remain known as the Tappan Zee Bridge, crossing the Tappan Zee of the Hudson River.

Now More than ever.