In response to the recent law renaming the Queensboro Bridge as the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, I would like to make several points.
First, City Council precedence in New York indicates that parks, streets, and any other public places are co-named or renamed posthumously; therefore, the moribundity of Ed Koch is irrelevant.
Second, Queens Community Board 2’s (CB 2) committee, "Save the Bridge," collected 500 petition signatures opposing the renaming of this bridge; hence, although advisory under the City Charter, the local CB, opposed this bill.
Third, in view of Paul Simon’s "59th Street Bridge Song" and "Bridge Over Troubled Water," I believe, to quote Mayor Bloomberg, "it’s only appropriate that we name something iconic, something great after . . ." (not Ed Koch) Felix Rohatyn, who in the 1970s, headed the Municipal Assistance Corporation (MAC) and successfully restructured New York City’s debt and resolved the city’s fiscal crisis. Felix Rohatyn was the "bridge over troubled water" for the City of New York so, by Bloomberg’s logic, it should be renamed the Felix Rohatyn Queensboro Bridge.
In any event, this present law must be repealed, so I encourage people to sign the petition of the "Save the Bridge" committee.
Joseph N. Manago
Briarwood
