Hey Tappan Zee-ers, Did you read the article about our petition in the NY Post? Governor Cuomo’s spokeswoman says this petition is a wholly partisan effort, when you and I know it is a historical effort. She claims (inaccurately) that the bill was passed overwhelmingly through a bi-partisan bill, when we all know it was forced through as a tag-on to a fat tax bill that didn’t give the renaming the separate importance it deserves. She claims that the bridge is a deserving honor to a man who did great things for New York (which may be true), failing to even mention the Tappan Indians and the Dutch—the people who are MORE deserving. I was saddened to see this—to see the length the governor will go to continue to justify what they did, completely disrespecting OUR collective BI-PARTISAN petition. I recognize that many of you are Republicans, but a great many of you are Democrats as well, putting history before politics. It seems clear to me that the governor and the legislature are not going to do anything to fix this on their own. It may be up to us. But what can we do? Here are my potential solutions: 1. We need to figure out how to get a bill before the legislature ourselves; and/or 2. We need to figure out how to change NY law to allow for citizen petition referendums (like in California); and/or 3. We need to elect state legislators in 2018 who feel as strongly about this as we do, who have the guts to put this before the legislature; and/or 4. We need to elect a governor who will make this one of his/her primary platform agendas. Are you this person? As much as I hate politics and politicians, and despite that I’m a nobody, I have been wistfully thinking of spearheading this myself if no one steps up to plate. Maybe I can run for office representing the Tappan Zee party haha. Because I’m scared no current politician is going to do the right thing because keeping their cushy jobs is more important than rocking the boat for justice. Me—I don’t WANT to be a politician and don’t want an overpaid cushy job at tax payer expense to forget the people. I just want to see the right thing happen with our bridge—and kudos to WHOMEVER helps make that happen. You. Me. Someone else. It just needs to happen. And it may require more work than just our signing this petition. My point is this: after noting the governor’s response to our petition, I fear the governor and the legislature will not do the right thing unless they have SIGNIFICANT pressure to do so. Right now, we’ve got nearly 50,000 signatures. That is amazing. But it’s merely... a good start. 50,000 signatures won’t change their minds when Westchester itself has a population of over 900,000 people. We need MORE SIGNATURES. Keep spreading the word. Yes, I am going to write a formal letter to Andrew Cuomo and the legislature later this month, but 50,000 signatures is just a nuisance to ignore; 200,000 would be approaching a force to be reckoned with. Please do not give up. I know “giving up” is how I felt when I read what the governor’s spokeswoman said. But that was their intent: to discourage us. Alas, we will not be discouraged. The tv news quoted someone in government saying that it is highly unlikely that the Tappan Zee name will ever be returned. But that’s precisely why we need to push forward. “Highly unlikely” does not mean impossible. It. Can. Be. Done. Right now, I don’t know exactly how, or when, or by whom, but I do know this: we are a team of ever stronger voices. And our strength grows by the day. Let’s not give up quite yet. Please continue to spread the word to your friends, families, and coworkers. Let them know we’re nearly up to 50,000 people now. Let them know that we still need their support. And thank you for your continuing support as well. -Monroe Mann Petitioner in Chief