“Woo Hoo! I just stole a bridge and put my family name on it! But I’ve got a vet in the car with me so that still makes me a good guy. Heh heh. ” - Going Through Andrew Cuomo's Head As He Drove Across OUR Bridge For The Very First Time Last Year ********** Hey Friends of the Tappan Zee! I don't know about you, but it makes my skin crawl every single time News12 talks about the traffic "on the Cuomo Bridge in both directions". YUCK! BARF! If we don't continue the fight, that's going to be what you hear EVERY DAY on EVERY NY RADIO STATION and on EVERY NY TV STATION. I'm pleased that at least google map directions still say "Tappan Zee Bridge"... but, for how long? In other words, we still have our work to do! Okay, so it's mid-summer, and it's time to start heating things up again for our movement to reclaim our bridge! That's right: IT AIN'T OVER. First, a re-cap, graciously assembled by board member Marlene Pedersen: Re-cap: 2017 through June 2018 • The bridge WAS RE-NAMED in 2017. Apparently even some of our supporters aren’t aware of that fact! The name of the bridge is The Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge people! Signs haven’t been changed, but that’s coming if we aren’t successful! • Change.org petition was started by Monroe Mann in December 2017. Save Our Tappan Zee, Inc. was formed shortly thereafter. • Petition signers came out of the woodwork to voice their anger at the Governor for his outright theft and demanded that the TZ name be returned. • Support grew for our effort amongst towns, historical societies, editorial writers, and among Senators and Assembly members. Senators and Assembly members were bombarded with calls from angry New Yorkers LIKE YOU! • We delivered the 5,000 page petition containing 109,000 names to Gov. Cuomo’s office in June. Message: support the 2 compromise bills that would re-name the bridge The Gov. Mario M. Cuomo / Tappan Zee Bridge. The petition now has just under 111,000 names. • By June 20, 2018 (end of legislative session) both bills (one Senate, one Assembly) needed to pass in order for the proposed compromise name to become law. The Senate bill passed on the last day of the legislative session WITH DEMOCRAT SUPPORT (Yay Senate!) The Assembly bill was prevented from moving to the floor for a vote. You can guess who was behind that. • We were told by a democrat Assembly member that the Assembly bill WOULD HAVE PASSED had it been allowed to come to the floor for a vote. But the Cuomo machine prevented that from happening. Now it's time for the NEXT CHAPTER of Save Our Tappan Zee. Are you ready? Here it is. The next chapter for SAVE OUR TAPPAN ZEE : • The next legislative session begins in January 2019 but we need to lay the groundwork NOW. • All Assembly and Senate seats are up for election this November. This provides a great opportunity for us. • FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS: We are working on securing sponsors for the bills NOW, before the campaign season kicks into gear. You can help! Call Assemblyman Kevin Byrne and tell him you expect him to reintroduce the bill. And Senator Carlucci (Democrat) said he would co-sponsor a senate bill--please call him and ask him to SPONSOR IT. And call Senator DeFrancisco again and ask him what he plans on doing about getting it re-introduced in January! • SECOND ORDER OF BUSINESS: Engaging media ACROSS THE STATE. Some areas of the state haven’t heard about this story yet. Inform them: 1. About the THEFT of our historic Tappan Zee name and 2. About the Journal News’ recently announced lawsuit against the Thruway Authority for stonewalling on releasing documents pertaining to the bridge’s re-construction and costs. • Summer is slow, but we REALLY need people (that's you) to call Assemblyman Byrne’s office and Senator DeFrancisco’s office (previous sponsors). Thank them for sponsoring the bills during the last legislative session. Tell them we ARE NOT GOING AWAY and we WILL NOT REST until the Tappan Zee name is returned to the bridge! (DeFrancisco is not running again, but call him anyway. He still has some clout.) OK, that’s all for now! Look for more updates down the road. We’ll keep you in the loop as developments occur! -Monroe, Marlene, Cherish, Christopher, Jimmy, & Christopher www.SaveOurTappanZee.org NOTE: We will be updating the website in August with more information.