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You know who would have really hated the new Mario M. Cuomo bridge? Mario M. Cuomo.
CNN presenter Chris Cuomo, governor Andrew Cuomo's younger brother, went on Instagram on Friday to say he had mixed feelings about opening the bridge with the name of their former governor.
"Pop would not like that," the reporter said.
"He would have liked the new bridge … he really believed in updating the infrastructure. But he was very humble and thought that someone's name was sending him a wrong message about public service.
Chris added that the bridge between Westchester and Rockland counties – which most motorists still regard as the Tappan Zee – would always remind him that his father is gone.
"If his name is up there, it reminds him that he's not here with me," he added. "And I've always needed him, more than I knew."
Andrew Cuomo, along with Hillary Clinton at his side, presided over Friday's opening ceremony of the Eastbound Span, a year after celebrating the opening of the Westbound Span, which originally transported traffic in both directions.
The governor agreed that his father would have rebuffed the honor: "He would like the bridge, but he would reject the vanity of the name."
At the opening, Andy crossed the eastbound space in the FDR Packard 1932, as he did in August 2017 for the westbound lanes.
He pushed the legislature to name the new $ 4.2 billion bridge after his father, who ran the state from 1983 to 1994.
Thousands of New Yorkers have signed a petition to retain the Tappan Zee designation – and some have said that Andrew just wanted voters to see Cuomo's name on the structure.
"I do not think it's a coincidence that this is happening in the midst of an election," said Jadan Horyn, spokesman for the government's monitoring group Reclaim New York.
Horyn criticized the governor for organizing two ribbon cutting ceremonies at the bridge, when motorists still do not know how many tolls will have to be raised to be reimbursed.
The current toll, $ 5 per trip, is frozen until the end of 2020.
"There has been a complete lack of transparency with this process and now it has double dedication ceremonies when it will affect people's checkbooks," said Horyn.
Cuomo, who will face Cynthia Nixon in Thursday's Democratic primary, took the opportunity to face President Trump.
He introduced Clinton as "the person to whom I think who should be sitting in the oval office" and argued that the bridge "defies opposition" against Trump, who he says wants to divide people with his US-Mexican border wall.
Additional report by Nolan Hicks
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