Troubled Waters

On our way home from JFK airport we went over the Triboro (this is the way I like to spell it) Bridge. It reminded me that on our way to JFK airport we saw the signs for the rededication of the bridge as the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge. I believe the dedication was that day. My first thought was, wow, that's a lot of signs that need to be changed I wonder who's paying for that. MBB's first thought was "Man, I bet the Triboro Family is upset."

So now, in a terrible economic climate, one that in the city at least has been referred to as a "meltdown," and an excuse to subvert democracy, the state will spend $4 Million Dollars to change the signs to rename a bridge that was fine the way it was. Actually, unable to see the future, and embodying the definition of Hubris, Eliot Spitzer did not know what his ultimate legacy would be, thus he is the one who put the wheels in motion for this renaming of the bridge that connects the Bronx, Queens and Manhattan.

The legislature passed it in June and sometime after that Governor Patterson signed it into law. Here's the odd part. On Jul 30, Patterson went on TV and talked about the fiscal crisis that New York was entering, so much so that he even suggested privatizing some roads and bridges. Now, I'm not an economics expert, but I certainly don't think crisis spring up in a matter of weeks. So when he signed a bill into law, he knew there were 139 signs that needed to be changed, and granted when your deficit is in the 20 something BILLION dollar range, what's 4 million dollars. But, I would like to see a politician say, "No, this vanity project is not right for this time in NY." Peter Vallone who represents Queens in the city council did issue a statement:

Robert Kennedy was a great man, but this isn’t the time. While one agency that gets money from the state is raising fares and cutting service to the neighborhood at the foot of the bridge, another has somehow found a way to spend millions of dollars on changing the signage of it.

To be fair, the state is not even accepting bids for the signage change until 2011. It just doesn't smell right. Don't take away people's property rebate checks (city) and then turn around and do this. Yes, it's the state not the city that will be paying for most of it, but I think it's a morale issue.

There's been some talk about whether this name will stick (ever hear of the Joe Dimaggo highway?), but I think it will. It's short and easy to say fast on a traffic report.

Either way, it was a stupid thing to do at this time, and I hope there is some sort of uproar about it. Though most people are too worried about paying their bills to get up in arms about this.