City Councilman Peter Vallone–usually no friend of ANIMAL’s–has recently taken on a relatively reasonable position, campaigning to have the late former Mayor Ed Koch’s name removed from the 59th Street Queensboro Bridge. Renaming landmarks after people is confusing, expensive, and ineffectual–witness the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, in which everyone went back to calling the recently-renamed “Hugh L. Carey Tunnel” the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel when it flooded to make sure there wasn’t any confusion.
Vallone makes it clear that his quest is not an indictment of Koch himself. “My problem is not with Ed Koch,” Vallone he said. “My problem is with taking a bridge from the people of Queens.”
Of course, this doesn’t solve the “expensive” part. All the money spent changing signs from “Queensboro” to “Ed Koch” (even if it was privately funded the first time) would have to be spent again changing them back.
(Photo: joseph a/Flickr)
