WHAT IS THE COST OF REMOVING AND REPLACING THE NUMEROUS TAPPAN ZEE SIGNS ON THE THRUWAY AND PALISADES PARKWAY BY MARIO CUOMO SIGNS?

This Ombudsman respectfully requests our elected officials, including County Executive Ed Day, Assemblypersons Kenneth Zebrowski and Ellen Jaffee, as well as Senator David Carlucci, to share with our readers the projected costs of removing and replacing the numerous signs needed to re-label the Tappan Zee bridge as the Mario Cuomo bridge.

It is no secret that a very large number of New York State citizens  opposed the re-naming of the Tappan Zee bridge and signed petitions to this effect.

A question often addressed to this Ombudsman by these citizens and others in recent days was “What will be the exact number of signs to be replaced on the New York State Thruway, the Palisades Parkway as all as other adjoining roads and highways, and more importantly, what will be the TOTAL COST to the New York taxpayers!”

I appeal to the above-named elected officials to find out from the New York State Department of Transportation(DOT) the answers to the above-posed questions.

It has been suggested by several of the citizens referenced above that whatever the costs of these replacements, that they NOT be passed onto the overtaxed New York State citizens.It was further suggested that  charitable donations made by those New Yorkers who want to honor the memory of our former governor, be used for this purpose.

This Ombudsman will welcome all opinions of our readers on this sensitive issue right after our above-named elected officials provide this newspaper with both the number and total costs of the signs that will be removed and replaced due to this re-naming of the TAPPAN ZEE BRIDGE.

Please direct all comments and questions to: editor@rocklandcountytimes.com.