Photograph supplied by Marty Dolan
The Third Avenue Bridge could also be getting a brand new identify.
A gaggle of New York Metropolis Major Election candidates have teamed as much as in an effort to rename the bridge – which connects Manhattan to the Bronx, operating over the Harlem River – because the Olga Méndez Bridge.
Mendéz served within the New York State Senate from 1978 to 2004, the place she represented East Harlem and a part of the Bronx. She was the primary Puerto Rican lady to serve not solely within the New York authorities, but additionally in any state legislature within the continental U.S.
Méndez moved to New York within the Nineteen Fifties, and she or he lived there till her loss of life in 2009; in response to her New York Instances obituary, was “defined as much by her political pragmatism… as by her ethnicity.”
Former New York State Senator Olga Méndez
If the bridge renaming efforts are profitable, the date of the renaming will even be celebrated as “Olga Méndez Day.”
“This is about more than a name,” mentioned Marty Dolan, one of many candidates main the cost on this proposal. “It’s about uplifting the legacy of a woman who connected boroughs, values, and generations. The Olga Méndez Bridge will symbolize what she lived for: opportunity, courage and equity.”
And Méndez continues to be connecting folks, even after her loss of life. The group of candidates calling to rename the bridge are Latino candidates who’ve come collectively throughout completely different Major Election races; amongst them are Dolan, who’s operating for New York Metropolis Public Advocate; New York Metropolis Comptroller candidate Ismael Malave Perez; and Metropolis Council candidates Federico Colon, Francesca Castellano, Alexander Caruso, and Joel Rivera.
Their efforts have already obtained assist from Adam Clayton Powell IV., who served within the New York Metropolis Council from 1992 to 1997, and the New York State Meeting from 2001 to 2010.
Powell had this to say of Méndez: “Senator Olga Méndez and my father, Adam Clayton Powell Jr., walked a similar road – both were bold, both were trailblazers, and both gave voice to the voiceless. I proudly stand with this effort to rename the bridge in her honor. Let generations know her name, her struggle, and her triumph.”
Of their quotes, the candidates all echoed this sentiment. “NYC’s 2.8 million Latinos contribute, without complaint, to our city’s vitality. It is time to mark living monuments to the leaders who blazed a trail before us,” mentioned Colon.
If the bridge does obtain its new identify, passersby will be taught one thing new about New York historical past.
