Gov. Andrew Cuomo tries to name Tappan Zee Bridge after father

Show Caption Hide Caption Video: The gap is closed on the new Tappan Zee Bridge's westbound span The gap on the new Tappan Zee Bridge's westbound span has been closed, connecting Rockland and Westchester.

ALBANY - A late-night push by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to name the Tappan Zee Bridge after his father fizzled out Wednesday after the Assembly adjourned without putting it to a vote.

Cuomo took rank-and-file lawmakers by surprise Wednesday night when he proposed a bill that would name the Hudson River span and its $3.9 billion replacement after former Gov. Mario Cuomo, his late father who served as governor from 1983 through 1994.

The governor waived a mandatory three-day waiting period so the Senate could approve the bill around 11 p.m.

But the Assembly then adjourned and left the Capitol without voting on the measure, raising concern with the haste in which the bill was put forward.

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Lawmakers aren't scheduled to return to the Capitol until January, though several outstanding issues may force their return before then.

Heastie acknowledged Cuomo had spoken to him about the bridge proposal, but he said his chamber wasn't prepared to act on it.

"We just didn't get to a point where we were ready to go ahead," Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, D-Bronx, said of the bill.

Cuomo did not comment publicly on the bill. His spokesman did not return requests for comment.

Lawmakers from the Lower Hudson Valley were blindsided by the governor's late proposal, which would have stripped the bridge entirely of its current name: The Governor Malcolm Wilson Tappan Zee Bridge.

Instead, the three-mile-long bridge between Rockland and Westchester counties and its still-under-construction replacement would have been renamed The Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge.

Mario Cuomo, who died in 2015, became an icon to liberals in the 1980s and 1990s, steadily rising to the governor's office from his working-class upbringing in Queens. The bridge is currently named after former Gov. Malcolm Wilson, who was raised in Yonkers and served a year as governor after Nelson Rockefeller resigned in late 1973.

Andrew Cuomo has championed the building of the new bridge, which is one of the largest public-works projects in the country. He has often touted it as an example of his administration's ability to move major construction projects forward.

The eventual name of the new bridge -- which is set to partially open this year before its full opening next year -- has been a matter of widespread public speculation.

Various lawmakers have introduced bills naming it after Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt or the late folk singer Pete Seeger.

The Senate, meanwhile, voted just last month to name it after Purple Heart recipients, though it didn't get a vote in the Assembly.

Lawmakers from the Hudson Valley said they weren't made aware of Cuomo's proposal before he introduced it. Several said they learned about it from news reports after 9 p.m.

"The concept just sort of percolated tonight," Assemblyman Ken Zebrowski, D-New City, Rockland County, said shortly after the bill was made public. "A lot of us just saw it pop up in the Senate and we're talking about it now."

The bill appeared to be designed to curry favor with both houses of the Legislature.

In addition to renaming the bridge, it would also name a park in Manhattan after retiring Assemblyman Denny Farrell, an 85-year-old Democrat who has said he will not seek re-election in 2018. Farrell was first elected in 1974.

A portion of State Route 300 in the Hudson Valley, meanwhile, would be renamed after longtime Sen. William Larkin, R-New Windsor, Orange County, an 89-year-old lawmaker who has been in the Legislature since 1979.

The Senate voted 61-0 in favor of Cuomo's bill late Wednesday after Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan, R-Suffolk County, quickly sponsored the bill for a vote. Larkin recused himself.

The Assembly, however, declined to even introduce the bill, despite Cuomo's push.

Heastie acknowledged Cuomo had spoken to him about the measure. But Heastie said the Assembly's busy end to its legislative session prevented the chamber from giving it an airing, though he said it could be up for consideration in the future.

"The governor sent up the bill," Heastie said. "He did mention it to me, but just with everything that was going on and the way things happened, we just never got to a place on that."

Heastie said the Assembly has no intention of returning to Albany before January, despite not being able to reach an agreement with the Senate on mayoral control of New York City schools and extending county sales-tax rates.

Flanagan suggested the Senate may be willing to return.

"I want to be clear: If we need to come back, we'll come back," Flanagan said in his session-closing remarks.