Photo provided by Marty Dolan
The Third Avenue Bridge may be getting a new name.
A group of New York City Primary Election candidates have teamed up to in an effort to rename the bridge – which connects Manhattan to the Bronx, running over the Harlem River – as the Olga Méndez Bridge.
Mendéz served in the New York State Senate from 1978 to 2004, where she represented East Harlem and part of the Bronx. She was the first Puerto Rican woman to serve not only in the New York government, but also in any state legislature in the continental U.S.
Méndez moved to New York in the 1950s, and she lived there until her death in 2009; according to her New York Times obituary, was “defined as much by her political pragmatism… as by her ethnicity.”
If the bridge renaming efforts are successful, the date of the renaming will also be celebrated as “Olga Méndez Day.”
“This is about more than a name,” said Marty Dolan, one of the candidates leading the charge in 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 is still connecting people, even after her death. The group of candidates calling to rename the bridge are Latino candidates who have come together across different Primary Election races; among them are Dolan, who is running for New York City Public Advocate; New York City Comptroller candidate Ismael Malave Perez; and City Council candidates Federico Colon, Francesca Castellano, Alexander Caruso, and Joel Rivera.
Their efforts have already received support from Adam Clayton Powell IV., who served in the New York City Council from 1992 to 1997, and the New York State Assembly 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.”
In 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,” said Colon.
If the bridge does receive its new name, passersby will learn something new about New York history.
