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THE LEONARD P. ZAKIM BUNKER HILL MEMORIAL BRIDGE

So I found out that the bridge in Boston is named after a local civil rights guy who died young from bone cancer. The bridge was named for him but, true to Boston's tradition of intramural fighting, it wasn't easy.

This from Wikipedia.

The bridge's full name commemorates both Boston civic leader and civil rights activist Leonard P. Zakim, who championed "building bridges between peoples",[4] and the Battle of Bunker Hill. Originally Massachusetts Governor A. Paul Cellucci sought to name it the "Freedom Bridge". In 2000, however, local clergy and religious leaders, including Cardinal Bernard Francis Law, requested the Zakim name shortly after Zakim's death from myeloma. Although Cellucci agreed to the naming, community leaders from Charlestown objected to the name as they felt that since the design reflected the nearby Bunker Hill memorial, it should be named the "Bunker Hill Freedom bridge". Allegations of antisemitism were leveled against members of the mostly white, Irish-Catholic community as reasons for resistance to the Zakim name, based on some comments quoted in the Boston Globe. In response, several community leaders spoke out against the allegations in a press conference, stating that the claims, made by Professor Jonathan Sarna, were his alone and not reflected in the Jewish community at large.[5]
Eventually a compromise between the Boston City Council, the Massachusetts State Legislature and community activists brought about the current name. As with the Hoover Dam, however, different communities will call the bridge by different colloquial names. Many people in the Charlestown area refer to it as the "Bunker Hill bridge", while most, including the local press and traffic monitoring services, refer to it as the "Zakim Bridge".
At the time of the naming and sponsoring of the Boston Garden an article discussing appraisals of the other Boston landmarks suggested the probable amount that the naming of the bridge would have cost a sponsor would have been US$100,000,000.[citation needed]

Me? I am not an anti-Semite. I just don't know anything about Mr. Zakim at all. But I do know about Bunker Hill and Freedom.

It seems to me that this was a short term sentimental decision. I go with the Bunker Hill or Freedom Bridge.

Zakim had a lot of money and I am sure that had something to do with it. There are funds and trusts. But they didn't pay for the name.

But no one asked me. And it is too late. It is a pretty bridge though.

They were putting it up when we left.

I used to run by it.

Labels: Boston