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Anti-bridge protest sign, two-sided sign: Don't Poison Long Island No Bridge / We Sink Rocky's Bridge!

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Date

c. 1970–72

Description

Two-sided sign: We Sink Rocky's Bridge! And/ Don't Poison Long Island No Bridge. Environmental activism has been one of the most significant ways that Long Islanders have involved themselves in regional civic activism. The protest signs here are artifacts of one major episode of advocacy for the environment, the effort to stop the building of the Rye-Oyster Bay Bridge. Robert Moses and other planners had envisioned a bridge over Long Island Sound for many years before finally commissioning a feasibility study in 1964. The proposed structure would have been 6.5 miles from shore to shore. Moses argued the new bridge was a necessary part of the expressway loop around New York that connected the Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway to the Cross Westchester Expressway. However, opposition, due to feared environmental and community damage, was steep. In 1968, the city of Rye filed a lawsuit and the Town of Oyster Bay donated 3,100 acres of land that was in the bridge’s path to the federal government for a wildlife refuge. Public resistance continued to increase, with local political activists picketing public meetings and holding protests where signs like these were crucial message carriers. Ultimately, on June 20, 1973, Governor Rockefeller decided to drop plans for the bridge’s construction. “The Rye-Oyster Bay Bridge has become a lightning rod,” he wrote. “It is clear that the people want to take a more careful look at the decisions which affect the face of their land.”

Type

Artifact

Region

Long Island

Era

Contemporary United States

Topic

Communication, Community, Environment

Repository

Long Island Museum

Identifier

2018.008.0001

Source

Long Island Museum, Stony Brook, NY, Gift of Robert Reyes, 2018

Rights

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