“How’m I doing?” Don’t ask!
Mayor Zohran Mamdani wants to remove the name of his predecessor Ed Koch from the 59th Street Bridge — a stance some critics say is a bridge too far.
The democratic socialist mayor, Council Speaker Julie Menin were just a few of the politicians who told an LGBT group that they’d be in favor of canceling Koch from the bridge, also called the Queensboro Bridge, over his alleged mishandling of the 1980s AIDS crisis, The Post has learned.
“Yes, I support renaming,” Mamdani said on the campaign trail last year on a questionnaire sent by the Jim Owles Liberal LGBT Democratic Club used in deciding whether or not to endorse a candidate.
The club has asked candidates if they supported dropping Koch, whose catchphrase was “How’m I doing?” — and if they would sponsor legislation to strip his name from the span.
The City Council and then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg renamed the bridge in Koch’s honor in 2011, two years before his death at age 88.
Koch, a World War II veteran and the second Jewish Big Apple mayor, served three terms from 1978 to 1989.
Koch even filmed a promotional video by standing at the foot of the Queensboro Bridge and saying, “Welcome to my bridge!”
Menin, whose district includes the bridge, told the Jim Owles Club in her questionnaire that she was in favor of renaming the bridge simply “The 59th Street Bridge” but she changed her tune when contacted by The Post on Sunday.
“Speaker Menin does not support efforts to rename the Ed Koch Bridge, and would not support any legislation to do so. She was approached in 2025 to add her name as a co-sponsor to such a bill and declined to do so,” a Menin spokesperson said.
Sixteen other Council members supported or would strongly consider passing legislation to cancel the Koch Bridge, a review of candidates on the club’s questionnaires revealed.
City Comptroller Mark Levine and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams are also on the anti-Koch bandwagon. Williams boasted he voted against the Koch bridge renaming when he served on the City Council.
Only one Council member — Virginia Maloney — gave a terse “no” to renaming the Koch bridge in her questionnaire. The club did not endorse her.
Others supporting the anti-Koch movement include:
- former Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who is now running as the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor alongside Gov. Kathy Hochul
- Rep. Dan Goldman
- Democrat Brad Lander, who is running against Goldman in House District 10
- City Councilwoman and House 7 candidate Julie Won, who represents the Queens neighborhood on that borough’s side of the Koch Bridge
- and House 12 candidates Alex Bores and Jack Schlossberg
The Jim Owles Club asked the congressional candidates this provocative question:
“In view of the fact that Ed Koch has been documented to have caused the deaths of scores of people with AIDS, excused city council members who voted against the gay rights bill and was blatantly racist, would you support renaming the former Queensboro Bridge?”
Allen Roskoff, president of the club, defended his push to get Koch’s name removed from thebridge. He’s been pressing candidates on the issuefor years.
He claimed Koch did little while thousands of gay New Yorkers died of AIDS, including his partner and the club’s namesake, Jim Owles.
Roskoff said opposing the bridge renaming is “disrespectful to thousands of people who died of AIDS at the hands of Ed Koch.”
“Of course I want the bridge renaming to happen,” Roskoff told The Post.
One veteran political consultant said the anti-Koch movement is cancel culture run amok.
“This is insane. It’s nuts. Koch is dead. Leave him alone!” consultant Hank Sheinkopf said.
He said Roskoff “doesn’t like Koch and won’t let go.”
New Yorkers interviewed several blocks from the Koch Bridge said politicians should stop pandering on a petty issue and worry about more pressing problems.
“It would be a crime!” 40-year-old Margarita Thomas, a native of Romania, said when asked about the campaign to remove Koch’s name from the bridge.
“They should repair the subway, they should clean the city. They should get rid of the rats, not rename bridges. That’s absolutely imbecilic.”
Wilson Crow, who grew up under Koch’s leadership, said the activists and politicians should leave him — and the bridge named after him — alone.
“They shouldn’t [rename it]. It’s no big deal. I don’t know why they are making a big deal about it. It doesn’t bother anybody,” Crow said.
Thousands of New Yorkers died of AIDS, a disease spread through intimate sexual contact and the sharing of contaminated hypodermic needles.
But Crow said Koch “couldn’t stop” the AIDS crisis because it was in “nobody’s power and control — AIDS is a sexual thing.”
Resident Mike Herlihy, 38,said, “There’s a lot bigger fish to fry in New York or the world” than renaming the Koch Bridge.
“It’s wild that people have all this energy on things like that,” he said.
Brooklyn Councilwoman Sandy Nurse said renaming the Koch Bridge was not a burning priority.
“It’s not my hill to die on, but if people want support, I am OK with that,” Nurse told the Jim Owles Club.
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