Bridging the divide

The opponents -- loosely organized under the auspices of the Charlestown Historical Society -- contend that the bridge should pay homage to the community in which it will be based. And they note that the bridge's design takes its inspiration from the nearby Bunker Hill Monument. These arguments have merit. But there is also merit in the argument that it would be a real tribute to Charlestown to honor a leader who worked to assuage the religious, ethnic, and racial tensions that have divided this city over the decades.

Zakim's day job may have been to head the local branch of a national Jewish civil-rights group, but his presence in Boston transcended the city's usual tribal boundaries. Zakim helped create the Black-Jewish Seder and the Irish-Jewish Seder (later the Catholic-Jewish Seder). He founded the Team Harmony program for teens, which became a national model for promoting tolerance, and World of Difference, an anti-hate educational program. Shortly before Zakim died, Pope John Paul II honored him -- while on a mission of Catholic and Jewish leaders to Rome -- as a Knight of St. Gregory. As Bishop William Murphy said of Zakim at his memorial service last fall: "There was no hidden agenda in Lenny Zakim. We in the Catholic community are so grateful for the last 15 years."

It was this record of service that inspired Cellucci to name the new cable bridge the Leonard P. Zakim Freedom Bridge. Bernard Cardinal Law quickly endorsed the idea, and Cellucci and Law jointly announced it at Law's residence in June. "This magnificent bridge is a fitting tribute to a man who spent his own life building bridges of human understanding and goodwill," Cellucci said at the time.

Even so, more than 1000 Charlestown residents have signed a petition against naming the bridge after Zakim. They want a name that better reflects their vision of the community and the role it played in the American Revolution -- above and beyond the Battle of Bunker Hill. The Historical Society has called for the bridge to be named after Bunker Hill since June of last year. Before that it worked long and hard with public officials to achieve the dramatic design that is now under construction. Some have noted that Big Dig officials may have promised the community such a name in the context of "mitigation discussions" connected to the project. That puts the community's opposition in an understandable light.

But history is fluid, not static. The Bunker Hill Monument already stands as a noble memorial. Naming the bridge after Zakim would be a noble gesture, one that Zakim deserves -- as do the people of Boston. The bridge, a magnificent structure that will tower over the city, will be viewed as a Boston landmark on a par with the Bunker Hill Monument, the Custom House, and the John Hancock tower. Who better to name it after than Zakim, a spiritual giant who bridged divides between so many communities in Boston?

The issue, which will ultimately be decided by a vote of the state legislature, is now before the House Transportation Committee. State Representative Eugene O'Flaherty, who represents Charlestown, is pushing a compromise solution that satisfies the community-- calling it, for example, the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Freedom Bridge. The governor, meanwhile, is standing by his plan -- as, reportedly, is House Speaker Thomas Finneran. Still, it could take only one legislator to hold the bill up while the House is not in formal session. We hope the leaders involved will follow through with the inspired vision of naming the bridge after a man whose all-too-short life's work transcended Boston's usual parochialism. Lenny Zakim, who has made Greater Boston a more civil and decent place to live by building bridges across human chasms, deserves this honor.