Lawmaker plans to introduce resolution to rename California tunnel after Robin Williams

SAN FRANCISCO – A California lawmaker said he plans to introduce a resolution to rename a tunnel north of the Golden Gate Bridge after the late comedian Robin Williams.

The Waldo Tunnel is in Marin County, where Williams grew up and lived before committing suicide at his home there in August. Democratic State Assemblyman Marc Levine of San Rafael said he plans to introduce the name-change resolution in December in response to an online petition that has garnered more than 55,000 signatures. He has checked with representatives of Williams’ family, and they support the project, Levine told the San Francisco Chronicle (http://bit.ly/1z7G5Dn ).

“When the petition was first circulated, I thought it sounded like a wonderful idea,” Levine said.

The tunnel, which has a rainbow painted on the outside, is currently named after William Waldo, a Whig Party candidate who ran for governor in 1853.

Levine said the rainbow paint is fitting for Williams, who wore rainbow suspenders on his hit 1980s TV show “Mork and Mindy.”

“As a child, I had those rainbow suspenders, and I look back on how silly and goofy they were with a smile on my face,” Levine said. “Rainbows bring hope and joy to people. I think going through that tunnel, under the joy and rainbow, we will always think of all the joy and laughter that Robin Williams brought to so many people.”

The resolution will have to pass the Assembly and state Senate. Money for the name-change, which is estimated to cost $6,000, will have to come from private sources.