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Cuomo Signs

Started by machias, October 21, 2016, 12:51:57 PM

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kalvado

Quote from: 02 Park Ave on February 03, 2018, 10:37:38 AM
Would this include those on the Thruway?
from the same article:
Quote
In a joint statement, Thruway Authority Executive Director Matthew Driscoll and acting state Department of Transportation Commissioner Paul A. Karas ....


Flyer78

Quote from: kalvado on February 03, 2018, 10:07:18 AM
And the saga continues:
https://dailygazette.com/article/2018/02/02/controversial-tourism-signs-will-come-down
Quote
so the signs will be removed in favor of signs promoting a new "NY has it all!" tourism campaign.
Do I read it correct - existing signs will be removed, as requested by FHWA - but a different set of signs will be posted instead?

From a NY Post article on the removal/replacement...

Quote
But Cuomo said last October it was probably time for the signs to be taken down.

"They are up, they have been up for years,"  Cuomo said at the time. "We have no resolution with the federal government, but they have been up for so long that it's almost time to come up with a new campaign."

(https://nypost.com/2018/02/02/cuomo-will-finally-replace-i-%E2%99%A5-ny-signs/)

They've... been up... for "so long?" Well, I guess there is an upside to the economy, at least with respect to sign shops and DOT crews...

hbelkins

Wonder if FHWA will be so anal-retentive over whatever they come up with as a replacement campaign?


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

kalvado

Quote from: hbelkins on February 03, 2018, 02:41:02 PM
Wonder if FHWA will be so anal-retentive over whatever they come up with as a replacement campaign?
Could be political issue - governor elections are coming, and this may be a sensitive issue. With Cuomo being absolutely anti-Trump, he could spin this into "another punch against blue states" or "personal vendetta against highly successful program". Feds may want to hold on until after elections - and either deal with a more sane governor, or with same governor in a slightly less aggressive  mode.
We'll see..

cl94

I figured that the move to take funds away now as opposed to when the signs went up years ago is 100% political. FHWA first got involved during the previous administration. Why are they only taking funds away now, after the governor had a feud with the president? Either way, I think this will end up working in Cuomo's favor due to the timing of it. It will very quickly become "see, the GOP administration is taking New York's money away!" He will spin this as an anti-blue state ploy, given that they waited 2 years to issue a fine. We all know that EVERY Democrat running for office in a blue or purple state would seize on a fine for something like that.

Honestly, I think both sides are being stupid here. Signs going up are a waste of my tax dollars and the feds threatening to withhold funding will end up coming back to bite them.
Please note: All posts represent my personal opinions and do not represent those of my employer or any of its partner agencies.

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kalvado

Quote from: cl94 on February 03, 2018, 03:44:06 PM
I figured that the move to take funds away now as opposed to when the signs went up years ago is 100% political. FHWA first got involved during the previous administration. Why are they only taking funds away now, after the governor had a feud with the president? Either way, I think this will end up working in Cuomo's favor due to the timing of it. It will very quickly become "see, the GOP administration is taking New York's money away!" He will spin this as an anti-blue state ploy, given that they waited 2 years to issue a fine. We all know that EVERY Democrat running for office in a blue or purple state would seize on a fine for something like that.

Honestly, I think both sides are being stupid here. Signs going up are a waste of my tax dollars and the feds threatening to withhold funding will end up coming back to bite them.
I believe threat to withhold funding was on the table for quite a while. This is 2016 article: https://liherald.com/stories/Hempostead-federal-officials-agree-I-Love-NY-signs-must-go
Quote from: FHWAspokesmen
We are working to bring the state into compliance. If it becomes clear that is not going to happen, we will make a determination about the penalty. It could be a range of things from withholding federal approval for projects to withholding highway funding.
More like bureaucratic machine slowly coming to that point regardless of top brass opinion. Is Cuomo going to use it for political reasons? Well, if the sun goes up tomorrow, he will;  if not - quiet compliance may be an option

hbelkins

Quote from: kalvado on February 03, 2018, 04:11:56 PM
Quote from: cl94 on February 03, 2018, 03:44:06 PM
I figured that the move to take funds away now as opposed to when the signs went up years ago is 100% political. FHWA first got involved during the previous administration. Why are they only taking funds away now, after the governor had a feud with the president? Either way, I think this will end up working in Cuomo's favor due to the timing of it. It will very quickly become "see, the GOP administration is taking New York's money away!" He will spin this as an anti-blue state ploy, given that they waited 2 years to issue a fine. We all know that EVERY Democrat running for office in a blue or purple state would seize on a fine for something like that.

Honestly, I think both sides are being stupid here. Signs going up are a waste of my tax dollars and the feds threatening to withhold funding will end up coming back to bite them.
I believe threat to withhold funding was on the table for quite a while. This is 2016 article: https://liherald.com/stories/Hempostead-federal-officials-agree-I-Love-NY-signs-must-go
Quote from: FHWAspokesmen
We are working to bring the state into compliance. If it becomes clear that is not going to happen, we will make a determination about the penalty. It could be a range of things from withholding federal approval for projects to withholding highway funding.
More like bureaucratic machine slowly coming to that point regardless of top brass opinion. Is Cuomo going to use it for political reasons? Well, if the sun goes up tomorrow, he will;  if not - quiet compliance may be an option

Yes, this is an ongoing issue, and I don't think that the person who occupies the White House has much to do with the minutiae of these federal technical decisions.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

SignBridge

I agree. The FHWA first attempted to negotiate for voluntary compliance. And when that finally failed they withheld the $14 million as a fine for non-compliance. Sounds like normal procedures to me.

Mergingtraffic

The signs are awful and are put up in some really bad spots such as the Bronx River Pkwy with all it's twists and turns.
I only take pics of good looking signs. Long live non-reflective button copy!
MergingTraffic https://www.flickr.com/photos/98731835@N05/

Michael

During the evening of Friday the 16th, I went past my first Cuomo Signs as a driver.  If I actually wanted to read them while paying attention to the road and traffic, it would have been impossible.  I think they need to be between 1.5 and 2 times farther apart than what they are.

A few weeks ago, NewsChannel 9 posted an article about the "bickering" over the signs between Senator John DeFrancisco and Andrew Cuomo.  I'm going to post the NewsChannel 9 Facebook post too because of the comments on it.

Alps

Quote from: Michael on February 21, 2018, 09:44:10 PM
During the evening of Friday the 16th, I went past my first Cuomo Signs as a driver.  If I actually wanted to read them while paying attention to the road and traffic, it would have been impossible.  I think they need to be between 1.5 and 2 times farther apart than what they are.

A few weeks ago, NewsChannel 9 posted an article about the "bickering" over the signs between Senator John DeFrancisco and Andrew Cuomo.  I'm going to post the NewsChannel 9 Facebook post too because of the comments on it.
"I <3 NY" "I <3 NY" "I <3" ok forget this

hotdogPi

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kalvado


Michael


goldfishcrackers4

Cuomo signs are still up, ugly and worthless as ever. Any word when they are coming down. Was supposed to be April. I assumed weather delayed this.
"It's the law (of physics). I don't share the road!"
-Unknown

SignBridge

None have come down on Long Island so far that I have noticed.

Buffaboy

Not sure how I feel about this

QuoteThe state Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration reached agreement Friday on an unspecified future modification of state promotional signs on the Thruway and other highways that violate federal sign regulations.

A spokesman for the administration of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said the agreement came in time to meet a Sunday deadline set by the FHA, which was prepared to reduce New York's highway aid by $14 million as a penalty for the "I Love New York," "Taste of New York" and "Pathways Through History" signs.

As far back as 2011, the federal agency told the DOT and the Thruway Authority that the signs were too big and contained too much information, allegedly creating a dangerous distraction for drivers.

https://buffalonews.com/2018/09/29/i-love-ny-signs-to-be-modified-as-state-avoids-federal-fine/
What's not to like about highways and bridges, intersections and interchanges, rails and planes?

My Wikipedia county SVG maps: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Buffaboy

Mergingtraffic

Quote from: Buffaboy on September 29, 2018, 11:03:41 AM
Not sure how I feel about this

QuoteThe state Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration reached agreement Friday on an unspecified future modification of state promotional signs on the Thruway and other highways that violate federal sign regulations.

A spokesman for the administration of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said the agreement came in time to meet a Sunday deadline set by the FHA, which was prepared to reduce New York's highway aid by $14 million as a penalty for the "I Love New York," "Taste of New York" and "Pathways Through History" signs.

As far back as 2011, the federal agency told the DOT and the Thruway Authority that the signs were too big and contained too much information, allegedly creating a dangerous distraction for drivers.

https://buffalonews.com/2018/09/29/i-love-ny-signs-to-be-modified-as-state-avoids-federal-fine/

It's BS, some of these signs are at interchanges, there's too much distraction. Look at I-95 SB at I-287. Too many signs there.

This tells us states can do anything and the FHWA has no balls.
I only take pics of good looking signs. Long live non-reflective button copy!
MergingTraffic https://www.flickr.com/photos/98731835@N05/

SignBridge

This may be a typical example of a government agency giving the appearance of addressing an issue, while not really addressing it.

kalvado

Quote from: SignBridge on September 30, 2018, 08:35:07 PM
This may be a typical example of a government agency giving the appearance of addressing an issue, while not really addressing it.
Going down to a single sign instead of a long booklet may actually be an improvement.

hbelkins

My view hasn't changed. This was overly restrictive and anal-rententive on the part of FHWA. If a state wants to promote itself along its highways, the FHWA should butt out -- especially if it's a road like the Thruway that isn't federally funded. (And yes, I know, the signs were on other roads as well as the Thruway).

As for the claim that the signs are distracting -- anyone who's dangerously distracted by them is too stupid to be driving.

I'm glad that the compromise that's been reached appears to let the signs stay up.

Quote from: SignBridge on September 30, 2018, 08:35:07 PM
This may be a typical example of a government agency giving the appearance of addressing an issue, while not really addressing it.

If so, apparently the FHWA fell for it (assuming the agency needing to do the addressing was NYSDOT.)


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

SignBridge

#147
Well both government agencies probably drink the same Kool-Aid. As long as they can show on paper that they addressed an issue, it doesn't really matter to them, that whatever they did may not actually fix the problem. It's an old game that is played by many government agencies everywhere. 

formulanone

#148
PRONOUN IMPORTANT INTERNAL ORGAN STATE ABBREVIATION eat our cheese



They're a bit unsightly (why not just one blue sign per major city?) but I really don't see the big deal. There's already websites for road construction, traffic, toll information, and other travel things. It's no more unsightly than a billboard, which is even larger.

There's almost nothing to visually distract you along most of the Thruway, anyhow.

jakeroot

Path through history...is that a reference to the train downstate?



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