The federal government has identified a new opportunity in its quest to endlessly push dubious spending initiatives supposedly tied to advancing “the greater good.” According to the New York Post, federal copy-editors are forcing New York state to spend $27.6 million to eradicate the apparently major threat of… all-capital-letter street signs:
Federal copy editors are demanding the city change its 250,900 street signs — such as these for Perry Avenue in The Bronx — from the all-caps style used for more than a century to ones that capitalize only the first letters.
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At $110 per sign, it will also cost the state $27.6 million, city officials said.
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The Highway Administration acknowledged that New York and other states “opposed the change, and suggested that the use of all upper-case letters remain an option,” noting that “while the mixed-case words might be easier to read, the amount of improvement in legibility did not justify the cost.”
New York faces a multi-billion dollar budget deficit, despite Gov. David Paterson’s consistent drive to increase revenue by hiking taxes on goods, notably including cigarettes which currently attract nearly $6 per pack in taxes where purchased in New York City courtesy of a massive tax hike he ushered in earlier this year.
One wonders what New York politicians will look to hike taxes on next in order to fund the $27.6 million now required to be spent on new signage, courtesy of the federal copyeditors’ mandate. In a state where hikes have recently been ushered through on personal income, health insurance, wine, cigars, and utilities, there aren’t many options left for them, except to cut spending in other areas to fund the multi-million dollar street sign overhaul.