New Yorkers outraged as bureaucrats order city to change lettering on every single street sign

NY Daily News ^ | 9/30/2010 | ANDREW PHILLIPS & PETE DONOHUE

[Paine in the Neck]

I immediately want to know who is getting the contract and to whom in government they are connected.

[secretagent]

Where’s the enumerated Constitutional power to do this?

[Don Corleone]

And NYC has a budget problem why???

And the USA has a budget problem why? One answer..STUPID BIG GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABLE TO NO ONE! FIRE 'EM ALL!

[TexasPatriot1]

To speak of common sense in government is folly. Think of pretty flowers instead. Those really exist.

[MarineBrat]

Ping

[dblshot]

YoU goT tO Be kIdDinG.

[cripplecreek]

Gee I can readily recognize both.

[B Knotts]

They did this in Oregon, too. Waste of money.

[Pecos]

The article said this was the result of Federal legislation. So.... is NYC the only area affected? If so, why? If not, then the bill will be substantially higher for changing out every street sign in the country.

[kcvl]

Oh yes, that is a BIG improvement! /s

[massgopguy]

“AND THEN THEY MADE THE STREET SIGNS IN MONGOLIAN! CAN YOU READ MONGOLIAN? I CAN’T READ MONGOLIAN! ONLY MONGOLIANS CAN READ MONGOLIAN!” - John Belushi

[Qbert]

And don't forget, $20 Million more for these signs...

[lacrew]

Not just NYC. Its the front page story here in Topeka, KS today. Its a federal rule change...our local county has asked ‘what if we don’t change the signs?’. Nobody knows the answer yet...probably some sort of fed funding will be withheld.

[alancarp]

The Federal Highway Administration says the switch will improve safety because drivers identify the words more quickly when they're displayed that way - and can sooner return their eyes to the road.

Total Balderdash - the bigger the lettering, the easier to spot it and read it. Note even on the example photos in post #1 that the lowercased "y" character forces the entire word to be written in a smaller size.

[Mr. Silverback]

"This font on your street signs displeases us. Change it immediately, and send me some cake!"

[marlon]

This is an example of an even larger problem. The city should just say no, the Feds have no authority over them, NYC streets are not federal highways so they should just give them the middle finger.

[justlurking]

An old joke:

One man was lamenting to another that the federal government was spending millions of dollars to raise all the highway signs to meet mandated height standards.

The other responded: we're lucky they didn't decide they had to lower the highway instead.

[LibWhacker]

in a font called Clearview

For maximum legibility in the inner city shouldn't the font be Graffiti?

[elpadre]

what does the federal government have to do with municipal street signs?

[KarlInOhio]

IT SCARES ME WHEN THE ROAD SIGNS SHOUT AT ME WITH ALL CAPITAL LETTERS!!!!!! < /sarc>

I saw somewhere else that the Feds are also changing the signs' reflectivity requirements and only one company makes the material which meets the new standards. Ka-ching! (sorry, I don't know the exact location where I saw that)