Road Rage Kills Pricey Plate Proposal

Here’s a case of road rage that paid off!

County clerks across New York State, accompanied by a petition drive, have killed a plan to issue new “Empire Gold” license plates containing dark blue and gold colors that would have cost NY motorists $129 million. The plates were scheduled to replace existing red, white, and blue plates next April.

On Monday, Putnam County Clerk Dennis Sant traveled to Albany where he joined other county clerks in urging the governor to reconsider his “ill-conceived idea.”

The clerks had hoped to meet with Governor David Paterson but Sant told the Courier: “Governor Paterson refused to meet us face to face, so we delivered petitions signed by some 100,000 New Yorkers to the mail room at the Capital.”

Sant said more than “5,000 people went out of their way to walk into my office and sign the petitions. A proposed $25-added registration fee is ludicrous, especially in these times when people from all walks of life are hurting. This is nothing more than a scheme to fulfill the state’s shortfall by holding the motorists of Putnam County and all of New York State hostage.”

State Senator Vincent Leibell said the suggestion to create new license plates was a way of “raising money” and was “quite stupid. The idea was ill thought out. County clerks have told me that sufficient inventory of the current plates exist. Why change at this time? Let’s wait until a real need exists.”

In addition to the added revenue, the state has argued the new plates are needed to endure their legibility.

Assemblyman Greg Ball described the governor’s idea to print new plates as a “poor decision. New license plates issued when they are not needed only add to the financial concerns of small business owners and taxpayers who need a car to get to work or school. People must not be penalized by the governor’s continued game of smoke and mirrors.”

The governor apparently got the message, telling a news conference in Albany late Monday, “The license plates will not be changed and will be put back on the regular 10-year schedule when plates are revised. People all across the state were angry with the decision and I want people to know that I listen to them because all of us are suffering during this recession.”

Paterson quickly noted that the $129 million shortfall would have to be made up elsewhere.