The New York Daily News reports that city residents are “outraged” because silly federal bureaucrats have ordered all their street signs to be changed from all-uppercase to upper-and-lowercase. Go down nine paragraphs, however, and you get this:
The mixed upper- and lowercase rule was adopted in 2003, but municipalities were given until 2018 to comply completely, Hecox said….The additional cost to the city, if any, will be “marginal” because it receives a steady stream of state funding for routine sign repairs and replacement, DOT spokesman Seth Solomonow said. The life of a typical sign is about a decade, so most of the city’s signs would be replaced in the next few years anyway, Solomonow said.
So this rule was adopted in 2003, cities have until 2018 to comply, it improves safety, and it won’t actually cost much of anything at all. Count me as disappointingly non-outraged.
