Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,C,I-Batavia) is again calling on Gov. Cuomo to remove the illegal blue I Love-NY Thruway signs before the state loses the ability to recoup the $14 million it was fined this winter. The Cuomo administration previously installed the signs despite knowing they were against federal highway codes. New York has until Sept. 30 to remove all the signs.

            “This charade has gone on far too long. New York taxpayers are already down over $8 million for these bogus signs, and if the governor doesn’t accept reality and take them down by the Sept. 30 deadline, taxpayers will be down another $14 million,” Hawley said.

            “The governor can put up all the signs he wants but the reality is that his policies have perpetuated the highest taxes in the nation and are rotting upstate New York from the inside out. That is why no one wants to move here,” Hawley continued.

            “It is bad enough that many of these signs were not even built in our state, using our tax money to bolster jobs in Arkansas, but the fact is that the governor knew these signs were illegal and he put them up anyway. We have about four weeks to comply, but if he takes them down with the same urgency as he did to put them up, there shouldn’t be any problems.”