Ok, New York, like a lot of states in America, is in some really deep poo, right now.
Although the governor's gay marriage legislation is on top of New York's legislator's lists right now--which is a good thing, the real news, is the state's rather serious budget crisis.
Mainly, the proposed cuts in Medicaid and education. Medicaid is health care for New York's poor--from single mum's and their children to the disabled to pensioners. It's health care for those whom are too poor to qualify for private health insurance, or, for state-subsidized private health care.
The demorcatic governor says the cuts will all be "administrative," but still, many New Yorker's are very worried. This governor has such a bad track record, that the national demoratic party has publicly requested him not to run for president in 2010. Now, that's not good.
So, amid this big budget criss, what does our lovely governor propose doing? Changing license plates that go on our cars!
Every decade or so, New York changes the look of its license plates. Our official state "colours" are dark blue and gold.
The year I was born, plates were black with gold letters. In mid-60's to early 70's, license plates were dark blue with gold letters/numbers. From the mid- 70's and mid-80's, the colours were gold with dark blue letters-numbers. Then, around the time of the Statue of Libery's anniversary, we went with a plate, of white with blue letters, and a red statue of liberty...then a while ago, the state changed it yet again, to simply a white plate with blue letters.
They also introduced regional license plates. For instance, if you lived in Saratoga County, which has a rich horse racing tradition, you could get a plate with a horsehead in a horseshoe, saying that you were from Saratoga County. In my former county, you could get a mountain scene, saying you were from Warren County, etc. They even introduced sports team liccense plates, I was told. And, if that weren't enough, you could even get plates that sported the official state bird (the bluebird), and other native wildlife.
All for some fat extra fees to go into the state DMV coffers, I'm sure.
So, our "new" plates for our motor vehicles, will revert back to the 70's and early 80's colours, and be gold with blue letters--a bit more flashy than the old 70's-80's version, though, with some graphic flourishes added to it.
Which begs the question, why???
It's not like evyerone will have to rush out and buy new plates for their cars. What happens is, the new plates are phased in, gradually. As you change registration/plates in the normal fashion, you get a new plate.
I'm really not clear--and so far, no news agency has bothered to ask...how will this be helpful for New York state, right now? Will it bring in extra revenues? I don't see how that could be. Will it cost less to make the new plates? Will it cost more?
No one is asking any of these questions, but me, it seems. And I can't get a job as a journalist, so I guess I'm not going to get any answers, any time soon.
