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Perhaps nostalgic for the license plates of yore as well as being desperate for revenue, NY State rolled out a new license plate redesign that will be required for pretty much all vehicles, new and old, starting next year. The "Empire Gold" license plate, in gold with dark blue lettering, will replace the current white plate with the Niagara falls and city skyline elements and the cost will be another $25 for registration renewals and new registrations. Plus, if you want to your current letter and number license combination, that'll be another $20!
The State Department of Motor Vehicles says, "Periodically re-issuing plates is important for overall safety, law enforcement and the general integrity of the plate. License plate visibility tends to decrease as license plates lose their reflectivity and become marred and damaged from use. The legibility and reflectivity of the current Empire plate, which was issued beginning in 2001, was only guaranteed for up to 5 years. Current plates will have been in use for 10-11 years by the time they are replaced by the new Empire Gold plates." Safety and law enforcement aside, over $120 million will be raised by the license plate change, which will then go into a general state fund. The switch will start in April; more details from the DMV here.
An upstate county clerk against the change told the NY Times, "You really don’t need reflective material on your license plate with all the new cars — they’ve got plenty of reflectors and running lights on the side. It’s really a burden. We need to take a stand for the people." Another said that upstate was being unfairly targeted, "We need cars to get to schools, doctor’s appointments, grocery stores. There’s no other way to get around. A car is our livelihood."
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OUCH -- MY EYES!!!!!
I think they've taken the "Mad Men" marketing too far.
Those of you who don't remember when NYPD cars were black, white and green probably won't remember blue and yellow license plates either. Not as nice as the current ones and also a complete scam by the state to require everyone to pay to replace their current plates. Look around, are everyone's plates so beat up as to require new ones?
The inmates need work making more plates.
I remember those old plates...on my mother's Chevy Vega.
I'm old enough to remember the "ugly", classic orange plates.
I'm so livid right now. Someone, please, calm me down and give me the remotest legitimate reason for the State (Paterson/DMV Commish) to require new plates right now, before I really go off the deep end.
If it's really for law enforcement and safety purposes, why don't they simply make them all black lettering on white background? Can't get any more clear than that. Why the foolish and unnecessary "design" schemes. Again, another example of aesthetics before functionality.
Very fugly! Not only a completely unnecessary monetary scam, but who decided to eliminate our display of NY pride? I recall the pride we had for the Statue of Liberty on our plates (which coincided perfectly with the 100th anniversary of Lady Liberty) when it first came out in 1986. That was the nicest plate we've ever had. And the skyline of NYC, the mountainline and the Niagara Falls graphic (introduced in 2001) were wonderful by comparison to this new piece. It doesn't even have our "Empire State" slogan. Disgraceful!
I think I still got a set of those from my father's shit brown Dodge Dart somewhere in my storage bins. Got a pair of Lady Liberty plates too.
This is the ugliest money grab I've ever seen.
I would like to also add, as a professional designer, that this is the most depressing piece of crap I've ever seen -- I wish NYS would stop designing by committee. Ugly aside, these don't say much about pride in NY state.
I would like to add--also as a professional designer with 15 years experience--that I think it's great! What's so "depressing" about it? Nice color scheme, legible, clean fonts, balanced design. I see nothing wrong with it at all. It will be a nice change.
These colors might work for best buy but not for a license plate! This looks horribly dated (circa early 90s bad graphic design). Though it might work alone in some peoples eyes.. Its going to look horrible on most cars. Absolutely fucking hideous.
Maybe I'll see my car now.
i like 'em too - good clarity, contrast, fonts, and the gently curving implied horizon line at the top. point the hyundai at that vanishing point, and everything will be alright. these will be embossed, right?
As someone who bears a strange nostalgic fondness the old classic yellow NYS plates, I also prefer this new look to the previous design!
I agree, I think the design is great and a marked improvement over the mess of the current one. I add this as a professional designer with a mere 10 years experience.
what's so ugly? how about the color scheme?
also, 'clean clear fonts'? fonts and font sizes are restricted per US DOT regulations, not by NYS.
So many states have pretty license plates, but the only way to get a pretty one in NY or NJ is to pay a lot extra. Still, it's a bit better than PA's plates, which look like old-timey VISA cards.
As a professional designer with 20 years experience (like that matters... I am better at judging than YOU!) I say "yuck."
I don't drive, so I don't care, but the quote from the clerk regarding the reflectivity totally misses the point. It's not about making the car more visible, like a bike reflector... it's about making sure the plate stays legible for law enforcement.
I wonder if the new plates have RFID in them.
They actually give you a swine flu shot.
That looks like a piece of shit.
People on the Interwebz take my Libertarian affected comments and call me an ideologue and irrational. Why could I never trust the government, they say.
Well this is why. Everyone's greedy---whether you're white work on Wall St., whether you're a politician or whether you are a minority and work for minimum wage. Everyone has their own goals in mind.
This is case in point.
It's downright thievery to save their hides, cover their reckless spending during the boom times (and close this deficit), and get re-elected.
Budget deficits, blue and gold license plates?
Disco next?
Disco Stu doesn't advertise.
Almost: Disco Stu DON'T advertise.
:(
It's good, Jeebus forgives you.
lol
it would be easier if they bent us over a barrel and then stole our money - this is like a mob telling you you need "special" glass on your storefront and billing you for it whether you need it or not
Looks pretty close to the old Alaska plates.
http://www.plateshack.com/y2k/Alaska/ak2002.jpg
now that is a good lookin' plate.
although everyone's current plates are fine and we really don't need this kinda money grab right now,
hooray for the new old ny style plates! it really is like we're back in the 70's xD..
these style switcheroos are like an old girlfriend who keeps coming back every time you're over her
This is NOT about safety, its a scam by the criminal idiots in Albany who would rather keep slamming us w/ bogus taxes and surcharges (which BTW, they will never once have to pay themselves....)than actually address the budget overruns, naked corruption and thievery, bid-rigging, back-room dealings that cause us to always have a shortfall, no matter how much we are robbed of our income. VOTE THEM ALL OUT.
the yellow & blue plates sucked before and they still suck now. but this map has more detail than the current plates and that does help highlight the fact that long island is NY's dingleberry---which i like.
Moneygrabs that target car owners I'm ALWAYS for. Hey, sucker, I have to breathe your exhaust, right? Wait, shit, it is just legal for people to pollute all the time? Isn't that just littering, but in the air?
While I get your point (and agree with you to a certain extent), you do realize that the things you like to consume, like food, are delivered by motorized vehicles, right? It's not like we're growing oranges in the city.
oh i love that pesky environmentalist paradox.
It isn't a paradox at all-- I'm not against trucks, or buses, or subways. I'm not dogmatically arguing a point into suicide. Private ownership of gas guzzlers is a system that distributes its costs on to everyone. So I want to tax that, instead of subsidizing it. Easy peasy.
Actually, the federal and state gas tax pay for a lot of the shit that you enjoy.
So unless you're anti-tax like me, don't complain that the private gas guzzlers are creating these great negative externalities that don't exist. Car exhaust is actually less of a factor to GW than methane from mega meat farms.
So again, unless you're a vegan your footing is weak on that front, too.
I'm Vegan. Go Vegan and Save the Planet, Save Animals and Save your Health.
Tony Gonzalez is a Vegetarian. Yeah!!!!!
READ ME PLEASE
Um...your argument doesn't come up as "anti-tax" but really rather pro-tax. I'm glad taxes pay for things other people enjoy. & heck, if you want me to agree to heavier taxes on beef, I'm right there with you. Subsidizing global meltdown is a dumb policy-- taxing the things that are causing it is a good one. Sounds like we agree...except for where you say being anti-tax is the way to go. Makes no sense to me.
Subsidizing global meltdown is moronic. Agree with you there.
Taxing things that contribute to it is also moronic. We don't agree there.
The great paradigm and design shifts we need to conserve our natural resources will not come from taxing one company to death and subsidizing another to prominence. Why? It's way too political. Look at corn-based ethanol.
The change is going to come organically and without the government standing in its way or helping it to its way.
Taxation invariably hurts the middle class. We need to move to more of a user fee system, so in theory I'm for this new place. But in reality this isn't a user fee as the money raised here isn't going to go towards the roads. It's going to cover up past debts.
Federal and state gas taxes cover only half the costs of maintaining the highways. The other half is covered by general tax revenues, the taxes all of us pay.
car ownership is *gasp* not a mortal sin. and car owners already pay a solid slice of taxes everytime they cross a bridge, use the thruway, buy a car or gallon of gas.
...& my taxes pay for your automotive bail outs & subsidies, & your oil subsidies. & your roads, & your free parking. What I'm saying is, the two numbers don't add up. Again-- I'm not saying I want roads abolished, or anything-- trucks are the lifeblood of the national economy. I'm just saying pretending like everybody is entitled to subsidized selfishness is not a good strategy for revenue.
i'm not implying that you're some nut but your argument doesn't make a lot of sense. you live in this nation and we act as a nation, you can't break down things into little fiefdoms of moral superiority (i.e. "your bailouts," what am i GM now?!).
roads, like parks, are there to for everyone to use and you are obviously aware that you benefit from them everyday so that is null. and i don't really get the "your oil subsidies" and "free parking" bit...you're reaching.
You're right Hotstepper, that I'm certainly not advocating that we split taxes-- "I don't use X" displays a pretty fundamental misunderstanding of the basic concept of government. I'm saying-- well, I'm saying the parking on the side of the street, outside my apartment. Dudes from NJ drive up, park in it, & then go about their day. Dammit, says me, I wish those people who used the city's infrastructure, caused wear & tear on the roads, filled the streets, so forth-- I wish there were more taxes at the bridges & tunnels so they would contribute.
I'm saying that cars, privately owned cars, are stupid. Are bad for the environment, for the city, for my poor ears, for pedestrians, for bicyclists, for people. Meanwhile, the government is balls deep in making sure they stay status quo. & they shouldn't. So yeah-- I favor tariffs on cars, taxes on drivers. I favor plans like neighborhood parking permits so people can't register their vehicle in Pennsylvania to illegally dodge taxes. I favor the hidden costs of cars being built in to the use of them.
ok mordecai, so it's okay for trucks to drive to bring you your food, but it's "stupid" for me to drive from one town on long island to another town on long island in my little 4 cylinder vehicle to go to work?? if you think cars are bad for the city and your little ears, perhaps you'd enjoy living in a suburban area..the only noise i hear is the noise i make. not to mention i'd rather not depend on "public transportation" for anything -- especially with rising airborne illnesses. no thanks. i'll take my car. i'm sure you approve of me ordering my food through peapod, though, because it gets delivered to me in a huge truck. food can be transported by vehicles that consume gas, but people cannot, in your eyes. looks like someone hasnt left the city since birth. but since jfk has added a subway to jamaica, i suppose you could fly now. wait, no, airplanes consume gas and transport people. sheltered much?
In a planned economy we would never have built the suburbs and every city in the country would have been connected by mag lev trains a generation ago. But perhaps none of us would have ever seen an orange. Oh well, Vive Les RoboMarxism!
I am down with commercial trucks. Heck yes I am. I'm just opposed to commuter cars, especially the deep, infectious subsidy of them. Cars & gas are a bad way to live by & large, & favoritism towards that self-destructive model has been a stumbling block for mass transit & innovation for a really long time. The government dumps money by the bucketful-- heck, by the barrelfull-- no wait, what is bigger than a barrel? By the watertower full into cars & the gasoline industry, & it is just perpetuating a fatally flawed model. So yeah. Any tax on them is a step in the right direction.
albany crackin the whip on NYers once again. raping our wallets dry
I like these new plates a lot. Similar to the old classic design. I for one am happy we don't live in a state that has a zillion different license plates.
I'm sure there will be plenty of overly image-conscious NY'ers who will pay to keep their current plates as the site of these will make them wince and potentially color clash with their cars - and nothing could be more important than being perfectly matched in all possible ways. I'm so looking forwarding to hearing a lot of "white whine" about all this over the next couple of months...
I'm pretty sure the deal is that you pay to keep your current number, not your current plate. You'll just get one of the new plates with your old number.
True. I misread it. Is it possible there are people out there who will pay to keep their numbers because they match their cars? I'm willing to bet that there's got to be at least a few...
The extra $20 to keep your old number/letter combination is only for people who already pay extra to keep a 3 digit/3 letter license plate, instead of the current design of 3 letters/4 numbers.
God those are ug-ly.
Why not just charge an extra renewal fee, but do away with the disgusting orange plates?
Wouldn't that save even more money?
Who's doing the thinking in Albany? Oh right, no one.
Uh, if you haven't noticed, they changed it so that this money grab isn't even more blatantly obvious.
It's a hideous plate. Very retro, not in a good way.
I think this is a pretty bold and selfless move on Governor Paterson's part. User fees are election-year poison. He's clearly written off his chances of winning at this point, but at least he's doing the responsible thing while crashing and burning. God bless him for taking this (admittedly minuscule) chunk out of the massive automobile use subsidy.
Since he's not interested in the upstate vote, what else should be on his "bucket list"? My NY constitution-fu is not what it should be, but I imagine there are still plenty of productive (if unpopular) changes that can be accomplished by fiat in the rest of this lame-duck term.
What is this mythic automobile subsidy you retards keep going on about??! You do realize if it wasn't for organizations like the TBTA collecting tolls on every single vehicle that uses a crossing around here, the trains would not run.
Do you people understand this?
Glad to see someone has the balls to make drivers pay for something.
We can do what so many other people do now, use an old florida or michigan plate on your 18 yr. old car. Then you don't need insurance, inspections, don't have to pay parking tickets, etc. And, we'll deprive the state of their revenue at the same time.
Did you ever think for a moment that that 1987 Buick parked on 19th St. could actually make it back to Louisiana for it's inspection? Just be sure to change them regularly, parking lots and souvenir stands are a great source of these items!
Very Nostalgic, My first thought was that it reminded me of the plate on my Grandfather's '62 Studebaker.
Can't wait to see them show up on my "Zip Car".
ugly, looks like HS kids designed it.
yeah, I remember the old orange and blue lettering ones.
Drivers are complaining about $25? Damn.
It's $25 fewer for the middle class New Yorker. Just because it's a relatively small amount doesn't justify the redundant user fee.
for 10 years? It less than $3 a year. cmon.
At what point are fee and tax increases not okay with you?
yeah realistically why are people going ballistic about this? i'm with ftc2.
besides, i think they look cool as hell.
Taxpayers who don't own cars shouldn't have to pay for the billions we spend on roads. Making drivers pay for the huge environmental costs they incur may be unpopular but it is the right thing to do. And how about all the deaths and destruction caused by cars? Drivers kill and maim thousands every year and we all act like it's mother nature at work. The plate fee is probably too blatant and sudden for most drivers to stomach in these troubled times (drink) but it's long overdue.
yes you have to pay for roads, you benefit from them all the time dingus. most of your goods, foods, and services are delivered on them.
ALL of our goods are brought in by roads because there is no freight train service to NYC or LI.
and if there were, how do you think the goods would get from the train station to their final destination? FAIL.
You're naive to think that this fee has anything to do with the environment.
With that thinking people who don't use the buses/subways/LIRR/Metro-North shouldn't have to pay the MTA taxes too.
The thinking is if I don't use something why should I pay for it? Let the people who use it pay.
I don't mind user fees---definitely prefer them to a tax.
However drivers are already fee'd to the extreme. To drive from NYC to Philly is $10 in tolls and another couple of dollars in the gas tax.
As for the MTA I'm in favor of higher fares and removing the transportation tax. The fare in this instance a user fee.
User fees should go toward what you're actually using. How much you want to bet that through some creative accounting that the hundred-plus million raised through this isn't going toward transportation? Just as the lottery doesn't go toward education.
Ideally the users fees and other revenues accrued align perfectly with the operating costs of the transportation in this state. However, this is not the case. It's corrupt as hell and is the reason why to limit government and public services.
are you fucking retarded? you don't go in cars ever? you're one of those fuckheads that think there are "bikers" and "drivers", as opposed to the fact that people can and often do use both.
I like this plate. It's kind of like taking down the Cooper Square Hotel and replacing it with The Bowery Hotel. Fits in the neighborhood, not all shiny and new and out of place. Classic and good.
I like them! Especially compared to the generic ones used now. But I don't own a car, so surely my opinion doesn't count.
if you don't own a car, you could always wear a NYS license plate button like this:
http://tinyurl.com/ycry9ek
YES!
I agree, the current plates are boring. These remind me of my childhood.
I dig it. I love the old generic orange plates from my childhood.
Nice laugh where the money is going towards, into the general fund. Meaning it goes to waste and corruption.
Government legally stealing money from the people, like usual. It just never ends.
I think those are the proper Pantone names for the colors as well.
That guy sure is quotable.
I heard Paterson also approved a braille version...
for the win!
This color combination is atrocious. If they want to go 'retro' (I remember the plates from the 70's & 80's), they should at least use the original font too. But I don't understand why in the early 2000's they changed the gorgeous plates from the late 90's - the white background, blue letters and red Statue of Liberty between them. You are not going to get a better design than that (I saved mine!). I'm glad I no longer own a car. I'd hate to attach these new plates to it!
I'm trading in my silver car for a blue one to match the new color scheme.
I wonder what shitty design firm the state of NY paid millions to design this crappy plate.
I just got my plates this past April... I doubt they have all been produced in one batch 10 years ago.
I just got my plates last month...and they were definitly brand-spankin new. Not liking this fugly design at ALL.
So anytime some ass gets an idea for a plate we pay for it.
Giveth and taketh away.
Just take the freaking money out of my bank account.(Oh, they do.)
All this petty shit is killing me..I do pay taxes don't I?
I pay more in taxes than I can save.
And they want more..It's just wasted time ,money and effort. But, someone has a job.
Die, just please die.
If you're gonna jack us for more money, Dave, the least you can do is give us back the 70s orange and blue plates that had some character.
Are they going to bring back Robin Byrd too?
is it legal to apply vinyl lettering on my trunk above the plate saying "FUCK THE DMV"
sounds like it could be fun.
BFD
Man that is ugly.
Can we please bring back the Statue of Liberty ones? Those were clearly the best. Alternately, let's get whoever designed the Rhode Island plates (best design of all 50 states imho) and put him/her to work!
Blah blah blah cars are bad, i live in a city with one of the best mass transit systems so i don't need a car so i can sit on my morality high horse, fart in a snifter and delight in my own smug. bleh.
you know what, i don't give a damn about a $25 fee, and i'm not what you call wealthy, it's a laundry or groceries or beer decision once in a while for me.
what grinds my gears is that i can't just pay the $20 or whatever over teh intertubes or by mail. i'll have to take a day off of work, take my old plates off, go and hang out with the worlds friendliest government workers at the atlantic street DMV in brooklyn for 3 hours to trade in my old plates and get these new ones. and i just got my plates last december, so it's not like i got 10 years out of the old pair, and it's not like it's $3 a year felixthecat2. i should have just left the car registered in jersey. insurance was cheaper, fee's were cheaper, inspection is free. That level of needless inconvenience for someone who works 60-80 hour weeks is why on this issue among many others i say Fuck you albany, fuck you right in your pork belly greased cornholes.
FYI, you wouldn't have to go in person to renew and get the new plates. They would mail the new plates out to you after you pony up the new fee via mail or online.
I hate these new shitty plates, but I'm happy that at least I won't have to go to the DMV in person and face the wrath of Latasha, Quesadilla and Shananay in order to get it over with.
Bring back liberty plates!
"The Centennial Comment". Put that on a fucking license plate.
Very, very ugly. Not to mention the team colors for Michigan. Somebody start a committee or a letter writing campaign to stop this mess.
I think the fee should be at least $999.00 as most jerks
that drive don't have to, at least in Manhattan
The Bronx and Staten Island & Queens.
25 dollars is not a high fee ,that will get you about an hour in a garage in parts of mid town NYC.
How many New Jersey plates do we see in NYC?,tons of
em.
Charge NJ for coming here $1000.00 a month.
The kicker is that these new plates aren't embossed in metal like a true license plate, instead it's printed on plastic like the current NYS issue vanity plates!
For all the idiots for downstate that are cheering the cost increases and hate on cars... listen, the reason you HAVE MASS TRANSPORTATION is because state tax dollars from UPSTATE helps to subsidize your precious MTA.
People are friggin poor up here, and can't afford to have cars, but we don't have the massive transportation (buses, taxis, subways, El-Trains, etc) that you guys down there have, so we HAVE to buy cars in order to get around. Try walking to a supermarket that's 30 miles away in three feet of snow... (it's 10 miles if you buy your food from a gas station) without any buses or trains available to drag your pansy, city-fied butts there. And that's just for getting a loaf of bread.
Now imagine having to shovel out another 50$ while only earning about 9$/hour at your part time job at Walmart... Just so you have a legal vehicle to drive yourself to the only available job for young people that's over 7$/hour.
So Downstater car-haters: suck it. Up here, having a personal vehicle is a matter of survival. If you don't like it, send us up some tax dollars to help subsidize OUR OWN decent train/bus system up here.
Also, with the salt up here, our license plates are actually doing FINE... Much better than the Liberty plates from the 80's when they were retired.
And whose fault is that? Oh right, white flight in the 1940s until the 70s when people kept encouraging people to stop living so close to each other. OOPS.
I live in Manhattan but still own a car. I'm not on board with the whole "green" movement and especially enjoy driving around the tri-state area while increasing my carbon-footprint on weekends. During the weekend the train is basically useless anyway since there are always huge delays and MTA figures, "you won't be late for work since it is Saturday, so go fuck yourself".
That being said, the new license plate absolutely sucks. If you're going to go retro, at least go all the way. It looks like they are torn between having a 70s or modern plate. If anything, just make it a basic design with the plate, state name and slogan without the stupid curved designs.
I gotta be honest and say that I've been expecting this increase for so long that I was amazed when I was able to renew last November at the same price. So that much doesn't really bother me. I just don't want to have to put some disgusting plate on my frakkin' BMW.
One last thing: when this plate gets dirty, especially during wintertime when the snow and such gets on it, the color is REALLY going to look terrible.
Yet another bald-faced scheme intended to wring every last drop of blood out of the commoners. The fees are going into a "general state fund?" Oh really? My imagination runs wild with what happens to this purposely unaccountable revenue.
How about putting it into highway infrastructure funds and maybe use it to pay for painting a few bridges or something?
Silly, me. That's too obvious. I suppose that I must learn to think like a politician--or not think at all--like them.