If There's Cash, Paterson May Rethink License Plate Fee

Unbelievably, a rare aesthetic success from local bureaucracy! The current plate looks like bad office art [is there any other kind?].

This new one: bold, classic and distinctive. I love the return to the state's silhouette between numbers & letters. I'm about to register for my first NY plates and the timing is apparently, perfect.

This whole thing is annoying and probably unnecessary (and I find the plates ugly, mostly because I just dislike the color yellow), but if $25 is going to break you, I think maybe you've got bigger problems than getting a new license plate. Also, why don't they just raise the registration fee by $25 and forego the whole plate thing? I'll pay, but changing plates is often a pain in the neck.

take the subway you complainers

go live in Queens or Staten Island and have a family.

Resident parking permits would be a fantastic idea. Imagine how many fewer people would drive into manhattan if they couldn't ever park on the street for free? If they have to factor in a parking garage maybe they'll choose to take the LIRR or NJ Transit just because it will end up being cheaper for them. Also, people who already own cars would have better chance of finding spaces near where they live. I'm sure no one would mind paying a $25 fee for that. It's a win win.

Anyone notice Patterson new tv ads?

This does not bode well for Paterson's re-election hopes.

I am rather surprised at how cheap vehicle registration is in New York State. In Chicago, Illinois, for instance:

Registration: $79 annually (almost 3x NYS for an average passenger car)

City of Chicago registration: $75 annually ($120 for over-weight vehicles)

Parking sticker if you happen to live in a resident-only zone: $25 annually (not required for motorcycles)

Chicago has readily accessible public transportation, and thus places a user fee on those who still choose to own a car. $75 is not ridiculous compared with the annual cost to own a vehicle, so it seems okay to me. I'm also a fan of residential parking zones, but that's an entirely different debate.

read this, people.

If they originally said $45 dollars and then dropped it to $25... there wouldn't be a need to "rethink". Can someone please elect an Arab to office next time around—at least they can heckle.

haggle?

Just have Mike Bloomberg cut a check. Problem solved.

So, we guess that the DMV's explanation that the license plates had to be changed for safety reasons is BS, then?

I, for one, am shocked. SHOCKED, I say, that you would suggest that Albany is making a blatant money grab in economic times such as these when clearly they are holding the transportation safety and economic well-being of their constituents at the forefront of their priorities while governing this state that is clearly, CLEARLY, an economic model of efficiency.

SHOCKED!

I really hope he doesn't 'find' that $129 million. What with so many officials opposing East River crossings for additional revenue, we don't need another incentive for driving that will rob the state of it's revenue stream when it needs every penny. If it's not from this, it'll be from some other inane source....

How about it actually be more expensive? $25 is cheap. Trouble is, he started the bidding too low. This is a guy from NY? You start above where you want to be and then "find a way" to lower the price to what you needed it in the first place.

Agreed, $25 is way too little. Should've calculated the cost needed to repair the state's roads, divided by every registered vehicle in the state, then gone from there...

That would make sense if the money generated was only going to repair roads. They really need it to run other programs.

This is a great license plate. Iconic, bold, and classic. Love it.

-1

I don't care about the money. He should reconsider the design. That thing is hideous and I don't want to see that eyesore all over NYC.