Thread: NY-City making snow-emergency signs in Spanish

City making snow-emergency signs in Spanish
The goal is to help residents know if they are parked on snow-emergency routes, a city official said.
By ANGIE MASON

Updated: 01/11/2010 09:50:27 PM EST


Alan Hykes, York's highway superintendent, works on a partially completed sign in the city's highway garage Monday. Behind him is a machine, run through a computer program, that uses a stylus to cut letters for signs. The city is working on Spanish-language signs to notify residents of the snow-emergency route.

Spanish and English snow-emergency route signs sit side by side in the city's highway garage. City Highway Superintendent Alan Hykes, in the background, said he can now reuse old signs to make new ones. About eight to 12 Spanish snow-emergency signs will be added in the city, first on South Queen Street. (Daily Record/Sunday News - Paul Kuehnel)
York is working to make sure that a language barrier doesn't keep residents from moving their cars during a snow emergency.

The city is making Spanish-language signs to notify residents in certain areas of the emergency routes.

"I think the idea, simply, is to try to get the message out as much as we can," said Jim Gross, the city's public works director. "Where we have large populations of (Spanish-speaking residents) . . . it might be helpful to have that message out there."

The city will make eight to 12 of the signs, he said, focusing first on a section of South Queen Street. The existing English signs will remain up, he said.

"Our objective is getting people to move their cars in a snow emergency," Gross said.

If the signs help residents understand they live on the emergency route so that they move their cars, "then I think it's worthwhile."

Former Mayor John Brenner said in December that the city was working on the signs as a courtesy for Spanish-speaking residents, though when a snowstorm hit that month, he didn't hear that a language barrier caused any problems with the snow-emergency route.

The city's highway department makes road signs. The process is pretty time-consuming, Gross said, so he hopes the Spanish signs will be up in a month or so, for the latter half of the winter.

Sara Austin, former president and current board member of Centro Hispano José Hernández, said the signs will be a good thing for Latino residents.

Organizations such as Centro Hispano are working to address the language barrier through efforts such as English as a second language classes, Austin said, but not every member of the Latino community can speak and read English.

"For some who can, it's still spotty," she said. "Anything the city can do to help residents better be a part of the community, including helping clear snow away in these emergencies, is still a good (idea)."

Alan Hykes, the highway superintendent, said the translation on the sign was checked by some of the city's Spanish-speaking employees, and it will be checked again before the signs are posted.

The red-and-white signs contain the same message as the English signs, warning drivers


Sign recycling
The city purchased equipment to make its own road signs about a year ago, said Alan Hykes, highway superintendent.

Now, he said, the highway employees can take an old sign and turn it into a new one.

Making the signs is "extremely" less costly than buying them, Hykes said.

A new sign with Spanish translation probably would have cost $40 to $50, he said. With recycled aluminum, he said, he can make it for $4 or $5. A railroad crossing sign that

A sign in Spanish warns that vehicles will be towed if they are not moved during a snow emergency. (Daily Record/Sunday News - Paul Kuehnel)might cost $60 can be made for $7 or $8.
"It is quite substantial," he said.

Old signs are gathered in a room at the highway garage. Hykes said that as long as they aren't too bent, they can be used again.

Jim Gross, the city's public works director, said the equipment purchased to make signs cost about $10,000.


Welcome
Jim Gross, York's public works director, said the city's welcome signs were changed last week to bear new Mayor Kim Bracey's name.



http://www.ydr.com/ydr/central/ci_14166987

Sara Austin, former president and current board member of Centro Hispano José Hernández, said the signs will be a good thing for Latino residents.

Naturally...

I can see the signs now;


"No hay aparcamiento Burro después de una pulgada de nieve."

(No Burro Parking after one inch of snowfall.)

Nows the time to stop that CRAP. Not after a year of two.
Keep on them. We all have to protest new stuff like that if it comes to our community........
I bet they don't last long!

I'm betting it's not only going to be done in Spanish but several other languages too.

Originally Posted by Ratbstard

I'm betting it's not only going to be done in Spanish but several other languages too.

Nahhh, latinos are special, dontcha know? Non-spanish speaking immigrants don't seem to have a problem learning even basic English or having someone in their family explain what the signs mean.