紐約旅遊宣傳路標成爲'釘子戶'

The big, blue "I Love NY" signs lined up in groups of five along highways and roads from Long Island to Buffalo, New York are hard to miss.

“我愛紐約”的藍色大路標，5個一組豎立在紐約州從長島到水牛城的高速路和公路兩旁，令人很難忽視。

The 500-plus tourism signs are at the center of a years-long standoff between the Federal Highway Administration and Democratic Gov Andrew Cuomo.

這500多個旅遊路標一直是紐約州長、民主黨人安德魯·科莫與聯邦高速公路管理局多年僵持的焦點。

The agency says the signs don't meet regulations and pose a potential distraction to drivers traveling at high speeds, and it has demanded that the state remove them by Sept 30 or lose $14 million in federal highway funding.

公路局稱，這些路標不符合規定，可能令駕駛員在高速行駛時分心，要求紐約州在今年9月30日前拆除路標，否則將失去1400萬美元的聯邦高速公路資金。

New York's transportation department, however, has said there's no evidence the signs have directly contributed to any accidents.

然而，紐約州交通局稱，沒有證據證明這些路標直接導致了任何事故。

Despite Cuomo's assurances that the tourism campaign had run its course and the signs would be dismantled by the start of the summer vacation season, no signs have been removed. And the ongoing saga has provided plenty of fuel for the governor's critics.

儘管科莫保證旅遊宣傳活動已經結束，路標將在暑假開始前拆卸，但目前並沒有任何一塊路標被拆除。

"If the governor had put his ego aside, adhered to federal highway rules and found some way to compromise before he disregarded the law, we could have avoided this embarrassing debacle," said state Assemblyman Joseph Errigo.

州議員約瑟夫·埃裏戈表示：“如果州長把他的自尊放在一邊，遵守聯邦高速公路法規，在他無視法律之前找到妥協的方法，我們就可以避免這一尷尬的困境。”

Cuomo has defended the signs, once calling them "a great, great success for this state." He considers them a key component in spurring the state's tourism industry.

科莫一直維護這些路標，曾稱之爲“紐約州的一大成就”。他認爲這些路標是刺激紐約州旅遊業的關鍵因素之一。