Opinion: NY's new license plate is hideous
Scott Boudin of Old Bethpage is a producer and on-air personality at WHTZ-FM radio.
I've been a bit of a fanatic about New York license plates ever since I turned 16 and got my junior driver's license. The plate then was white with the Statue Of Liberty on it (still my favorite).
My dad always had antique cars and he had New York plates in various colors, depending on the year of each car. So I'm familiar with all of the plates dating as far back as 1929. The one that stands out most in my memory is the blue-on-gold from the 1970s and '80s. To my dismay - and that of many other New Yorkers - they're back!
To put it bluntly, these plates are just plain ugly.
I love nostalgia, but this plate is one I like to see hanging in a garage or a theme restaurant - not on my car. Unless you drive a dark blue vehicle, a school bus or yellow taxi, these plates make you stick out like a sore thumb.
Nevertheless, when I read that the blue-on-gold plates were coming back earlier this year - a move by the state to raise $20 million in revenue in two years - I started thinking about getting a new custom plate. I know I didn't have to get the new plates; they are optional. And I even could have saved myself a few bucks if I had kept my old Empire plates. But I felt the need to make a statement.
I wanted to let the world know that bringing this color scheme back was a hideous mistake.
Clearly I'm not the only one who felt this way. I found that "UGLY PL8,'' "H8THEPL8" and other variations were already taken. Finally, my "PL8SUGLY" was born.
I get positive reactions to the plate on my truck every day. It might be a smile or a thumbs-up from a stranger, or a "Nice plates'' compliment at a shopping center.
On the Long Island Expressway, I'll glance in my rearview mirror, wondering why I'm being tailgated, and see the driver behind me taking a picture of my plate with a cell phone. I hope whoever they send it to gets a good laugh. (But, hey, no taking photos while driving.)
I even saw a picture of my plate on the Facebook page of a co-worker who had no idea that it was mine. (It had more than two dozen "likes.'')
Eventually, after the plates have been out for a while, the novelty will wear off and I'll think of another clever custom plate. Attention, revenue-starved State of New York: I'd pay more for a different color!
