Troy has relocated an anti-panhandling sign from the intersection of Hoosick Street and Route 7 to 8th Street.
The move comes after the New York State Department of Transportation determined Tuesday that the sign was located in the department's "Right of Way."
The city put up 12 such signs around the city last year. Mayor Carmella Mantello said the signs are important to her efforts to make the city cleaner and safer.
Democratic Councilmember Greg Campbell-Cohen recently raised concerns about four of the signs. He sent a letter to the state transportation department about the color, location and contents of the signs. A regional traffic engineer from the state said the sign originally placed at the intersection of Hoosick Street and Route 7 fell under their jurisdiction and needed to be taken down because it fell under their "Right of Way."
Following the decision, Mantello said the more pressing concern should be the panhandlers. According to the mayor, the signs help address the issue.
"Are they the panacea? No. But they're a piece of the puzzle to try to deter aggressive panhandling, public safety issues, and other tactics and other issues that go along with panhandling," she said.
