VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: 100-Foot-Wide “Vote for Trump” Sign Visible From NY State Thruway
Peter Elliott: This time of year, you can hardly drive anywhere without seeing campaign signs posted on almost every street corner. But out in the Mohawk Valley, there’s one sign that you can see from the highway…Drive down the Thruway this election season, and you might see a rather unusual political sign.
Jacob Neiheisel: Oh wow, that’s, that’s something.
Elliott: A 12-foot tall, 100-foot wide “Vote for Trump sign” — which lights up the skyline of Amsterdam in the Mohawk Valley…
Neiheisel: It’s an expressive act.
Elliott: Jacob Neiheisel is a political science professor for the University at Buffalo.
Neiheisel: It’s something that makes you feel good…it feels like you’re doing something.”
Elliott: The sign was erected by a local pro-Trump businessman, Anthony Constantino, the CEO of Stickermule. He views it a symbol of:
Anthony Constantino: The return of manufacturing jobs to America.
Elliott: The sign has received a mixed reaction since it went up last month — it was almost never unveiled. The City of Amsterdam tried to stop the sign, saying it violated zoning laws and could distract drivers on the highway…lawyers for the company pushing back, saying that order wasn’t properly received. In the end, a state judge ruled in the company’s favor. The sign was allowed to stay.
Neiheisel: You know, it might make people think about the composition of their neighborhoods in a different way.
Elliott: However…
Neiheisel: We don’t really think that these things are changing lots of minds, you know, it’s very difficult to put anything resembling an argument in the form of a lawn sign.
Elliott: It’s unclear how long the sign will stay beyond Election Day — for all of Amsterdam and the highway to see. And worth noting that later tonight, Sticker Mule is hosting a watch party under that sign with screens displaying the election results. The company says it has extended results to both political parties in an effort to promote unity.
AMSTERDAM, N.Y. (NCC News) — During election season, political signs are everywhere.
But in the Mohawk Valley, there’s one that stands out a little more than your average lawn sign.
Last month, a 12-foot-tall, 100-foot-wide sign reading, “Vote for Trump” was erected atop a factory in the City of Amsterdam — and it’s visible from the Thruway.
The sign, erected by a local pro-Trump businessman, hasn’t come without controversy. Before it could be unveiled, a legal battle with the city nearly scuttled plans for a grand unveiling.
The sign was put up on October 1 by Sticker Mule, a local company that prints custom stickers, t-shirts, and labels. Soon after, the city issued a restraining order intended to stop it from being displayed, saying that it violated zoning laws and could distract drivers on the highway.
But ahead of a lighting ceremony a few days later, lawyers for the company argued that the order was not properly obtained by the city. A State Supreme Court judge agreed, vacating the order and allowing the lighting ceremony, which was attended by hundreds of people, to proceed.
The sign is similar to the act of putting up a lawn sign in your front yard, just on a much larger scale according to Jacob Neiheisel, a professor of political science for the University at Buffalo,
“I think with lots of forms of political participation, and that would include yard signs, putting up a billboard, painting your barn, it’s an expressive act, right?” said Neiheisel. “It’s something that makes you feel good. It feels like you’re doing something.”
The sign sits atop a former textile factory that was abandoned in 2010 by Fownes Brothers & Co., which formerly displayed a sign that stood out as its own landmark.
Sticker Mule’s CEO Anthony Constantino views it as a symbol of former President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to bring back manufacturing jobs.
“Throughout my life the Fownes sign defined my home town’s skyline,” Constantino said in a video posted to Instagram. “I never expected to own the iconic Fownes building, but my own company, Sticker Mule, grew so quickly we ended up buying almost every functional manufacturing building in Amsterdam, creating nearly 1,000 manufacturing jobs, thus far, in the process.”
The sign, despite its prominence, is unlikely to sway voters to think one way or another Neiheisel said.
“We don’t really think that these things are changing lots of minds,” said Neiheisel. “It’s very difficult to put anything resembling an argument in the form of a lawn sign.”
It’s unclear how much longer the sign will stay up beyond Election Day.