[Peace-discuss] NY mayor to put ‘cost of war’ sign on City Hall

[C. G. Estabrook]

[Binghamton resembles Champaign - a university town about the same size, with 
rural surroundings.  Maybe AWARE should propose (and offer to pay for) a similar 
sign.  The mayor of Champaign should be receptive to the suggestion - after all, 
the war is being run by a "non-American"... --CGE]


	Mayor of Binghamton, NY, to erect peace group’s
	‘cost of war’ sign on a wall of City Hall
	By AP April 15th, 2010

NY mayor to put ‘cost of war’ sign on City Hall

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — An upstate New York mayor has announced plans to hang an 
electronic sign outside City Hall displaying the ongoing taxpayer cost of the 
wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Binghamton Mayor Matthew Ryan, a Democrat, says he hopes tallying the ongoing 
expense in a prominent place will help stimulate a debate on the nation’s 
spending priorities.

The mayor says the 4-foot-wide “cost of war” sign will display information about 
the cost to local, state and federal taxpayers. The $6,000 sign is being paid 
for by the Broome County Cost of War Project, a local peace activist group.

The move has been greeted with praise and criticism as well as questions about 
whether an arguably political statement belongs on the side of a public building.

The mayor’s office says the sign will be up next week.


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