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Source: Times Union, Albany, N.迷你倉庫Y.Aug. 21--ROOT -- World wars have been waged and won in less time than it has taken to resolve an epic battle over a billboard visible from the Thruway just east of Canajoharie in Montgomery County.It is a textbook case of a bureaucratic brouhaha, with the state and the feds pointing fingers at each other in its wake.After a seven-year conflict that involved state and federal transportation agencies, state legislators and members of Congress, two counties, civic and business leaders and billable hours for lawyers, the 20-foot high by 100-foot wide billboard near Exit 28 advertising a Holiday Inn in Johnstown has run out of extensions and appeals. It is scheduled to be torn down Aug. 26. It was ruled that it did not comply with a federal highway law after renovations in 2006."There must be a federal bureaucrat with nothing better to do with their day. To pick on this one particular sign does not seem logical to me," said Michael Reese, president and CEO of the Fulton County Center for Regional Growth. He said the billboard draws eastbound motorists from Canada and Buffalo off the Thruway and to the hotel about 10 miles away. He said the sign brings much-needed tourist dollars to an economically depressed region still struggling with one of the highest unemployment rates in the state."Gov. Cuomo is going around saying New York is open for business," Reese added. "If he really believes that, he should step up and keep that sign in place."The metal and wooden billboard, first erected in 1959 high atop the flank of Little Top Mountain to advertise a turkey farm, blew down in a severe windstorm in 2006. It was rebuilt at a cost of $70,000 by the Holiday Inn owners to the same dimensions and on the same site.The billboard was grandfathered in after the Highway Beautification Act passed in 1965. That law banned construction of outdoor advertising within 660 feet of the highway's right of way in urban areas and beyond 660 feet in rural areas visible from the highway. The sign and was allowed to remain as long as it was not "changed, abandoned or destroyed" according to the federal law's language.Jim Landrio, general manager of the 100-room Holiday Inn, said they were unaware of that legalese and the 2006 reconstruction work continued for six months, visible to state highway officials. They were not told to halt work or notified that it was no longer in compliance until long after the costly repair job was finished.In February 2007, state Department of Transportation officials informed Landrio that the illuminated billboard was no long in compliance and had to be taken down within 30 days. Landrio hired a lawyer. After negotiations with the state, they were granted a four-year extension to keep the sign, followed by legislation signed by Cuomo a year ago for a one-year extension.That's when letters of support lobbying to keep the billboard began to flood the mailbox of U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx, signed by local congressmen and civic and business leaders. They argued the儲存billboard provides a much-needed economic development benefit and, at 1,100 feet above the Thruway, is not visually offensive."That sign has been up for more than 50 years and we need it," said Landrio. Occupancy rates for the hotel, which employs 82 people, drops to less than 40 percent in winter months. "There is hardly a night that goes by when one of our guests doesn't say, 'I thought I would have had to drive all the way to Albany, but I saw your sign on the mountain.' "Landrio, 56, is a Johnstown native who has worked at the Holiday Inn since age 16. He takes the sign war personally."Nobody gives a damn about Johnstown -- we don't even rate a Thruway exit -- and now they want to take our sign," said Landrio, recalling the town's decline since a robust leather industry pulled out and moved production offshore a few decades ago.He said he has tried every avenue, legal and lobbying, and realizes he is out of options. A company is ready to begin dismantling. He blames state and federal bureaucrats."If they spent half the effort they've spent fighting us over this sign and put it into helping this region, it's amazing what they could have accomplished," Landrio said.State DOT officials said it had no choice but to order the sign to be removed after federal highway funds were threatened."The Federal Highway Administration told us if the sign was not removed, we could face the loss of a portion of our federal aid," said Beau Duffy, a state DOT spokesman. He said millions of dollars might have been forfeited. He called the threat "very real" and said "the state can't afford to give up any of its highway aid."A Federal Highway Administration spokesman denied strong-arm tactics, but conceded they had leverage. "As a condition of receiving federal funds, the state's job is to enforce federal rules and regulations for highways," said spokesman Doug Hecox. "After it was rebuilt following the storm, the sign was not in compliance and the original protection did not apply. It's not our job to reinterpret federal laws that have been passed."Neither Hecox nor Duffy said they were of any other billboards out of compliance in the Capital Region that must be torn down."I don't understand why they have to take it down. It's so far away from the road and I can't see who it's bothering way up there," said Winford Peck, an 86-year-old dairy farmer who owns the land where the billboard is located. He will lose a monthly check from Holiday Inn after the billboard is taken down.Gary Jones, who works at Rock of Ages Landscaping Supply about a mile from the billboard, can see a similar billboard alongside his workplace advertising McDonald's and Country Pride TA Truck Stop in Fultonville. That billboard has not been targeted."I think they ought to leave the Holiday Inn sign, too," said Jones. "I don't see no harm in them."pgrondahl@timesunion.com, 518-454-5623, @PaulGrondahlCopyright: ___ (c)2013 the Times Union (Albany, N.Y.) Visit the Times Union (Albany, N.Y.) at .timesunion.com Distributed by MCT Information Services新蒲崗迷你倉