Times Square billboards threatened with removal by Obama ruling stating they are 'too big'

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/times-square-billboards-threatened-with-removal-by-obama-ruling-stating-they-are-too-big-10231268.html

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They attract more visitors annually than any Disney theme park. But soon the 131 million that make the trip to be dazzled by the billboards of Times Square could be disappointed by an old highways ruling that demands the signs are removed.

The towering signs have helped transform the site dubbed “the crossroads of the world” and “the Great White Way” into a tourist mecca. Now a 2012 highways ruling stated they are too large.

The Obama administration’s intervention has angered many in the Big Apple, not least because it has taken it so long to notice the infringement.

New York could forfeit up to $90 million (£59 million) in federal highway money if the ad space - lucrative to advertisers including Sony, Toshiba and Dunkin’ Donuts - is not removed.

New York is debating getting an exemption from the rule.

The City’s Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg told CBS: “They’re not only a global tourist attraction, they’re important to the economy. We’re not going to be taking down the billboards in Times Square.”