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(July 2007) posted on Wed Jul 11, 2007

With vehicles, and most signage types, the sign industry remains on the outside looking in.

By Wade Swormstedt

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Senior Technology Editor Darek Johnson and I attended the Lightfair show in New York City last month. We didn’t see much that seemed new, outside of GE Lumination’s LED PowerGrid system for cabinet signs (which had also been showcased at the International Sign Assn.’s Sign Expo in late April). Most everything seemed to be “green,” with incessant promotion of energy savings.

Being in NYC, we rode a lot of taxis.

This year, the metered taxi celebrates its centennial in the Big Apple. With it, Yellow Taxi’s 100-year mandate that nothing additional decorates its cars (rooftop ads don’t count) also ends. Which opened the door for Portraits of Hope’s Garden in Transit program to start.

Beginning September 1, 2007, NYC taxis can voluntarily have their hoods, trunks and roofs covered in MACtac-donated vinyl that carries a bright, floral pattern and the artwork of thousands of artists, primarily school kids, many of whom are hospitalized and/or handicapped. They can be a part of something tangible, yet the program also increases their (and maybe others’) awareness of 14 contemporary social issues, such as poverty, ethnic relations, the environment, foreign aid, etc.

Because Garden in Transit recruits cab owners to volunteer, and because it doesn’t start until September, participation estimation is difficult, but 13,000 possibilities exist. MACtac will coordinate all installation for the program, which will last from September 1 through December 31. But you can get the idea via some electronically enhanced images at www.portraitsofhope.org.

Portraits of Hope, founded in 1995 by Ed and Bernie Massey, is described as “utilization of art and poignant visual imagery for large-scale projects of social consequence.” Projects to date have included blimps, buildings, planes, tugboats and NASCAR racecars.

Although the cabs are in NYC, the program is national. A special, May 23 session at Cleveland’s Jacobs Field (home of the Indians), attended by ST’s Curtis Penick and MaryKate Moran, will be featured next month, and, by the time you read this, a report will have been posted on www.signweb.com.