Binghamton To Put 'Cost Of War' Sign On City Hall To Highlight Afghan, Iraq War Spending (VIDEO)

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.

WATCH: WBNG News reports on Binghamton sign

Comments

[FreeAmerican7]

04:46 PM on 04/18/2010

What a great idea to have an electronic sign outside your City Hall displaying the ongoing taxpayer cost of the wars in Afghanista­n and Iraq.
I am so proud to finally find a Mayor who is NOT part and parcel (nor a Puppet) of the American War Industries who are stealing our monies for endless wars where collateral damages (AKA killing 50 bystanders for every Terrorist as per today's Fareed's GPS on CNN) are generating more people who will be seeking revenge the same way the revenge of 9/11 is being pursued. It is much cheaper and more effective to hunt terrorists (hiding in mountain caves) by special forces on mules!
Honorable Mayor: You are a Patriot as opposed to traitors who have been wasting our Tax dollars.

[neverhappen]

06:30 AM on 04/22/2010

i live in Binghamton­, and a disabled veteran. the sign will never be hung. sorry communists­.

[scottowego]

06:56 AM on 04/22/2010

You keep posting the same comment over and over again. You need some new material my friend.

[scottowego]

09:59 AM on 04/17/2010

I live in upstate NY outside of Binghamton and I'm all for this sign. NYC has the sign showing the deficit and I'd be in favor of having one of those too.

[neverhappen]

06:31 AM on 04/22/2010

i live in Binghamton­, and a disabled veteran. the sign will never be hung. sorry communists

[aniram63]

12:21 AM on 04/16/2010

This I like -- much! And would love to see it spread to other locations. If we're really concerned about spending, we need to see the big picture. And this is definitely the biggest part of the big picture.

[neverhappen]

06:32 AM on 04/22/2010

i live in Binghamton­, and a disabled veteran. the sign will never be hung. sorry communists

[scottowego]

06:53 AM on 04/22/2010

Communists­???? You're joking. It'll be hung up somewhere. Maybe not on the court house. What's your problem with letting people know how much these two wars are costing us? Honest informatio­n is ALWAYS a good thing even if it hurts. By the way, I didn't serve but my dad was a POW in WWII and my grandfathe­r was in both world wars. I think they'd want people to know the truth. War sucks.

[Dave Thinkster Paulson]

10:01 PM on 04/15/2010

The more that's done to bring the public's attention to the truth, the better our hopes of being fed some: http://www­.thinkersj­am.com/the­-whole-tru­th-and-not­hing-but-t­he-truth/ !!!

[neverhappen]

06:32 AM on 04/22/2010

i live in Binghamton­, and a disabled veteran. the sign will never be hung. sorry communists

[scottowego]

06:54 AM on 04/22/2010

Sounds like you're disabled in more than one way. Sorry.