The New York State Department of Motor Vehicles has unveiled a new $60 custom license plate featuring the Montauk Lighthouse. Only, there is one problem.
The image used for the design was taken by a photographer hired by the state. It shows the historic landmark on its familiar bluff under a clear blue sky. But South Fork locals and visitors might find the picture a little bit off. The iconic view is shown backward.
If one looks closely, the Camp Hero radar tower in the distance seems to be in the wrong place. The Lost at Sea Memorial appears on the opposite side of the Lighthouse from where it belongs. The Atlantic Ocean is where Block Island Sound should be.
"All I can say is that it is unique and they should be free," Hugh King, the official East Hampton Town historian, said yesterday.
The original photograph "was flipped for maximum readability and to not interfere with the letters and numerals on the plate," a state D.M.V. spokesman said in an email to The Star on Tuesday. It had not been otherwise altered, he said.
A Montauk resident, Edward Orr, called the backward image, "Another example of our government in Albany."
The new plate is among at least 200 custom options offered by the state, along with plates representing sports teams, branches of the military, and various professions. Some represent charitable causes and some of the proceeds go toward organizations such as the World Trade Center Memorial Scholarship Fund, the Cure Childhood Cancer Research Fund, and the Environmental Protection Fund. As part of its campaign to recognize each region of the state with its own plate option, nine more new plates will be unveiled in the coming weeks.
Speaking by phone on Tuesday from the Lighthouse, its keeper, Joe Gaviola, said he intends to get this new license plate in the near future, flipped or not. "That will definitely be on the back of the keeper's car," he said.
"We are thrilled and honored to be on the New York license plate," Mr. Gaviola said. "We are the symbol of Long Island — almost one and a half million people come to visit the Lighthouse every year. We think it's appropriate and deserved."
At a press conference on Monday at the Bethpage D.M.V. office, Mark J.F. Schroeder, D.M.V. commissioner and chairman of the Governor's Traffic Safety Committee, said that "every region of our state has something unique and interesting about it, and we are happy to celebrate that uniqueness by making these new license plates available for New York drivers. These also allow drivers to put their own unique touch on their vehicles and show pride for the place they live."
On top of the state's regular license plate fees, the Lighthouse plate costs $60, or $91.25 to choose what it says, plus an annual renewal fee of $31.25, or $62.50 for personalized versions.
The Department of Motor Vehicles spokesman did not say if the error would be corrected before license plates bearing the backward photograph would be shipped to customers.
