The sign at Hoosick Street and State Route 7 went up on a state right-of-way, without a council vote and without NYSDOT clearance. At an intersection on one of the busiest corridors in the city, it competed visually with actual traffic control devices.
Council Member Greg Campbell-Cohen filed a complaint with the New York State Department of Transportation on traffic safety grounds.
“These signs are not only not compliant with the regulations, but endanger safety,” Campbell-Cohen said.
The State agreed. A NYSDOT engineer reviewed the sign against the federal Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), which sets binding standards for signage on all public roads that receive federal funding. The Hoosick Street sign violates those standards for color, location, and content. The city had two weeks to remove it.
The Administration called the order a recommendation. Then it moved the sign approximately 20 feet, from the NYSDOT right-of-way on Hoosick Street to the city-controlled 8th Street intersection.
“Long story short, we’re here,” Carmella told CBS6 on July 15. “It was moved about 20 feet. So, we’re in compliance now and we have a great relationship with DOT.”
Campbell-Cohen disagreed.
“It appears that they did not have approval to post them and I question why the mayor is insistent on relocating them,” he said.
The MUTCD does not exist to protect state pavement. It exists to prevent non-traffic messaging from competing with safety signage at active intersections. Moving the sign 20 feet changes the jurisdiction. It does not change what the sign does to a driver’s field of vision.
The signs were billed as a redirect: see a panhandler, scan the QR code, give to a nonprofit instead. The nonprofits the city named have not seen it work. Joseph’s House, which serves 2,500 unhoused individuals annually, reported no measurable increase in donations or referrals from the campaign. YWCA Troy, which has more than 300 women on a waitlist for long-term supportive housing, was more direct. “The main message of that sign, when you look at it, is ‘don’t do anything,’” said Katie Gallucci, the YWCA’s development coordinator.
Council President Sue Steele offered her own field report.
“The last time I passed a sign regarding panhandling, there was a panhandler right underneath it,” Steele said.
Twelve signs went up across Troy in 2025 without a council vote and without DOT clearance. The nonprofits they were supposed to benefit saw no results. A state safety engineer found one violated federal standards. The Administration moved it 20 feet and called it compliance.
The Administration plans to install more.
Partisan angle: Carmella installed 12 anti-panhandling signs without a council vote and without DOT clearance. When the state told her to remove one, she moved it 20 feet and declared compliance. She plans to install more.
Sources: WAMC (July 14, 2026); CBS6 (July 15, 2026); CBS6 (July 15-16, 2026); CBS6 — Troy nonprofits weigh in on effectiveness of signs; WAMC (September 4, 2025)