For decades, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has spruced up the sign above the Holland Tunnel’s New Jersey entrance with holiday decorations: a Christmas tree and two wreaths.
And for years, their placement over the letters of the tunnel’s name has driven some commuters crazy — particularly the location of the tree, which is nestled in the N of “Holland” instead of in the adjacent A that the tree more closely resembles.
Now, after an online poll prompted by a viral petition that urged the Port Authority to re-deck the Holland, the tree will move. It will be shifted off the N and moved to a new home next door, over the A, the Port Authority announced Monday.
“More than 80 percent voted for change, so change there will be,” Rick Cotton, the agency’s executive director, said in a news conference outside the tunnel’s entrance.
The agency will also remove one of the wreaths from the U in “Tunnel,” where it obscured the letter, essentially turning it into an O, effectively making the sign read “HOLLAAD TONNEL.”
Discontent over the seasonal décor grew last week after Cory Windelspecht, 38, drew attention to the tree in social media posts and in a petition on Change.org. Windelspecht, who lives in Manhattan and commutes to New Jersey for work, said last week that the tree had been bothering him for years.
Others apparently felt similarly. By the time Windelspecht spoke about his Christmas tree crusade at a public Port Authority meeting Thursday, his petition had been signed close to 2,000 times and had generated plenty of social media discussion. Even Budweiser, which has a brewery in Newark, New Jersey, had voiced its opinion.
The Port Authority was moved to act, and Wednesday it announced a five-day poll to let the public weigh in. More than 21,000 votes were cast, Cotton said, with 42 percent of voters choosing to shift the tree and jettison the wreath.
On Monday, Windelspecht said that he was both ecstatic and shocked by the size of the response his initial complaint had generated.
“I literally couldn’t get one person to listen to me when this started,” he said.
He also said he was pleased with the outcome of the online survey, even though he did not cast his vote in favor of ditching the second wreath.
“I guess you could say I lost,” Windelspecht joked.
The agency planned to move the sign decorations Monday evening, Kevin J. O’Toole, chairman of the Port Authority’s board, said. The tree will be in its democratically ordained place by Tuesday morning. The wreath will be relocated to the Journal Square PATH station in Jersey City.
The day after it announced the holiday decorations poll, the Port Authority also approved a multibillion-dollar budget.
So far, only 20 people from the public have responded to that announcement, O’Toole said.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.