Commuter starts petition to move Holland Tunnel's infuriating holiday decorations

Why the heck is the tree placed over the N instead of the A?
By Morgan Sung  on 

You ever see something mildly infuriating but manage to breeze past it?

Imagine breezing past it every day, five days a week. And instead of breezing past it, you're stuck in bumper to bumper traffic during rush hour. This mildly infuriating decor oversight looms overhead, filling you with pure rage as it taunts you with terrible design until you finally snap.

The Holland Tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey has its fair share of issues, but the most egregious of all is the halfhearted holiday decorations. The Port Authority placed a festive wreath over the O — which makes total sense. It also placed a wreath over the U in a somewhat uncomfortable but understandable balance.

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"But for some reason the tree is over the letter N in the word Holland instead of the letter A where it would fit perfectly," Cory Windelspecht wrote in a Change.org petition to move the tree. "On top of that, it's just unsightly and ruins the holiday festivities for the people to enjoy on such a great piece of architecture."

Windelspecht is channeling his anger over the tree's placement into action. The petition already has 1,300 signatures, and he's planning on bringing it to the Port Authority's public comments section on Thursday. He hopes to finally put an end to the infuriating decorations and ensure that the tree is moved over to A.

"Every day, New Yorkers and New Jerseyans have to pass through these gates to get to the city of New York, and they are forced to stare at this OCD nightmare of this Christmas tree," he said in a passionate video rallying for the change. "It's not right, it wasn't right 10 years ago, it wasn't right two years ago, it's certainly not right this year. And this year, we're taking a stand."

Here's a mock-up of the proposed changes he posted on Instagram, where the tree undeniably fits better over the letter A.

View this post on Instagram

This has been an issue for years; in 2012, Jalopnik posted an article titled "The Holland Tunnel Can't Even Get Christmas Decorations Right."

Others, including Budweiser, are voicing their support for Windelspecht's efforts.

"When this tree goes over the letter A, this world is gonna be a better place," he said in his video. "I'm not joking when I say that, I really believe that."

The Port Authority did not immediately return request for comment, but released a public poll on Wednesday to gauge public interest in shifting the decorations.


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