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Politics & Government

Sign of the Times: A Morris County App?

Morris County Tourism Bureau chief says better signs and phone apps could drive tourism dollars.

To combat the sense that “you can’t get there from here”  when traveling through Morris County to a park or historic site, the freeholder board Wednesday endorsed the efforts of the county’s tourism bureau to get more and clearer directional signs along the roads.

While the concept is called “way finding,” and sounds like something that Daniel Boone might do, Leslie Bensley told the freeholders that while clear, consistent signage is important, the effort to better direct residents and visitors should also include applications for smart phones, websites, street kiosks and interactive signs.

The visitor’s bureau hired MERJE, a Philadelphia consulting firm to perform a study to determine ways to make destination signs more legible and visually appealing, she said. The $80,000 study was paid for with a $50,000 grant from  the  New Jersey Historic Trust Fund and proceeds from a local fundraiser, Bensley said.

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The goal is simple, she said: To make it easier for residents and visitors to find the tourist attractions they are seeking,

The impact is clear, she said. After a wayfinding effort in Camden was established, the city’s historic sites saw a 30 percent increase in visitations.

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Freeholder Ann Grossi of Parsippany said the program would be worthwhile.

“It wasn’t until I joined freeholder board that I learned about the number of interesting sites in the county,” Grossi said.

Freeholder Douglas Cabana said that better signs would help direct visitors to Historic Speedwell in Morristown, the place where the telegraph was perfected.

Bensley said the Morristown area was selected as one of three pilot areas in the state. The Morristown to Pluckemin area along Route 287 is included in the Crossroads of the American Revolution historic corridor, which is designed to focus attention on the Jersey sites where the Revolutionary War was fought.

The other pilot areas are the Jersey Shore and Route 29 along the Delaware River, she said.

“This effort is very broad, beyond signage,” Bensley said. “It presents a marketplace for the county.”

Funding for the project is an issue, she said, but there are some possible funding sources, including grants and  an assortment of fees.

One source used in other states in a hotel room tax, Bensley said. In other states it is used to support tourism efforts, but in New Jersey towns that instituted such a tax use it for property tax relief  and the state government takes the rest of its general fund.

Freeholder Director William Chegwidden asked if the bureau was  seeking to get buy-in from municipalities.

Bensley said she has spoken to Art Ondish of the state League of Municipalities about such an effort.

“The benefits are equal to each municipality,” she said. “Every municipality has an impact.”

The key for the program to work, she said is developing a consistent look and theme to all the applications of the information.

The state developed a hiker logo for the Skylands Region, including the Morristown area, that appears on all signs in the region.

The signs Bensely displayed showed a general simplicity and clarity of design. Directional signs could include a reference to Morris County, for example in one design element. The kiosks could have interactive directional and informational features and in some applications such information could be forwarded to a person’s phone.

The freeholders were insistent that better signs along the major highways like Route 80 and 287 must be in the plans.

Freeholder John Murphy asked what ever happened to the former state slogan, “New Jersey and You. Perfect Together” that was begun during the Tom Kean administration.

Bensley said that slogan was officially retired by Gov. Chris  Christie about six weeks ago.

He wants a campaign built around the slogan, “Now, that’s New Jersey,”  which Bensley said is designed to fight the stereotypical view of the state.

The problem with slogans, she said, is they are political and often change with administrations, Arkansas, she said, constitutionally changed it procedure so that a slogan can not be changed when a new governor is elected, and some states have removed the photos of governors from tourism  related material.

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