Governor Encourages Citizens to Vote on West Virginia Welcome Sign Message

Press Release

GOVERNOR ENCOURAGES CITIZENS TO VOTE ON WEST VIRGINIA WELCOME SIGN MESSAGE

In keeping with his pledge to ask West Virginia citizens to select the new welcome for the state's border signs, Gov. Joe Manchin today encouraged West Virginians to go online at www.wvgov.org, www.wv.gov or www.wvtourism.com between now and Sept. 19 to vote for the signs' permanent welcome slogan.*

"When I first took office," said the governor, "I felt it was important to use the welcome signs to truly kick-off our state's new ‘Open for Business' attitude so that not just our visitors, but our citizens, knew how seriously we took our commitment to economic development. While there is still work left to do, I am pleased to say that working with the Legislature we have made significant progress.

"Our Development Office has recorded over 140 businesses that have either been created or expanded in West Virginia since 2005, bringing with them thousands of good jobs with benefits to areas all across our state. Our unemployment rate is at an all-time low, we've fixed our workers' comp system, made significant insurance reforms, reduced our state's debt and cut both business and individual taxes, including the food tax. Not to mention that our Open for Business message recently went global with its inclusion in the latest ‘Die Hard' movie!"

Continued Manchin, "With our state heading in the right direction and our citizens taking a renewed sense of pride and ownership in West Virginia and its future, I believe that now is the time for us to engage the people of West Virginia in choosing a permanent welcome slogan - one that they would want all the world to see as they journey into the Mountain State."

The "Open for Business" phrase that currently accompanies the state's large interstate highway welcome signs was purposely designed to be temporary and easily changed. Those large signs did not have a welcome phrase for the 15 years prior to 2006. The often-discussed phrase, "Wild, Wonderful" was only on those large signs from 1975 until 1991. The phrase, "Land for Relaxation" also was used on the signs from 1967 to 1975.

Therefore, citizens will first be asked whether they want a permanent slogan on the state's welcome signs, because the interstate signs had gone with only a "Welcome to" for 15 years prior to 2006. If voters do want a permanent slogan, they will then be asked to submit their choice.

If the majority of voters wish to have a permanent welcome slogan, their submissions will be tabulated and a second round of voting will be initiated based upon the top choices.

The governor then will take the final results to the Legislature in January and ask that the members codify the people's selection so that they can be assured their wishes will be consistently followed.

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