UN
Disclaims But
Aware Of
Vanity License
Plate UN SEC
G, Moved Ban
Ki-moon's
Car Before
Sandy
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 3 --
Who would pay
extra to the
New York State
Department of
Motor Vehicles
for a vanity
license plate
reading "UN
SEC G"?
Inner City
Press saw this
plate Monday
morning on a
black Cadillac
Escalade
parked half a
block from the
UN on 42nd
Street, photographed
and tweeted
it. Click here
to view.
& below.
Later
after the
day's UN noon
briefing,
Inner City
Press asked
the
spokesman for
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon about
the license
plate,
providing the
picture. Less
than three
hours later
this reply:
Inner
City Press:
I'd like to
know if this
is a vehicle
used by the
S-G or
UN, or if
someone got a
vanity plate
to impersonate
the S-G.
A.
The Security
and Safety
Service is
aware of this
vehicle. It
has
nothing to do
with the
Secretary-General
or the United
Nations.
Vehicles used
by the
Secretary-General
have
diplomatic
plates. Local
plates are of
course a
matter for the
host country,
so you may
wish
to take it up
with the
relevant
authorities.
New
York State
charges extra
for such a
vanity license
plate, and
made
special
arrangements
for such
plates during
the
even-and-odd
gas
rationing
after
Hurricane
Sandy. See it:
Photo, 42d
Street, 1-2
Avenue, Dec.
3, 2012, (c)
MRLee
Inner
City Press
also asked the
UN spokesman:
Q.
Separately but
perhaps
relatedly, I'd
heard that
among the
vehicles
damaged in the
garage during
Super Storm
Sandy were
some EOSG
vehicles. Can
you say if
that was the
case?
A.
No vehicles
from the
Secretary-General's
detail were
damaged during
the storm.
They were
moved
beforehand.
While
this showed
forethought,
there are
still angry
diplomats
complaining
that they had
been told to
move their
cars from the
first basement
to
lower in the
UN garage,
just before
Sandy's
arrival. There
was
damage, some
of it raised
during a
public session
of the UN's
Fifth
(Budget)
Committee.
But
who is
it, that paid
to have a UN
SEC G license
plate on a
black
Escalade?
Watch this
site.
, 
