Raffa Orders Removal of Red Cross Sign

WESTBROOK - A small American Red Cross sandwich board sign is the center of controversy in a town whose chief elected official has been arrested on cohesion and extortion charges.
According to DOT spokesperson Kevin Nursick, the controversy started because of First Selectman John Raffa.
"On the 9th of August, Raffa called our Department of Transportation, DOT, Satellite Office in Norwich to complain about the sign and asking us to remove it," said Nursick.

Messages left for Raffa were not returned.

The sign was located on the state highway right-of-way, Nursick said, near the junction of Boston Post Road, also known as Route 1, and Seaside Avenue.
Although posting signs on the state right-of-way is not allowed, Nursick said, the department had no intention of removing the sign because it posed no safety hazard, it was for a good cause, and it was a temporary sign that would have been removed after the blood drive.

"If we receive a complaint, we have to act," Nursick said, adding that Raffa has claimed neighbors were complaining but the DOT received no other complaints.
Nursick said since Raffa complained, the DOT had to show "due diligence", and asked the secretary at the Elks Lodge for the sign to be moved out of the state right-of-way and onto private property.

"We did not remove the sign," Nursick said, adding "there are assertions that he (Raffa) is working with the State Traffic Commission, STC, hand-in-hand and they are incorrect. The STC is not working with him and the DOT did not give him an order to remove the signs."