City of Burlington, New Jersey fixes confusing street sign on East Pearl Street

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For more than two years now, the faulty street sign at the intersection of East Pearl and Stacey streets has been testing Samuel Richter’s patience.

While one corner correctly identified the street as East Pearl, the sign on the opposite corner identifies the street as Pearl Boulevard.

Richter, a resident of the luxury Pearl Pointe Apartments, has been trying to get city officials’ attention to fix the error, but his requests went largely ignored until recently.

About six weeks ago, Richter bumped into Mayor Barry Conaway at a social function.

“He mentioned offhandedly that it had been done,” he said. “I did not go into detail with him other than asking whether it had been done by a company or whether Public Works itself had taken care of it.”

WHYY News learned about Richter’s saga with the street signs when he shared his complaints at a pop-up newsroom in Willingboro last June. Richter said Wednesday that he also heard from Assemblywoman Carol Murphy’s office about the error.

Murphy said in a statement that Conaway “should be applauded for his work and ability to listen to the needs of his neighbors, leading to a positive outcome.”

“Resolving local issues takes buy-in from all levels of government and communication with residents to achieve positive results and here we saw that happen,” she said.

Richter said he is glad the mistake is finally corrected.

“Even though I wish it had been done earlier. But I suppose all’s well that ends well,” he said.