Obsolete Fallout Shelter Signs Linger Across New York City

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- New York City is taking down some of the yellow nuclear fallout shelter signs posted on thousands of buildings throughout the city, saying they no longer denote functional shelters and should be ignored in the unlikely event of such a strike.

Reuters News Agency reports the signs appeared during the 1960s during the Cold War era, part of President John F. Kennedy's response to the nuclear arms race between the United States and the former Soviet Union.

While thousands of these signs have vanished through the decades, city officials say this is the first coordinated attempt to remove them.

According to the Reuters report, one sign was taken off a Brooklyn school while another remained on another school a couple blocks away.

NYC Emergency Management was not involved in the decision but supports the move.