By Jeff Lipton
The letter H has been his calling card on his 1936 Cadillac LaSalle for 17 years, when he first got the vanity license plates. So when he tried to renew his plates in January and was told he could not keep the letter, he was infuriated.
Goldsmith, 49, and his Manhattan attorney Arnold S. Schickler have filed a lawsuit in State Supreme Court in Nassau County, for the right to retain the H, which stands for Herman, on his license plates.
I think the essential point here is that they are trying to take the license [plates] away to do someone else a political favor, said Goldsmith, who has operated The Motor Network, 1250 Broadway in Hewlett, for 32 years. He said the DMV intimated that the state was stripping him of the personalized plate to give it to someone who is a bigger shot than I was going to be.
The state DMV could not comment on the lawsuit.
He said he was extremely lucky in 1984-1985 when he applied for the license plate and won the right to use it. He said he originally wanted the letter G, the first letter of his last name, but it was already taken. There are 26 license plates in New York with single letters and Goldsmith has been the proud owner of one of them and is not ready to give it back.
When I found out
