Sign Evolution

I was having lunch today (at Bud's Broiler -- yum!) with a parishioner, and as we spoke together about life in the "new" New Orleans, he pointed out something to me that I had noticed but not taken conscious note of (if you get the distinction). He said he was enjoying how the small signs on wire stands on the neutral grounds around the city had changed, and I realized he was not only right, but he was onto something.

When I first returned to New Orleans immediately after the Storm, in late September/early October 2005, the signs on the neutral ground were all about gutting and demolishing houses and remediating mold. (One guy, calling himself "Mold Man," had signs all over the place. I dunno how effective that was, I just know I wouldn't want to be known by that appellation.) Then, when I came back again for Mardi Gras, in late February '06, the neutral ground signs advertised tree cutting and house leveling.

The next year's Mardi Gras brought signs for handymen ("No job too big or too small") and assorted contractors, electricians, and carpenters. When Big Man and I came back in spring '07 for Jazz Fest (and his 50th birthday!), the signs promoted neighborhood meetings about the levees, and attorneys and consultants who said they could help with the paperwork associated with Road Home, home owners' insurance, and ITC. And there was a time this fall (which I've already written about in this blog) when the signs excitedly let us know that the streetcars were on their way back.

Today, the signs on the neutral ground are mostly for various charter schools, and some that advertise farmers' markets and arts and music festivals. You don't promote a service or a product unless you believe there is a market for it, so the signs for schools are another hopeful indication that families with children are coming back home to the city. And the signs for festivals and markets show that we are slowly moving away from recovery-mode to real-living, enjoying the delights of city life and New Orleans culture.

We're coming along, maybe incrementally and glacially slow, but still, we're coming along. Hope abounds. And one of the ways you can tell is by those signs on the neutral grounds.