At City Hall, let there be light

[Erik Sine]

At City Hall, let there be light

ALSO: No chip off the old Bruneau; Drop-out's endorsement; Another one bites the dust

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

By Gordon Russell

How long does it take to screw in a light bulb?

Well, if the bulb in question is one of those that lights up the "City Hall" sign atop the seat of New Orleans' downtown government complex, the answer is: about 760 days.

In fairness, the job was technically a bit more complicated than screwing in a light bulb. According to a news release trumpeting the completion of the repair, issued Tuesday by Mayor Ray Nagin's press office, the work included wiring and repairs to transformers, as well as replacing the neon units.

The work was done by Brightway Signs for $24,132. The company submitted the lowest bid, the press office said.

With the completion of the job, "the City Hall sign officially returned to beacon status this past weekend, reflecting the city's third year of recovery," the news release gushed -- the irony perhaps unintended.

The slow pace may have resulted in part from the FEMA reimbursement process, which has involved tedious haggling between federal and local officials. Lesley Eugene, a Nagin spokeswoman, said the city had to cough up roughly $4,000 for the repair, and the rest was paid by FEMA.

To the average New Orleanian, the long-busted sign has served as something of a metaphor for bungling since shortly after Katrina, when wind damage shortened its message to "Ci -- Ha -- ."

The sign was the subject of a story in the satirical New Orleans Levee newspaper, which referred to the building as "City Ha!" Before that, the broken emblem was featured by mayoral candidate Rob Couhig in a 2006 television commercial, serving as a visual reminder of the city's laggard recovery.

Couhig, a lawyer and businessman who endorsed Nagin after finishing fourth in the mayor's race, was named by the mayor to the board of the New Orleans Recovery Authority. He now has a call-in radio show in which he often criticizes the mayor.

Ever glib, Couhig shared his thoughts after reading the city's triumphant news release.

"I'm ecstatic that two years after the storm, they're able to fix a light," he said. Couhig joked that the repairs may throw a wrench into his plans for a 2010 mayoral bid.

"I'm going to call (campaign consultant) Deno (Seder) right now and tell him we can't run that ad next time," he said.