NEW ORLEANS -- There are several political signs attracting all kinds of attention in one Uptown New Orleans neighborhood.
A group of about 60 people protested outside a New Orleans home where a man mounted a sign depicting President Barack Obama in a diaper.
On Wednesday, crowds gathered at the corner of Calhoun and Coralie streets, looking at several signs depicting President Barack Obama as either a dunce, a puppet or a crying baby in a diaper.
"It disrespects the nation -- and President Barack Obama represents our nation," said Skip Alexander, as he looked at one of the signs. "He represents everybody, not some people."
Dozens of protesters came by the house in the 1500 block of Calhoun throughout the day, demanding the sign come down.
"He wouldn't do that to [President] Bush, I'm sure. It's just insulting. It's insulting," said C.C. Campbell-Rock. "He's going to have to take them down."
"This is nothing put pure racism," said Raymond Rock. "This is a disgrace."
The home is owned by Timothy Reily, who declined to be interviewed about the signs. Some neighbors say that Reily has been putting the signs up for months. Some of the protesters learned about the signs through a local radio station on Wednesday morning.
Local R&B station Power 102.9 FM highlighted the signs on it's "Good Morning New Orleans" talk show, calling them racist and organizing a protest that drew dozens of people to the Calhoun Street home where the signs were displayed, according to WWL-TV Channel 4 News.
Former Mayor Ray Nagin was in that number, although he was more peacemaker than protester, according to Timothy Reily, who put up the signs. Reily, who noted he was an early supporter of Nagin during his first campaign for mayor -- campaign finance reports show he gave Nagin $1,000 in January 2002 -- invited the former mayor to come inside his house. The two men had a 30-minute discussion that Reily described as "congenial."
"He was here for quite a while," Reily said. "We had some casual conversation about politics. He said he wanted me to take the sign down because he felt it was disrespectful to the office of the president. But he didn't demand it."
(Nagin did not respond to a request for an interview, though he did issue a haiku-like tweet about his intercession, saying in part: "Owner and I met. Tensions high. Sign may come down. Has others. Explosive!")
Reily was less enthused about City Councilwoman Susan Guidry, who represents the area and who also turned up at the protest. Guidry also went into Reily's house, but he claimed she was less congenial than the mayor and "demanded" that he take the signs down, calling them a nuisance drawing traffic to the neighborhood.
"I had to ask her to leave," Reily said. "And now she's after me," trying to find a section of the city code that the signs violate.
Guidry disputed Reily's depiction of their meeting, saying he invited her into his home and that she decided to leave after he was rude to her.
Guidry said her City Hall office received about 100 phone calls Wednesday morning after WBOK urged listeners to contact her about the sign.
When she learned the station had also urged people to protest in person, Guidry said she asked her staff to dispatch police officers to the scene. "At that point, I was concerned about public safety," she said.
Shortly after she arrived, Guidry said she was approached by 2nd District Police Commander Lt. Michael Montalbano, who said Reily wanted to speak with her.
Guidry said the first question Reily, whom she had never met, asked was: "What party are you?" When she replied she was a Democrat, Guidry said Reily identified himself as a member of the tea party.
As for her comments on the sign, Guidry said she told Reily that while she fully supports freedom of speech, she thought the Obama billboard was "offensive and disruptive."
She also said Reily's neighbors "shouldn't be forced to look at that kind of thing." Guidry said Reily countered that his neighbors "liked it."
When she informed him that she was going to look into whether he had violated any zoning regulations, she said Reily started "getting in my face" and "preaching his politics." She decided to leave.
Guidry said her office turned over its research on the possible zoning violations to Mayor Mitch Landrieu's administration for review.
"We are looking into it," Landrieu spokesman Ryan Berni said. "The sign is disrespectful to the office of the presidency. But the First Amendment protects silliness like this, just as it protects the rights of those who chose to peacefully demonstrate on the issue."
However, the sign remained in place through Wednesday and police said Riley has the right to express himself.
"We see it every day. It's a monstrosity, and I can't believe somebody would put it up. But (Riley has) the right to do that, unfortunately," neighbor Veronica Lyons said.
Posted By: Siebra Muhammad
Friday, September 30th 2011 at 11:56AM
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