A Plea to Hopefully Stall Sign Stealing

[Elderberry]

I'm just posting something I got in my inbox and think it's more than worthwhile sharing:


Greetings from the DPW Sign Shop! We're the crew that creates all the
city signage you see! From the "Burma Shave" signs' quips and quotes
(courtesy of Larry) to "No driving on the playa," we begin our
production in mid-July and start putting them up as soon as the
perimeter fence is in. The signs are OUR art and the largest
installation on the playa!

It seems that every year, street signs are stolen earlier and earlier.
Aside from people needing these signs to find their way home, they are
CRUCIAL to our EMT staff. They use them to call for emergency medical
assistance. Imagine if you called 911 and had to tell them "I'm by the
blinkie thing!" We don't want anyone's wait for treatment delayed. We
create the signs to be souvenirs so stealing them isn't the problem; it's
WHEN you steal them! So PLEASE leave the signs up until the city is
disappearing!

As for "alteration" of signs, we'd like to ask that you embellish the
sign posts rather than covering up what's already there. ADDING signs
is far more creative than defacing someone else's art! And again,
covering up signs could thwart our EMTs.
We'd like to ask YOU to become a "steward" of your closest street
signs. OWN that intersection signage! Guard it! And then take it home
with you on Monday!

MUCH LOVE from the DPW Sign Shop, workin' hard at the Burning Man Work
Ranch!

[Ugly Dougly]

Let's see if being a good citizen is still sufficient.

[AntiM]

It never occurred to me to take one of the old metal "Reserved for Theme Camps" signs until I and another Hushvillian stopped a couple from down the road from taking the ones near our camps. They kept hiding behind the porto potty bank, then coming over and pulling on the posts. We chased them off a couple times, then got out a drill and step ladder and took down the two signs which had been targets. Didn't occur to me to turn in the sign either, but I figured as a Hushvillian, it was more mine than theirs.

And we decorated up a street sign, wrapped in it lights and put our own ranger sign below, and they k=just sliced our lights and took the whole thing.

[theCryptofishist]

And I thought the biggest installation was the portos...

[Nipple]

Fishy: Don't give the bad guys ideas...

[ultratang7]

On Sunday morning last year, I was taking a short ride around, trying to find a camp I had visited the night before. Someone had stolen a street sign, and left the post at about the same heighth as a handle bar on a bike. Well, I didn't see what was left from the sign and rode right into it, hitting my left hand into the jagged metal and totally gnashed and shredded the skin on my fingers and thumb.It caused damage to my bike,and broke some el-wire I had around the front end. It was extremely painful, and a terrible way to close out the week.

[silkkat813]

booby trap the signs until Sunday

[BBadger]

It's like a bunch of tweakers or gypsies stealing phone lines to sell the copper.

[Major Krash]

make them out of radioactive metal....

(we just wanted to make them glow at night, we didn't think anyone would steal them!)

[AntiM]

A touch of skunk oil.....

[Bounce530]

Sort of a cross post from the 'One item a day" thread, but last night I finished up some wooden replacement signs, to put up when the real ones are stolen.
In prior years, people have even stolen the cardboard replacements that were made out of beer case cardboard and written with sharpie. I know they were stolen and not blown off because I used screws to put them up, and the screws were removed also.

[stew]

On Sunday morning last year, I was taking a short ride around, trying to find a camp I had visited the night before. Someone had stolen a street sign, and left the post at about the same heighth as a handle bar on a bike. Well, I didn't see what was left from the sign and rode right into it, hitting my left hand into the jagged metal and totally gnashed and shredded the skin on my fingers and thumb.It caused damage to my bike,and broke some el-wire I had around the front end. It was extremely painful, and a terrible way to close out the week.

If had that happen to me in 06. That really hurt!

[dj_john69]

On Sunday morning last year, I was taking a short ride around, trying to find a camp I had visited the night before. Someone had stolen a street sign, and left the post at about the same heighth as a handle bar on a bike. Well, I didn't see what was left from the sign and rode right into it, hitting my left hand into the jagged metal and totally gnashed and shredded the skin on my fingers and thumb.It caused damage to my bike,and broke some el-wire I had around the front end. It was extremely painful, and a terrible way to close out the week.

Same thing happened to me in 1998...sucked!!

[Bounce530]

[Elderberry]

ADOPT-AN-INTERSECTION IN BLACK ROCK CITY

Unfortunately some people like to steal the street signs from BRC on their way out of the event. While this may be a cool souvenir for some it causes havoc for the medical crews, fire trucks, Black Rock Rangers and other resources by making it difficult to find the location of those who need help in an emergency.

We implore everyone to leave the street signs where they are on your way out of the city. Obviously most people are not guilty of stealing street signs, but there will always be those that persist... so we are asking some of you wonderful and awesome Burners to help by adopting an intersection.

A simple way to help everyone...

The idea was inspired a few years ago when participants spontaneously improvised street signs to make it possible to navigate the city in absence of the originals. If you find a sign that's missing, try using some cardboard, a marker, and some duct tape to make a legible replacement with just a little effort. It will not only help your friends find your camp, it will help all of the emergency responders and will be of great help to your fellow citizens of Black Rock City. It's a small act that makes a big difference.

[some seeing eye]

It's especially important after the man and its neon disappears. Sometimes there is still a laser for night direction finding.

I really pray that emergency services is using a city GPS map to navigate! Camps can help by putting up mailboxes and signs on their frontage with their address. They can't steal all of them, right?

A staple guns and screw guns are useful tools for improvising signs.

[theCryptofishist]

I'm fairly certain about the gps as well. Things can get a little garbled in the whole process. For a hypothetical medical emergency, it might end up like this: Friend of person injured flags down Ranger, Ranger calls ESD Dispatch, dispatch calls medical personnel, so even f the originator has gps coordinates, it may not get to the people answering the call ungarbled. If they are using pre-plotted points that may not line up with what the original person or the ranger believes to be the incident address...

[some seeing eye]

Good point Crypto. BRC is big. I was once strolling the open playa at night with a friend when we came upon a man down. I left her to stay with him so we could find him again and ran across the playa to flag down a LEO. Luckily there was an illuminated art sculpture nearby as a landmark. ESD was able to respond and get him to medical. The most hilarious thing was that my costume is a lab coat and the LEO's asked how I knew the individual needed help, was I a doctor? I had completely forgotten what I was wearing!

Every year we hear a lot of moaning and groaning about LEO's but they do tremendous good and of course the rangers are stellar.