In early 2020, Manny Verdi's neighbor began hanging signs on the residential building Verdi owns on St. Mark's Place in the East Village.
The first sign, Verdi said, was of a school of tiny fish swallowing one large fish with the call to "organize!" Since then, he's helped her swap out her handmade cardboard signs every few weeks.
"There's signs about the Supreme Court, there's signs about Trump—there has to be at least 50 signs since she started putting them up," Verdi told Hell Gate of his neighbor, the signmaker, who asked to remain anonymous.
But in late September, Verdi received a summons from an inspector for the Department of Buildings, who had taken issue with the sign du jour: "Hey Congress If You're There Blink Twice" with big googly eyes.