If it's not one thing, it's another: 25 Uses for Inwood's Potted Traffic Signs

Music to our Ears

Katherine Hannauer and Blue on Dyckman Street

Happy holidays from Blue the dog, Cumming Street, and your local potted traffic sign!

Yoga with Nancy Preston

Something's Cumming Up

Cathleen Dwyer Kelly sets up shop on the corner of Cumming Street and Broadway. Performance art, anyone?

Every writer needs a cat - and a cigar.

Cathleen Dwyer Kelly writes her novel al fresco.

A reworked version of Edgar Allan Poe's Raven

A Close Shave on Academy Street

And no cuts! The perfect shave on Academy Street.

Manhattan's northernmost neighborhood, Inwood, recently became the island's first "Slow Zone," a program designed by the city's Department of Transportation to force or remind speeders to slow down. The project includes speed bumps, white street markings, and signs, planted and placed on the west side of Inwood. The street signage includes potted signs. Conversely, precious parking, already in short supply, has been eliminated by the signage and markings throughout the neighborhood.

About those potted signs. . .surely, there most be other uses for them, other than just standing there. Street art, anyone?

Twenty-five suggested uses for Inwood's potted signs:

Dine al fresco in traffic.

Fry an egg during the hot, summer months.

Share a pizza.

Hang decorative bird feeders and watch the hawks and blue jays gather.

Cut open the base for a dog shelter.

Set up your office, weather permitting.

Get your hair cut in the great NYC outdoors.

Paint a number on it and have your food delivered for outdoor dining.

Add a crystal ball and offer free psychic readings.

Decorate the white figures with Colorforms.

String holiday lights on and around the potted signs.

Play dominoes or chess with your neighbors.

Tie one end of a jump rope and jump for joy.

Add a bowl of fresh water and make a pet water stop.

Longtime Inwood resident Mike Jimenez
enjoys breakfast on Henshaw Street.

Cover the base with a tablecloth, candles, fresh flowers, and takeout for a romantic evening under the stars and streetlights.

Read a paper book or a Kindle or Nook.

Knit or crochet a scarf or sweater for your favorite friend or relative.

Add a hoop to the back and play baskeball.

Park your bicycle or motorcycle.

Cut a hole in the base, add Astroturf and voila! your own miniature golf course.

Place planters around the base and grow your own genetically modified free corn.

Stand on the plastic potted part, grab a microphone and sing!

Annmarie Aquino knits!

Sell jewelry, handmade soap and other items for your own customized marketplace.

Enjoy a bagel or pastry and coffee while reading the newspaper.

Unbolt and cut down in the middle of the night and construct a raft. Happy sailing down the Hudson!

And a few additions for good measure: Stash your outlawed super sized soft drinks. Build a terrarium or dollhouse by cutting out the front of the base and replace it with plexiglass. Use the potted signs as substations for the 34th Precinct. Raise your eyebrows when Mayor Bloomberg designates these as living spaces. Attach a mirror and tweeze, pluck, and shave. Hang a hammock between two signs and - swing!

The possibilities are endless.