City of Yes (New Orleans nickname)
“City of Yes” is a nickname of New Orleans, Louisiana, that was officially introduced in June 2018 by Mayor LaToya Cantrell. The slogan was in response to “City of N.O.” that had been used on the city’s URL.
MSNC television host Rachel Maddow visited New Orleans in 2010 to cover the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. “Our official url is @cityofno.com. City of Yes was already taken? #Maddow” was posted on Twitter by Karen DaltonBeninato on June 2, 2010. Maddow bought the domain name CityOfYes.us and offered it to New Orleans on her show of June 27, 2012. “#NOLA gets shout-out on @maddow last night as ‘City of Yes!’ http://on.msnbc.com/M6FmKa #nolaspotlight #nolaprogress” was posted on Twitter by Mitch Landrieu (then the New Orleans mayor) on June 28, 2012.
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell unveiled a design by New Orleans artist Ursula Rochon, with “City of Yes” over the fleur-de-lis, on June 6, 2018.
The “Yes” has often been used in unintended ways. “City of yes we flood” was posted on Twitter by Desier Galjour on May 12, 2019. “City of yes, the power is out” was posted on Twitter by thee Cajun a few minutes later.
There is an earlier novel titled City of Yes (2001) by Peter Oliva, but it’s set in Japan.
Other New Orleans nicknames include “America’s Most Interesting City,” “Baghdad-on-the-Bayou,” “Big Crescent,” “Big Easy,” “Big Greasy,” “Big Sleazy,” “Birthplace of Jazz,” “Chocolate City,” “Chopper City,” “City of a Million Dreams,” “City That Care Forgot,” “City That Forgot to Care,” “Convention City,” “Crawfish Town,” “Creole City,” “Crescent City,” “Erb City,” “Gateway of the Mississippi Valley,” “Gumbo City,” “Hollywood South,” “Jump City,” “Mardi Gras City,” “Metropolis of the South,” “N’Awlins,” “Necropolis of the South,” “Nerlins,” “No Orleans” (after Hurricane Katrina), “NOLA,” “Northernmost Banana Republic,” “Northernmost Caribbean City,” “Old Swampy,” “Paris of America,” “Queen City,” “Saint City,” “Silicon Bayou,” “Silicon Swamp” and “Sweet Lady Gumbo.”
Wikipedia: New Orleans
New Orleans (/njuː ˈɔːrli.ənz, -ˈɔːrˈliːnz, -ˈɔːrlənz/, or /ˈnɔːrlənz/; French: La Nouvelle-Orléans [la nuvɛlɔʁleɑ̃]) is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana.
Google Books
The City of Yes
Peter Oliva
McClelland & Stewart, 2001 - Canadians - 344 pages
Alive with history, myth, and wonder, The City of Yes is a luminous novel of parallel journeys through old and present-day Japan. In Saitama to teach English, the narrator is confronted by unlikely visions of home as he gradually enters the world of contemporary Japan, with its floating stories, enigmas, and contradictions. His own story is deftly interwoven with that of a real-life nineteenth-century Canadian adventurer, whose strange confinement in a Japanese prison, beginning in 1848, is so vividly imagined by the narrator. Full of delightful tales and eccentric characters, and written with the delicacy of a brushstroke artist, The City of Yes is suffused with warm humour, and with the intelligence and curiosity of a keen observer of life’s riches and eccentricities.
Twitter
Karen DaltonBeninato
@kbeninato
Our official url is @cityofno.com. City of Yes was already taken? #Maddow
9:59 PM - 2 Jun 2010
Twitter
Crystal Kile
@djpoptart
Maddow takes up #cityofyes cause RT @TweetNOLA: Rachel Maddow wants New Orleans to just say yes on its official website http://bit.ly/aIxNGl
9:15 AM - 3 Jun 2010
Twitter
Sally Bronston
@SallyBronston
“New Orleans is not the city of NO, it’s the city of YES” #maddow #truerwordsneverspoken
9:58 PM - 27 Jun 2012
Twitter
Mitch Landrieu
@MitchLandrieu
#NOLA gets shout-out on @maddow last night as “City of Yes!” http://on.msnbc.com/M6FmKa #nolaspotlight #nolaprogress
11:36 AM - 28 Jun 2012
NOLA.com
Rachel Maddow christens New Orleans ‘City of Yes’
Updated Jun 28, 2012; Posted Jun 28, 2012
By Times-Picayune Staff
In her show Wednesday night, Rachel Maddow updated her effort to make New Orleans the “City of Yes.” In her “Best New Thing in the World” segment she noted that when her show came to cover the 2010 BP Gulf oil spill she noticed that the URL for New Orleans’ official website contained “cityofno.” Thinking “City of No” was not appropriate for a city of New Orleans’ caliber, her show paid for and offered it to the city the domain name CityOfYes.us.
Twitter
LaToya Cantrell
@LaToyaForNOLA
Today I announced three top hires. I’m proud to call these hard-working professionals to serve. New Orleans will be a City of Yes, open to all. Thank you to Gilbert Montano, John Pourciau, and Beau Tidwell for accepting the challenge.
3:46 PM - 25 Apr 2018
Twitter
Mayor LaToya Cantrell
@mayorcantrell
Ursula Rochon, the artist of the #CityOfYes logo will unveil her NOLA 300 series tonight at 5:30pm at her art gallery @rouxmaisonnola (316 St. Joseph) City Of Yes is a part of my commitment to move New Orleans forward as an equitable, transparent & inclusive city.
3:06 PM - 6 Jun 2018
The New Orleans Advocate
Fleur-de-lis logo unveiled for New Orleans ‘City of Yes’ marketing campaign
BY JEFF ADELSON | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) JUN 6, 2018 - 8:30 PM
Mayor LaToya Cantrell formally presented her administration’s own spin on the fleur-de-lis Wednesday as she unveiled a new logo embedded in a trio of paintings aimed at boosting the “City of Yes” motto she has adopted.
The logo, by New Orleans artist Ursula Rochon, features an image of the Central Business District skyline across the base of the fleur-de-lis’ petals, replacing a plain band that has featured in recent administrations’ takes on the city’s symbol.
(...)
Throughout the term of former Mayor Ray Nagin, the city’s website could be found at http://www.cityofno.com. The negative implications of being the “City of No” did not go unnoticed.
MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, in town to cover the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, bought http://www.cityofyes.us and www.cityofhellno.com and offered them to the city as alternatives.
MSNBC
New Orleans is the ‘City of Yes’
Rachel Maddow looks back at when The Rachel Maddow Show offered to help New Orleans move away from branding itself “the city of n.o.” and celebrates a new initiative by the city’s new mayor to make “City of Yes” a more appropriate identity.
June 6, 2018
Twitter
Maddow Blog
@MaddowBlog
We can also offer http://cityofheckyeah.com if you want to shake it up a little.
#CityOfYes
10:04 PM - 6 Jun 2018
Twitter
Mayor LaToya Cantrell
@mayorcantrell
#ThankYou @maddow We are a #CityOfYes You & Susan are always welcome! We are intentional about creating #Yes within the City. We can do it together as incorporated through our own natural resources - our artists! #BestNewThingInTheWorld @rouxmaisonnola @MaddowBlog @theadvocateno
0:49
12:10 PM - 7 Jun 2018
NOLA.com
New Orleans’ new slogan is Rachel Maddow’s ‘Best New Thing in the World’
Posted Jun 7, 2018
(...)
Back in 2010, She even purchased the web domain cityofyes.us and donated it to the city. (Maddow also bought the domain name cityofhellno.com, although that one has apparently failed to catch on with city leaders.)
It took eight years, but the city finally took Maddow up on her suggestion. “Happy 300th birthday New Orleans, the City of Yes if ever there was one,” Maddow said.
NOLA.com
City of N.O. to ‘City of Yes’: Cantrell’s New Orleans logo debuts
Posted Jun 7, 2018
By Kevin Litten, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
When then-City Councilwoman LaToya Cantrell was running for mayor, her kickoff speech included the memorable line, “Nothing stops a bullet like a job.”
(...)
On Wednesday evening (June 6), Cantrell launched a new slogan, one that she hopes will last: “City of Yes,” paired with original artwork from local artist Ursula Rochon. The “City of Yes” logo appears as a stamp over Rochon’s painted fleur de lis.
(...)
The Cantrell administration’s “City of Yes” slogan stands in contrast to an unintended tagline from former Mayor Ray Nagin’s administration—and into part of Mitch Landrieu’s. During that time, the address for city’s website was cityofno.gov, and it was also the domain used for city employees’ emails.
“City of No” became a long-running joke in New Orleans. It was brought to national attention in 2012 by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. The most unique city in the world, she argued, deserved a more worthwhile moniker. She suggested the “City of Yes” and Maddow even offered to donate a web registration she said the show obtained—cityofyes.us (the address now redirects to a Swiss modeling agency’s website).
NOLA.com
How LaToya Cantrell’s ‘City of Yes’ mantra translates into governing New Orleans
Posted Jun 26, 2018
By Kevin Litten, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
Mayor LaToya Cantrell is trying to spread her new slogan—“City of Yes”—throughout City Hall as she looks to set a new standard built on an air of being positive.
Her philosophy runs deeper than the slogan unveiled June 6. It is part of a more expansive effort built on personal empowerment, “showing some love,” as Cantrell often says, and an effort to be what she calls “intentional.” During a June 14 meeting with NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune, the mayor acknowledged that governance can be thankless work, and that public service jobs often come with low pay.
Facebook
Mayor LaToya Cantrell
August 15, 2018 ·
#CityOfYes is more than a hashtag. It’s a culture I ask you to help me build in New Orleans from our residents to our business community. It’s about saying Yes to being intentional everyday about how we treat our neighbors, where we spend our money and cleaning up our city. We will face challenges, sometimes it will take a no to get to a yes. Yet as a collective “We,” we can move our city forward together towards inclusion and equity, towards prosperity and success for all. We All Matter. Join in being a #CityOfYes ambassador in your everyday lives. #TagUs
Twitter
LaToya Cantrell
@LaToyaForNOLA
It’s been a year since the election and we have a lot to be thankful for. Most of you were excited to hear we wanted the City of NO to become the City of YES but have you thought about what that means for the people of New Orleans? From June:
(The June 26, 2018 NOLA.com article is linked.—ed.)
10:56 AM - 21 Nov 2018
Gambit (New Orleans, LA)
Krewe du Vieux announces parade details and theme: ‘City of Yes Yes Oh God Yes’
BY KEVIN ALLMAN Jan 28, 2019 - 2:00 pm
Krewe du Vieux — the beloved Carnival walking parade unbound by good taste or public decency — will roll (or stagger) Feb. 16 with a theme taking aim at Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s #CityofYes slogan: “City of Yes Yes Oh God Yes.”
Twitter
Desier Galjour
@desier_galjour
Replying to @NWSNewOrleans
City of yes we flood.
6:19 AM - 12 May 2019
Twitter
thee Cajun
@ineedja_kadeeja
City of yes, the power is out.
6:29 AM - 12 May 2019
Twitter
joseph lopez
@jlopez2505
Replying to @Phanclan
Lmao !! City of yes to more potholes and speeding/parking tickets!!
10:19 PM - 13 May 2019