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Wednesday, Oct 20, 2004
immigrant song
the allen street mall is the median strip that runs down the center of allen st. usually it is peopled by members of the underclass who are without homes but today there are five rows of crisp white chairs and a makeshift dais replete with backdrop and microphone. professional looking types mill around as microphone tests are performed.
a sign is pinned to the backdrop. it says Avenue of Immigrants. my local representative who ive only known through mailers at election time is speaking now about the sacrifice that immigrants are making for their country. so this whole thing is a pointless naming ceremony. yawn. so nice of them to come earlier this week to spruce up the corridor for the local dignitaries. actually, the speaker just said theyve put in a $15 million request with the lower manhattan redevelopment corp to upgrade the allen and pike street malls. "streetscapes" is the buzzword.