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October 09, 2007
"residents" fight Bowery refurb efforts
Interesting piece here in the NY Sun about attempts to clean up the Bowery.
As new hotels and condos sprout up along the Bowery, forcing out the Lower East Side corridor's legendary raffishness and squalor, community residents are pushing back against builders by seeking restrictions on new development...
...The Bowery, a wide avenue that runs between Chinatown and Cooper Square, was for years a skid row, characterized by the drunks and the homeless who congregated along a street lined with restaurant supply and lighting wholesalers, bars, and flophouses...
Squalor is apparently historically charming and worth saving now. I'm thinking we should import some of those shacks made from old car doors and hoods on the hillsides south of Tijuana and turn the Bowery into an international tourist
destination.
The residents can get rich selling themselves as expert tour guides. You could get say, the 1 hour Mad Dog tour of the highlights for $20 or go whole hog and sign up for the premier $100 all day Thunderbird tour that would include all the sights sounds, smells, and local cuisine of the area capped off by a genuine hobo feast of vintage sterno and roasted pigeon with week old stale pizza crust from a genuine NYC garbage can as desert. For an extra $50 your host can arrange for a classic NYC mugging complete with stills and video of your assault on a special remembrance DVD.