New "Streetscape program" will revamp Broadway.

The Alliance for Downtown New York formally unveiled its Broadway Streetscape Program, which features significant improvements on this storied thoroughfare in Lower Manhattan south of Liberty Street, including lighting, sidewalk and street furniture improvements as well as the installation of sidewalk granite markers commemorating each of the 200 ticker tape parades that have taken place along this storied Canyon of Heroes.

To highlight the placement of commemorative strips, a new "Canyon of Heroes" brochure has been developed to provide a complete history of each ticker tape parade. The Broadway Streetscape Program has been largely paid for by private business improvement funds. A recent $4 million grant from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation provides the critical final funding for the completi'on of the Broadway Streetscape program by next spring.

Joining in the ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the announcement, held on Broadway (on the sidewalk just north of Trinity Church), were community leaders elected officials, and Olympians including Lindy Remigino, double gold medalist from the 1952 games in Helsinki as well as and other outstanding Olympians; Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Deputy Mayor for Economic Development and Rebuilding Daniel L. Doctoroff, LMDC chairman John Whitehead, LMDC president Kevin Rampe, Downtown Alliance chairman Robert Douglass and president Carl Weisbrod, NYC2012 executive director Jay Kriegel, and others.

Part and parcel of Broadway's reconstruction is its formal recognition as the "Canyon of Heroes," commemorating all the ticker-tape parades that have marched up Broadway, from the 1886 dedication of the Statue of Liberty to the U.S. Olympic Team send off to the Helsinki Games in 1952 to the 1998 celebration of John Glenn and the crew of the Shuttle Discovery.

"We have reached a tremendous milestone in Lower Manhattan with our Streetscape program overall," said Douglass. "The reconstruction of Broadway from Battery Place to Murray Street is a top priority, both because of its role as Downtown's premiere street and because of its extraordinary history."

"We are delighted to participate in this celebration of Lower Manhattan," said Kriegel. "New York City has honored Olympic heroes with ticker tape parades six times in the 20th Century. The history of their achievements reminds us all that this city inspires and salutes greatness."

Special guests at the ribbon cutting included more than a dozen Olympic athletes, including Gold medalists and Olympic legends, who have been honored in ticker tape parades.

Along with contemporary light poles and other street furniture, the Downtown Alliance is installing wide granite curbs and new sidewalks with eight-inch-wide black granite strips set every 20 to 30 feet, marking the name and date of each historic parade, in stainless-steel letters. To date, 42 strips have been installed on Broadway, and all 200 strips are scheduled for completion by spring of 2004. Blank strips will be included and filled in with the names of future honorees.

These strips begin at Battery Place and Stone Street and run along Broadway to Thames Street. The approximate cost for each granite marker installation ranges from $5,000 to $7,000. The total estimated cost of the entire Streetscape program is $20 million.