A hearty helping of walking tours is offered in Lower Manhattan and not just for tourists.
[...] While most tours focus on well-known sites, one zooms in on objects that remain hidden from the untrained eye. The free "Video Surveillance Tour of City Hour," organized by a volunteer group called Surveillance Camera Players, is wildly popular. "We offer a walking tour of the present and the future," says Bill Brown, tour guide and current director of the group. He describes the tour as an educational campaign to make people aware of what is being done in the name of public safety. The tour oftens leaves people amazed by the amount of cameras found in local neighborhoods, many of which are disguised as lamps or ornaments. Unlike traditional tours that might conjure up memories from long-forgotten history lessons, Brown explains, "Nobody has the information that's relayed on this tour." The material is completely fresh and based on Brown's research. Even the maps are hand-drawn [...]
(Written by Lisa Maxbauer, and published in the 25 October - 8 November 2003 issue of The Battery Park City Broadsheet.)
By e-mail SCP@notbored.org
By snail mail: SCP c/o NOT BORED! POB 1115, Stuyvesant Station, New York City 10009-9998