The One-Man Beautification Plan
A security guard from Queens explains why he’s repainting New York’s forgotten emergency call boxes.
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Photo illustration by Slate. Photo by John Colgan.
Listen to Episode 185 of Slate’s The Gist:
Today on The Gist: a visual avenger for the beauty of Woodside, Queens. His canvas? FDNY fire call boxes, many dating back the 1920s. With a fresh coat of glossy paint (that’s also urine-proof and barf-resistant), they look beautiful. We speak with John Colgan, whom you can follow as the Fire Alarm Guy on Facebook. For the Spiel, it’s an antentwig. That’s our name for a three-week period wherein we correct, amplify, and slouch toward plausible deniability, and it all ends in a Lobstar.
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