NEW YORK  4/6/2004 (ANA/P.Panayiotou)
 The arrival of the Olympic Flame in New York on June 19 was announced on Thursday at a special event held in Athens Square, Astoria, New York. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg thanked the Athens 2004 Organizing Committee for choosing New York as one of the stops on the Olympic Torch Relay route. 

Bloomberg used words of praise in referring to Greek civilization and to Greece and characterized Athens Mayor Dora Bakoyiannis, also present at the event, "dynamic and capable."

Bloomberg presented a list of 140 torchbearers who will carry the Olympic Torch in all five boroughs of New York City, starting from Athens Square, the heart of America's Greek community. Firemen, policemen, school principals, activists, businesspeople and journalists are among those chosen as torchbearers.

Bakoyiannis stressed that "Athens has completely changed," and assured that "everything will be ready on time."
Regarding Games security the Athens mayor said, "the Greek people have paid the greatest amount of money that has ever been allocated to Olympic Games security. I believe that in an unsafe world, Athens will be one of the safest cities during the summer of 2004."

Source: Athens News Agency

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