Fifth Avenue is not only known for its high class shops, by the hundreds of tourists waiting to go up the Empire State Building or the eastern side along Central Park where having a a home often amounts to some million dollars. On the most famous boulevards in the world, some Romanian beggars have been making a living for themselves.

Old filthy women with grotesque looks or old men reach to the crowds hoping for some coins.

Mariana is from Buzias and reached the States five years ago, establishing in Queens in the middle of the Romanian community in Ridgewood. She says she is pleased, as she 'earns' a dollar or two on the streets.

When asked how she got in the States, she simply says: “By plane” adding that she has a green card and is about to have an interview for an American citizenship.

Mariana declares herself satisfied with the States, saying that in Spain and France policemen would always nag her.

Another Romanian beggar from around Sibiu, Lacramioara, is no older than 30. She says that what she earns, she sends home. She complains that in Romania, she couldn’t find any job to gain a living.

On the steps of the Public Library, another man, Nelu, mourns for help. He says he came to live with his son, in Astoria, 4 or 5 years ago and that he makes just enough to eat.

For some Americans, beggary is an expression protected by the First Amendment and thus policemen fail to take an action against them.

Local authorities wanted to resolve this issue in the past by they hit the rulings of an intransigent judge or the fierceful human rights defenders.