Behind every billionaire there is a story!

US coffee shop creates petition for statue of billionaire

Paul Allen is a giant influence in Seattle, Washington, and beyond: from Microsoft, the Experience Music Project and South Lake Union to space exploration.

Now, some want to deify - make that mock - the larger-than-life billionaire by erecting a 300-foot-tall (91.4-metre) bronze statue of him in South Lake Union’s neighbourhood of Cascade Park.

Hundreds have signed a petition started by Kapow! Coffee, a Cascade neighbourhood coffee shop that says its rent has tripled as Allen’s development company, Vulcan Inc, has raised the profile of the area and lured big corporations and trendy shops.

“Fremont has Lenin and the Troll,” quips Kapow! barista Jeremiah St Georges. “Capitol Hill has Jimi Hendrix. So we just want to give the man his due and recognition for all the wonderful things he’s done for our neighbourhood.”

read the rest published by Guardian here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/19/usa1