The Times profiles a "community citizen"

The Times profiles Robert Lesko today...here are a few passages from the piece:

When he’s not working, there’s a good chance that Mr. Lesko, 48, will be standing up for some cause. While not alone in perpetual protest, he is certainly among the more ubiquitous activists at Manhattan rallies. Each week, Mr. Lesko scours NYProtest, a listing of street demonstrations distributed by e-mail by a fellow activist, and chooses three or four that match his leftist political leanings.

He is known on the scene as a colorful character who often wears costumes that attract news photographers. Several years ago, to protest the presence of Coca Cola products on the New York University campus, where he is a secretary in the George H. Heyman Jr. Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising, Mr. Lesko wore a Coke-can costume that he had made ...

“You have to figure out what will work,” he said at another rally a week after the vice squad protest. “Today I couldn’t think of anything.”

This was last Saturday, and the event was a march in the East Village to protest the proposed elimination of the M8 bus line. He attended this event in street clothes.

“This is Saint Bobby right here,” said Michael O’Neil, a media manager for Reverend Billy, a comic preacher who organized the march. “He’s a pillar of our community because he shows up. Bobby is the epitome of the community citizen.”

[Photo: Frances Roberts for The New York Times]