Up and down Broadway, potholes are being patched, security tightened and there's a sense of impending crowds as TV crews mark their turf. Around two million people are expected to show up for Friday's Yankees ticker tape parade through the Canyon of Heroes. The show begins at 11 a.m. on Broadway at Battery Place and will snake up to City Hall, where the newly reelected mayor will give the team a key to the city. Even the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is getting ready, adding extra PATH trains to the World Trade Center station between the morning and afternoon peak hours.

But before all that can happen, the paper in the garage downtown was scheduled to be delivered at 4:30 a.m. Friday to 20 different buildings along Lower Broadway for the city's 206th ticker tape parade. City Hall plays host to these events, handling the logistics and security on the ground, but it's the Alliance for Downtown New York, the area's Business Improvement District group, that secures much of the recycled paper, according to a spokesperson at the Mayor's office. But, it wasn't always recycled paper or the nation's largest BID taking charge and setting the tone.

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The Downtown Alliance makes the point that the paper it's carting to the towers is recycled. But, according to Nevius, in the old days, ticker tape was ubiquitous and probably lying around the office. "Almost all buildings lining the Canyon of Heroes would have had at least one ticker tape machine," he tells GlobeSt.com, adding that "since the ticker tape piled up, day after day, they probably only had to stockpile for a few days before a parade to have plenty to toss out as confetti."

Then, Nevius points out another obvious dilemma: "You can only have an effective ticker tape parade if the windows open: newer, glass curtain wall buildings aren't good for parades. You'll notice as you walk along the Canyon of Heroes that there are very few of them on the parade route."