[Mb-civic] NYTimes.com Article: Keeping Cool in New York

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Keeping Cool in New York

August 25, 2004
 


 

Less than a week before the Republican convention, New York
City is in an uncomfortable situation. Flocks of
demonstrators are due to arrive this weekend and it still
is not clear where they are going to protest. The largest
group, United for Peace and Justice, was still in court
yesterday trying to win access to Central Park for a Sunday
rally. The city was insisting on the West Side Highway.
Nothing is resolved, including matters as basic as how
protesters who might number in the hundreds of thousands
will get drinking water on an August afternoon. 

There is plenty of blame to go around, and much of it
should be directed at Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The
convention is most likely to cost the city a lot in both
money and general inconvenience. Having decided to pay that
price, the mayor should have been willing to risk damage to
the grass in Central Park to provide protesters with an
appropriate rallying point. But now, that is history. Both
sides will have to accede to the courts. 

Protest leaders are now saying that even if the park is not
made available, they will not rally on the highway - a
location they had previously accepted. Instead, the
coalition says it will simply march along a
previously-agreed-to route that will take participants past
Madison Square Garden, where the Republicans will
congregate beginning Monday. That seems like a bad idea.
The protesters will be denied their main event at the
march's end, and the police could have a more difficult
time trying to make sure everything ends peacefully if
people simply peel off. 

It is not out of the question that the judge will rule in
favor of the use of Central Park. While park officials have
treated that possibility as something more dreadful than
Armageddon, they need to be prepared. Democracy is not
always as neat as a pin or a manicured lawn. Organizers
should not count on that happening, though. A federal judge
denied the Great Lawn to two other protest groups this
week. 

However the court rules, the best thing the leaders of all
the varied protest groups can do is join together and vow,
as often and loudly as possible, that everybody will obey
the law. New York City, one of the most Democratic places
in the country, accepted the role of courteous host when it
invited the Republicans to come. Any sign of chaos in the
streets will hurt New York. The Republicans, who are most
likely to provide little excitement on their own, have made
it clear that they believe they will win wide public
sympathy if they are seen as the target of rowdy
troublemakers. The protesters, most of whom are coming here
at some personal sacrifice to show their disapproval of the
president, should understand that the only way they can
accomplish their mission is to accept whatever
disappointments come their way and behave with dignity. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/25/opinion/25wed1.html?ex=1094469209&ei=1&en=80fa3f0f67e03dd3


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