Outrage unhappily accepted

I received an email this evening from United for Peace and Justice.

On Wednesday, July 21, United for Peace and Justice made a major announcement about our August 29 "World Says No to the Bush Agenda" protest: We are taking the West Street rally location which was imposed by NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the NY Police Department. ...

Several weeks ago, we won our fight to march past Madison Square Garden, the site of the Republican National Convention, but the rally site remained contested. We have been fighting hard for months to secure the Great Lawn in Central Park, and many of you have supported us in that fight.

Every alternative we proposed to City officials was rejected. Every attempt at resolving concerns was dismissed. The City cut off negotiations and refused to meet with us. Clearly Mayor Bloomberg, a pitbull for the Bush Administration and the Republican Party, is doing everything he can to silence dissent and erode basic Constitutional rights.

Back on July 12 in discussing threats to free exercise of dissent, I mentioned the problems with New York and noted that refusing to negotiate sites and routes with permit-seekers is an increasingly-common tactic in the efforts to isolate and curtail protest.

New York's actions in this case have been disgraceful, shameful, undemocratic, an insult to the First Amendment, shoddy, disgusting, and dangerous. UFPJ is urging people to

contact the Mayor and Police Chief Kelly to keep the pressure on these demands:

1) No Pens: We have made it clear that we do not want the police to use metal barricades to create pens or otherwise restrict movement in and out of the rally site, the assembly site or along the march route itself.

2) Free Water: Because there is no shade or access to stores or other facilities along West Street, we want the City to provide free water at the rally, as well as assistance with extra port-o-johns.

3) Free Shuttle Bus: We want the City to provide free shuttle buses from the rally site to the closest subway stations, which depending where you are along West Street can be some distance. The City is giving the RNC delegates free subway/bus passes for the week they are here and we would like the have the subway and bus fares waived on August 29 to make travel around town easier for the massive numbers of people expected to join the demonstration.

4) Compensation: Since the City is insisting that we rally on this site, we will incur major additional expenses for an adequate stage and sound system. We think the City should help cover some of these costs.

Do it. Do it! Remember that silence is assent.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg
Phone 212-788-3000
Fax 212-788-9711
Email http://nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mayor.html

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly
Phone 646-610-5410
Fax 646-610-5865
Email: http://www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mailnypd.html

(Info from UFPJ.)

Go to their website for details of the march route and rally site.