GOP LOCKDOWN LOOMS - NYPD, Secret Service spar on subway closing (Dumb Move Alert!)

NY Daily News ^ | 4/1/04

[areafiftyone]

New York may stop in its tracks the night President Bush accepts his party's nomination in Madison Square Garden.

While Bush is in the convention center Sept. 2, the Secret Service wants all Amtrak, NJTransit and Long Island Rail Road Service to cease, the Daily News has learned.

For now, the six subway lines that run alongside the Garden on Seventh and Eighth Aves. will remain open but won't stop at 34th St., government officials told the News.

There is still debate whether to demand the subway lines also be fully halted when Bush takes the stage that Thursday, the last day of the four-day GOP convention.

The New York Police Department, which is working with the Secret Service, denied any final decisions had been made.

"Obviously, we have added more protection to Penn Station and we are working closely and daily with the Secret Service," said NYPD Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne.

"But the station will be open and no major arteries will be closed," said Browne, the department's top spokesman.

"New York City will be open for business," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told the Daily News.

At City Hall, an aide said of the rail stoppage plan, "We are adamantly opposed to this."

The scrum over New York security emerged as officials in Boston revealed they plan to close two transit hubs for a full week, starting three days before the start of the Democratic Convention on July 23.

The convention is being held in the FleetCenter, which shares a building with North Station.

The worries over the rail lines and convention safety come a few weeks after train bombings in Madrid killed 191 people.

[areafiftyone]

Wish I could do that but alas I have to work on that day. UGH just the thought of all those protestors in the city makes me sick!

[areafiftyone]

ROFLMAO - Can you imagine Kerry's reaction to that? OMG What a hoot!

[oceanview]

what's the dates for this again?

[jwalsh07]

Security better be tight becasue I think the jihadists are gonna try and kill Dubya before the election. I am not an alarmist but looking at the MO of bin Laden and the rest of the alphabet jihadists, I am convinced they will attempt this pre election.

[justshutupandtakeit]

Why would you believe anything in the RATmedia without massive confirmation by non-presstitutes?

[blanknoone]

1) Shutting down transportation is a really bad idea

2) The D's are doing it in Boston too...for their whole convention.

[MineralMan]

There's no real alternative but to shutdown the subway lines that go by the Garden. You'd have to manually search every passenger at every subway station on the several lines which go there.

That's impossible. They'll have to do a shutdown, at least while Bush is speaking. Bad idea for New Yorkers? Sure, but there it is.

They could have done this at Moscone Center instead. No subway lines go directly by there, and they could shut down traffic on the river for however long was necessary.

[justshutupandtakeit]

I fear you are correct.

[Huck]

NICE! Can he parachute in wearing a military uniform? That'll really tick off the libs.

[MineralMan]

"They could have done this at Moscone Center instead."

Sheesh. I meant Javits, not Moscone. Wrong coast.

[txhurl]

Maybe that's their 90% ready plan they have.

I can only predict that the convention will be moved. And you can't keep secret hotel/facility cancellations or bookings that never happened.

Unless, of course, the world looks a WHOLE lot different by then...... hoping it will.

[areafiftyone]

Javits is so sleezy looking.

[CasearianDaoist]

Good, let the Dems PO Beantown. New York is less monolithic than people think, and besides that is an major hub for not just the try state but the whole non-air east coast transit system. The upper east/west siders do not matter, but the kind if people that will be boxed up are just the sort of people you want. If Kerry picks the wrong sort of VP I still think the NYS could be in play or at least fragile enough to warrant forcing the Dems to spend some cash here. I would not count out people like Rudy and Koch not having an effect, especially if Kerry keeps up this poor campaign. New Yorkers do not like losers. There is always the possibility of low Dem turnout down state - if we can get enough people to the polls then Upstate voters could make it a horse race, or at least a headache for them I know I am making an extra effort to drag as many people to the polls as I can and I am not alone. No need to needlessly PO people in the City.

[bondjamesbond]

He should ride the subway TO the convention! That would be BOFFO!

Could you imagine? A few minutes before he is to take the stage the Jumbotrons switch to a live feed of him exiting the Subway and coming up into the station below MSG...

I like it!

[DBrow]

And in Boston the Dems are closing North Station, Route 93, and several subway stops as well.

Federal offices will be closed and many private business are closing too.

So the pubbies do the same in NYC? Why does this rate any more news than the Boston news?

Both conventions should be held in smaller cities. The potential for mayhem and mishap is just too great in Boston or New York.

[Huck]

New York New York playing in the background. Then, as the president enters, the tune morphs into Hail to the Chief.

[MineralMan]

[MineralMan]

Here's a much better map of the Garden. Notice that everything heads toward Penn Station. You'd have to shut down every line from everywhere, practically, to avoid the possibility of an attack. So many transportation lines go through Penn Station. The Garden was a terrible choice, and now there's going to be a total shutdown of the center of Manhattan. Bad news.

[W04Man]

I hope they do the Right Thing, whatever that is. I'll be there, but will not be worrying about my security. Hopefully, many others will be taking care of that.

http://W-04.com

[cubreporter]

AND.....how 'bout the time ole willie stopped everything while he got his stupid haircut?????