NYC - Update on AUG. 29 UFPJ noRNC MArch

IMPORTANT NEW DEVELOPMENTS REGARDING AUG. 29
An Open Letter to Our Supporters

Dear friend of UFPJ:
United for Peace and Justice has been fighting for months to have our Constitutional rights
respected. We have been in a contentious process with the Mayor and Police Department of New York
City regarding the location of our march and rally against the Bush agenda on August 29th, the eve
of the Republican National Convention. We are writing to update you on these negotiations and to
make sure you know about a number of important developments.
Almost three weeks ago, United for Peace and Justice made the difficult decision to accept the
West Side Highway rally site for our August 29 protest, which was imposed on us by Republican NYC
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the New York Police Department. We had already reached an agreement
with the City regarding our protest march, which will assemble at 14th Street and Seventh Avenue
and march up the avenue in front of Madison Square Garden, the site of the Republican National
Convention.
We were compelled to go along with the West Side Highway, a rally site we did not like, in order
to move forward with our organizing work and build the largest and broadest possible protest
against the Bush agenda. But we also made it clear – to the City, the media, and our supporters –
that there were numerous issues regarding the West Side Highway location that needed to be
resolved to make this site workable for a rally. These include the use of police barricades to pen
in protesters, which we emphatically oppose, and access to free drinking water and shuttle buses,
which are essential given the highway’s lack of shade and remote location.
Our plan to hold a safe and legal march past Madison Square Garden remains firmly in place. But we
are increasingly concerned about the viability of a rally on the West Side Highway, because of the
following developments:

1) We have had two recent meetings with the Police Department, in which they did not make any
concessions or commitments on any of the unresolved issues we have put on the table. Neither they
nor anyone from the Mayor’s office has given us any indication that they are willing to work with
us to meet our needs.
2) We have heard from a number of medical professionals that there are serious potential public
health risks associated with holding our rally on the West Side Highway, away from shade, stores,
and public transit.
3) After consulting with a number of sound and stage companies, we have learned that it will be
extremely difficult and potentially impossible to provide a quality sound system for the entire
rally area, which would stretch for several miles, and that the cost of sound and jumbotrons will
be in the range of $300,000, which is more than double what it would cost us to hold a rally in
Central Park.
4) We have gotten feedback from a number of groups and individuals – particularly seniors, people
with disabilities, and people with young children – that they cannot attend the rally if it is
held on the West Side Highway, because of health and safety concerns. Many of our other supporters
have said they will not attend a rally there, because the inhospitable location amounts to an
attack on our right to free assembly.
In addition, since we announced our decision, some important new information has appeared in the
mainstream media. Quinnipiac University released a public opinion poll showing that 75% of New
Yorkers support our right to rally in Central Park. Meanwhile, a horticulturalist who worked on
the renovation of the Great Lawn revealed to The New York Times that it was engineered
specifically to withstand large crowds, undercutting the Citys claim that our rally would
irreparably damage the grass.
The question is, where do we go from here?
We will be holding a press conference tomorrow, August 10, to announce our next steps. Our goal
for August 29 remains what it has always been: to bring the largest and most representative number
of people possible out into the streets in opposition to the Bush agenda. We are committed to
having a safe, legal, and peaceful protest, accessible to all..
We appreciate the broad support we have received throughout this challenging process. We have been
up against an administration and a police department that are openly hostile to our First
Amendment rights. On August 29, as massive numbers of people march in front of the site of the
Republican Convention, we will send a strong, clear message: We reject the Bush administration’s
agenda of war, greed, hate and lies, and we are standing up to the ominous suppression of dissent
in this country.
We know you stand with us in this effort, and we are counting on you to continue building to make
August 29 a huge success, overcoming the barriers that have been put in our way by Bush,
Bloomberg, and the NYPD.
In solidarity,
United for Peace and Justice