Republican convention puts many in NYC on edge
NEW YORK -- The last time Manhattan hosted a political convention -- the Democrats in 1992 -- Republicans in Washington cast the nation's largest city as a symbol of all that was wrong with urban America. They blamed liberal Democrats who ran the city for its high taxes, rent control, condom distribution in schools, and balky bureaucracy.
Dan Quayle, then vice president, said Democrats had picked "the perfect site for their convention, almost as if they feel a strange compulsion to return to the scene of the crime." Newt Gingrich, who was House minority whip, suggested New York City was just like the Democratic Party in being "so out of whack with the rest of the country."
Two Republican mayors and a Republican governor later, the Grand Old Party is holding its nominating convention for the first time in the city its leaders used to so publicly despise. When Republicans arrive this month to nominate George W. Bush, they may find the feeling is somewhat mutual in New York, where Democrats outnumber Republicans 5 to 1, thousands of protesters are readying to demonstrate against them, and Bush-bashing is popular. The fact that Bush's arrival could bring gridlock, security checks, and the threat of a terror attack has annoyed New Yorkers to the point where some plan to flee town between Aug. 30 and Sept. 2.
"Most people just can't understand why the Republicans are coming to New York," said Kim Jade Fry, a musician and singer who will leave for upstate New York during the convention. "All the controversy around the president I believe just brings the chance for another attack. I just think it's going to be crazy here with all the protest, and I'm getting concerned about terrorism."
Nicole Nelch, a waitress in a Greenwich Village restaurant, who recently wore a T-shirt that declared, "George Bush ain't got no soul," would rather pretend Bush wasn't being nominated for a second term in the city where just over 363,000 New Yorkers voted for him in 2000 compared with 1.6 million for Al Gore.
"I'm not thinking about Bush coming to New York City. It's just evil," said Nelch.
In the run-up to the convention, Republican organizers and New Yorkers are performing a delicate ballet, tiptoeing around one another. Several recent surveys, for instance, suggest most residents do not support Bush, but they do think the convention will be a financial asset to the city. Republican officials estimate the convention will bring $250 million to the local economy.
"New York City is a very democratic and liberal town, and I don't think any president has been more unpopular in New York than this president," said Neil Kleiman , director of the Center for an Urban Future, a think tank based in the city. "Given that, I don't think New Yorkers have any issues with Republicans coming to town. It's a great opportunity to show off our city and to show that we are thriving economically and culturally."
Republicans want to tout President Bush's credentials in the war on terrorism.
"What made New York go from the Great Satan to the GOP's new hometown is 9/11," said James P. Pinkerton, a former aide to Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. "Between the snobs in the Upper East Side and the counterculturists of the West Village, New York is a place Republicans feel an attraction-repulsion dynamic. It's, 'Even though we travel here, don't be fooled, we still hate you.' That's sort of the Republican view."
Still, the city has been buzzing with preparations in the days since Democrats ended their convention in Boston. Madison Square Garden has been handed over to the GOP, which is transforming the sports arena into a fortress.
Not too far away, the party's headquarters is bustling with activity, and police officers are practicing terrorism drills in Times Square.
Luther McKoy, who works in lower Manhattan, is so worried about an attack that he plans to stay away from Manhattan, especially the financial district, as much as possible during the convention.
"They are putting a target over New York," said McKoy, 49, of the Bronx.
To make sure Republicans at least feel safe and wanted during their stay, Ed Koch, the former Democratic mayor who was appointed by Governor George E. Pataki to be a welcome wagon, will greet them with open arms. A total of 15,000 volunteers from New York City and parts of New Jersey will welcome the Republicans at airports, hotels, and on shopping sprees along glitzy Madison Avenue.
"We have had more conventions than any city," boasted Koch. "We can do this convention on our toes."
Organizers have prepared an itinerary fit for a United Nations diplomat, including parties, fashion shows, Broadway plays, and even a country music concert in a city with no country radio station.
Koch knows New Yorkers can be testy. Like a patriarch telling his clan to be on their best behavior, Koch reminds trash-talking New Yorkers in posters throughout the city: "Republicans are coming. Make nice."
His words could fall on deaf ears. Authorities have said fringe groups are planning to disrupt the convention with a large bag of tricks, including the use of gunpowder and nitrate-laced tablets to confuse bomb-sniffing dogs on the trains so that Penn Station might be evacuated.
Another concern is that protesters may have infiltrated the ranks of the volunteers.
"I think they [Republicans] picked the wrong city," said Jaime Parks, a 22-year-old Columbia University law student.
"There is going to be all this neoliberal protesting."
Bill Dobbs, a New Yorker and the leader of United for Peace and Justice, the New York City-based national antiwar coalition that's planning to demonstrate during the convention, seemed almost giddy about the Republican's visit.
"The Republicans certainly have a right to assemble and have a convention in New York because we are using our rights to assemble," said Dobbs. "And we can't wait for them to get here."
Republicans are already making nice with New York, sending volunteers to do charitable work, including feeding the homeless.
Standing in a food bank in the Bronx, young Republicans such as Boyle Adams were sorting and boxing food.
Some New Yorkers have suggested the party's charitable acts are only to have something to show as television cameras pan to screaming protesters during the convention.
Adams, however, said the volunteer work and the Republican presence is "just what's good for the city."
"It's a whole different animal here," said Adams, a 19-year-old from Mississippi. "I've enjoyed it more than I thought. People were asking: 'Why are you going to New York? It's too dangerous.' "
Adams added: "I haven't felt awkward at all. Wherever you go people are going to disagree with you, but I haven't had conflicts over politics -- yet." 