‘We Are Prepared,’ Vows Ridge

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The New York Sun

With just five days to go until the Republican National Convention, officials presented a cohesive front yesterday and said they were taking unprecedented security measures to secure the city against a terrorist attack.


“Any attempt on the part of terrorists to attack us will be frustrated and repelled by multiple layers of security,” Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge told reporters outside police headquarters in Manhattan. “We are prepared.”


Mr. Ridge joined Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Pataki, and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly for a security briefing and to survey the equipment to be deployed during the week of the convention, which starts Monday.


With the countdown now in its final phase and the deluge of protesters and delegates set to flood into the center of Manhattan, the foursome painted an upbeat picture of minimal inconvenience and maximum security.


Though not many new details were released about planned security measures, the officials said agencies at every government level were working together and were set to open a special command center to coordinate 66 federal, state, and city agencies in the largest, most extensive security operation of its kind.


Thousands of federal agents and police officers will be deployed to patrol streets and subways. Sensitive areas will be under 24-hour surveillance; heavily armed police “Hercules” units will be guarding landmarks, and a seven-mile air zone around Madison Square Garden, the convention site, will be frozen all week.


The security operation will also include mobile X-ray machines to scan trucks and packages entering the Garden and beefed-up protection for hotel ventilation systems. The equipment, which was on display for reporters yesterday, ranges from robotic bomb-handling devices to acid-proof body suits.


“New York City is being well protected on land, at sea, and in the air,” Mr. Bloomberg said. The operation will include the NYPD, the Coast Guard, Secret Service, Immigration, and dozens of other entities.


“The convention security plan,” the mayor said, “has been designed to ensure that delegates and visitors are safe, that the right to peaceful protest is protected, and that the 8 million people of New York can simultaneously go about their lives.”


Despite concerns about gridlock, limited public access to areas around the convention, and complaints by protesters that they are being refused access to the Great Lawn of Central Park, the mayor said the city would function normally. He urged residents to go to restaurants, baseball games, and parks, and he pointed out that the city would be hosting its usual mix of activities during convention week, including a half-marathon in Central Park on Sunday and the U.S. Open tennis tournament in Flushing, Queens, which starts Sunday and runs for two weeks.


The police department will deploy roughly 10,000 officers to handle security and to deal with the more than 250,000 expected protesters. And the city unveiled the newly refurbished “multi-agency coordination center” yesterday on the eighth floor of police headquarters. Starting Friday, the center will be staffed around the clock, with 150 people monitoring live video feeds from the convention and overseeing security operations.


“This MAC is our heartbeat and centerpiece for our communication and control of the security of the event,” a Secret Service agent, Steven Hughes, said, according to a Reuters pool reporter who attended a morning security briefing.


Police Commissioner Kelly said the convention area would be heavily guarded, but he, like the mayor, denied reports that the outer boroughs would be left without necessary police protection.


“We are extending officers’ tours throughout the city, not just in the area of the convention, and we’re doing that to make sure there is not diminishment of police presence through the boroughs,” Mr. Kelly said. “That’s why we’re going to 12-hour shifts. It’s not just to cover the convention. It’s to cover the whole city.”


With worries percolating about both a terrorist attack and violent disruptions among protesters, officials appealed to New Yorkers to respect the convention process and the freedom it represents – regardless of their political leanings.


“Democracy is the very heart of our national character, and we will not give away to the enemies who would strike at the core of who we are and how we elect our leaders,” Mr. Ridge said.


“Whatever our political persuasions,” Mr. Bloomberg said, “a national political convention where a party nominates its candidate for the presidency is a fundamental part of our electoral system.”


The mayor, who is at the center of a labor dispute with police officers and firefighters, urged New Yorkers to be on good behavior, saying the four-day affair was an opportunity to showcase the city and use the spotlight for future economic benefit.


“People set a vision in their minds of whether New York is a place they want to go, a place that they want to have their events,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “There are people in Athens who will be watching us, there are people who have commercial conventions that we desperately need for jobs in this city.”


Some said that it made sense for Mr. Bloomberg to try to keep a welcoming face on the city, even amid the security concerns.


“He’s the mayor and he is the no. 1 pitch man for the city,” said a professor of public affairs at Baruch College, Douglas Muzzio. “He wants to make it as attractive a commodity as possible to as many people as possible.”


The city has received $50 million from the federal government for the convention and will pay the remaining costs on its own. Mr. Bloomberg said those remaining costs will likely be $15 million, rather than the $25 million initially projected. He also said much of the money was being raised privately.


A report from the comptroller’s office earlier this week predicted that the city would lose money on the event. But Mr. Bloomberg said repeatedly that the economic benefit would be positive.


The city has been on heightened alert for the last several weeks with warnings that financial institutions are a top terrorist target and worries about terrorists attempting to disrupt the presidential election. But elected officials portrayed confidence yesterday that the week would go smoothly.


The New York Sun

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