A Plus for New York
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The City of New York is likely to look a bit empty this week. If you attend the Republican National Convention at Madison Square Garden or elbow through hot steamy crowds at parties given for the delegates, you might not think so.
But much of the rest of the city will be abandoned by New Yorkers and by the tourists that might usually be here. So this is a disaster for the mayor, the governor, and the people of New York, right? Absolutely wrong.
This convention will be a long-term plus for New York. It will ultimately increase tourism, enhance New York’s reputation as a world city, and show off a police force and a populace that can handle this kind of disruption.
New York will receive hours of free worldwide exposure for the excitement and dynamic buzz that make us a city that both Mayor Giuliani and Pope John Paul II have called “the capital of the world.” And the long-term effect of that will be more jobs and greater tax revenue our.
A critical press will be ready to magnify every inconvenience and highlight New Yorkers opposed to President Bush and the Republican Party. All these criticisms emphasize the immediate impact of the convention and completely overlook the long-term importance to New York.
We will handle protesters, press, logistics, tremendous amounts of security, presidential travel, and delegate entertainment all in a way that no other city can. The world will see our cultural institutions, architecture, and business activity. It will see the professionalism of our police and the welcome of our citizenry.
Some may say that Governor Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg wanted the convention here for their own political reasons. Whether that is true or not, they surely anticipated the inconveniences that the press will magnify. The magnitude of this convention dwarfs what went on in Boston. New York has already had more arrests than the entire week in Boston. We have an insatiable press, a large and implacably hostile population of protesters, and we will be dealing with a presidential visit during wartime. Nonetheless, the governor and the mayor knew that New York would show itself to be one of the few cities that can handle this kind of upheaval.
Once the convention is over, some civic group or news organization will publish a study showing that the cost to the city for extra police, fire, and security protection ran into the tens of millions of dollars. Additionally, the damage caused by demonstrators – even peaceful demonstrations result in some wear and tear – will be estimated to have been in the low millions.
Many average New Yorkers will call in sick, work from home, take mental-health days – some Republican haters could use a few of those – or just plain not show up for work. Those people will not be present to buy their lunch at the sandwich shop, pick up sundries at the newsstand, or get their haircut. They will not take the subway, ride in taxis, or have a drink or dinner with a friend after work.
It is true that these activities will not occur in New York during the week of the convention, but the impact of the convention on New York’s image, personality, and finances will last far beyond the week that the GOP convention is here.
Every time the press shows the beauty of New York, it is free publicity for one of the world’s great cities. When it shows the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building, the Brooklyn Bridge and Yankee Stadium, the watching world will be reminded of the magnificence and grandeur of Gotham.
When delegates are shown attending Broadway shows and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the world will see a commercial for New York’s cultural life. And when they show delegates taking batting practice at Shea Stadium, they might even perk up the Mets’ performance. Think what that would do for the economy.
The positive impact of the convention, economic and otherwise, does not accrue all in one week. This is an investment in enhancing the world’s view of all that New York has to offer.
The value of that exposure will be affected tremendously depending upon what kind of a face New Yorkers put to the world. I don’t mean people will think we are unpleasant if there are demonstrations. Part of New York’s allure is the welcome of diverse individuals with diverse points of view.
I mean that New York’s reputation may rise or fall on how we as a city handle demonstrations, inconveniences, or true upheaval. There is no doubt that there will be enough political activity in the city that every citizen could find a reason to be offended. But when we welcome the expression of divergent points of view, that is when we will show New York in its best light. If America is the world’s beacon of free speech, then New York is its high-decibel bullhorn.
Similarly, anyone who would provoke violence or try to re-create Chicago in 1968 should also think about the long-term effects of that behavior. If our city gets a black eye in such a situation, it will damage our reputation and ability to attract tourists, jobs, and tax dollars in the future.
So, Republican, Democrat, or Independent: We are all New Yorkers. Let’s not bemoan the short-term cost and inconvenience of the convention; let’s delight together in showing the world the cacophony and culture, the highbrow and the lowbrow, the beauty and the beast that is New York City.