A General Assembly Like No Other

Next Wednesday will be the 60th session of the General Assembly and the 2005 World Summit at the United Nations. Which means New York City is gonig to be under some serious security and gridlock for three days. As it will be the "largest single gathering of world leaders in history next week," there's a hell of a lot of planning going on at the city and federal levels. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said, "It will be a General Assembly like no other," and Secret Service agent A.T. Smith told Newsday, "I don't think we've ever been more prepared because there was a lot of emphasis placed on the fact that this is the highest-attended General Assembly in history." Which means that with 227 heads of state (plus an ex-president, like Bill Clinton) in the mix, there will be street closing, vehicle searches, even more subway security, a seven mile no-fly zone, and tons and tons of police officers on the street. Okay, now Gothamist understands a little better why the U.N. had to advertise its apologies.

The Newsday article also raises the hair on our neck a little with a mention about "terrorists' flair for symbolic attacks" with this Commissioner Kelly quote, "We're cognizant of the fact that the London subway bombings on July 7 coincided with the opening of the G8 Summit in Scotland. So naturally we are preparing accordingly." Sigh. It's going to be a long weekend - September 11 at the start, World Summit at the end. Maybe there will be some good protests of President Bush in there over the handling of Hurricane Katrina.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on September 9, 2005 11:41 AM

Comments [rss]

davey

bush needs to resign now, for the good of the country. what's he going to do the next time that there's a disaster? get the head of the aspca to take care of it?

sp

Jon Stewart: The president has vowed to personally lead the investigation into the government's failed response to Katrina? Isn't that a job perhaps someone else should be doing?

Samantha Bee: No, not at all, Jon. To truly find out what went wrong, it's important for an investigator to have a little distance from the situation. And it's hard to get any more distant from it than the president was last week.

--The Daily Show

S.D.

Great. Another day to come in earlier than Normal...

nola

Will the "New Orleans Jazz Funeral" also be saluting the incompetence of NO Mayor Nagin and LA Gov. Blanco? I'll take a wild guess and say no...

And if the liberals in this town were half as idealistic as they claim to be, they would go protest the corruption at the UN. But that won't happen, either. So much for objectivity.

pugsley

I think Bush is doing a good job. I shudder to think of what alternative the retards at "world can't wait" think is preferable.

mike

I live in the neighnorhood around the UN. What really is annoying is not the UN stuff. Its the tin horn republic "presidents" or what have you, going to dinner at neighborhood restaurants. Their half dozen black SUV caravans with shaved head gomer piles crammed in the back seat like dumb oxen, blocking the streets and carrying drawn uzis as fashion statements, is disgusting and offensive overkill.

On the positive side, they do tend to clear out the deranged homeless, so my kid is less likely to get stabbed or abducted by the street psychos.

Kala

"Maybe there will be some good protests of President Bush in there over the handling of Hurricane Katrina."

YES -- one of the major protests this weekend will be a mass New Orleans jazz funeral procession / protest march.

If you're in the area and can make noise with your instrument or your voice, please consider joining in (or just showing up in support).

It's organized by "The World

Can’t Wait -- Drive Out the Bush Regime" (worldcantwait.org). The organizers are envisioning "a stunningly large, beautiful and together gathering of musicians. Horns will blow with sadness, anger and determination to stop the suffering and death caused by this regime."

NEW ORLEANS JAZZ FUNERAL PROCESSION

100+ horns (and drums and ...)

to march in a procession

through the streets of NYC

on Sunday, September 11, gathering at 3pm,

in front of Judson Church, below

Washington Square Park

(239 Thompson St.)