The big news of the weekend, and probably the rest of the week, are the terror threats against financial buildings in NY, NJ, and DC - the Citigroup building and NY Stock Exchange in Manhattan, the Prudential building in Newark, and the World Bank and IMF buildings in DC. Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Kelly have emphasized that the city has stepped up police presence in areas of concern, especially in the subways underneath the Citigroup building and the stock exchange. Of course, the Mayor also implored people to go about their business - go to work, live our lives; additionally, he mentioned how NYers can call 311 and read the counter-terrorism line if they see anything suspicious or call 911 in case of an emergency. Manhole covers in NYC were sealed and trucks searched yesterday, with most NYers sad but philosophical about the heightened security. NYC's terror threat level is still at orange, which it has been since after September 11, 2001, while the national level is yellow. , A few major roadways are closed or restricted to commercial traffic, and this might very well be a precursor to tighter measures during the Republican National Convention.
Honestly, there's nothing like enjoying the sultry weekend and then hearing about the latest round of terror chatter. Thanks for the downer, al Qaeda! Of course, some question the timing of this information, saying that the Republicans are trying to take the spotlight back from the Democrats by ruling with terror. Gothamist doesn't know - it is mightily screwed up if this is a way to make the American public too scared to elect a different president not to mention being an insane crunch on resources (we're that unseemly combination of being both cynical and optimistic), but if thinking that it's just some conspiracy from the American government helps people get on with their day, well, we guess we all have our coping mechanisms.
See the supposed targeted buildings on this NY Times graphic that has building dimensions and specs, but not occupancy numbers. And if you work at or near the Citigroup building or NYSE, let us know how security is looking and if it's different than usual (we have seen NYPD or other official types carrying machine guns around the Citigroup building on regular days). Gothamist is sure all of us will be seeing more police for the next few days.
