This CTA commuter is concerned about the motorcades attendant to the upcoming GN8TO Fest May 18-22.
Gee N8To! -Tomato, Potato, V-8 O.
Sneedless to Say - Let's go to Chicago's Rumor Central Mike Sneed!
Float 'em!
Police Supt. Garry McCarthy’s plans for enlisting police security for the G-8/NATO summits this spring is so hush-hush, Sneed hears it’s got statewide security agencies in a swivet.
“It’s almost March and the two summits are in May,” said a top security source. “What’s up?”
“There is no way Illinois agencies outside Cook County have the manpower to help Chicago without the numbers the New York Police Department could provide,” said another source.
(emphasis my own)
THEN -
Quote 'em!Response: “We are assessing our needs as we plan, and that includes the use of in-state and out-of-state sworn personnel,” police spokesman Melissa Stratton said Saturday. “We are not limiting candidates to one state or agency. We don’t have the final footprint for the summits so we won’t be able to finalize the number of sworn personnel we will be utilizing from other agencies until closer to the event.”
Hope 'em!◆Meanwhile: Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who is this/close to President Barack Obama, was in Washington midweek to meet with Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano to discuss Chicago’s upcoming double summit and federal help.
'68 'em!In the end, 10,000 demonstrators gathered in Chicago for the convention where they were met by 23,000 police and National Guardsmen.2012 - Estimate range from between 12,000 and 35,000 Protestors.
And then of course Old Mayor Daley was
THIS Close to LBJ and trotted out the Illinois National Guard
Hickey 'em.G-8 Participant NationsCanada
France
Germany
Italy
Japan
Russia
United Kingdom
United States of America
European Union
Andy's Gang! The Peoples Protest Coalition
Almost 50 activist groups met in Chicago in August to start planning "large-scale protests" during the summits. Members of Occupy Chicago, a local off-shoot of the Occupy Wall Street movement, has also applied for protest permits during the summits. Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy has stated that his department is already preparing for "mass arrests."Be Our Guests! Do.
Hotel Challenges for the G8 SummitIt's currently estimated that attendees of the G8 and NATO summits will take up over 10,000 hotel rooms -- almost a third of Chicago's entire downtown hotel inventory. This will create a tremendous strain on travelers coming to Chicago during the summits to find vacant rooms, and if travel plans cannot be changed it is extremely important to confirm a Chicago hotel reservation as early as possible. Hotel guests should also be aware that due to security concerns movement within some of the city's hotels may be limited at certain times. Hotels are also likely to charge premium rates during this week.
Ask 'em!Andy Thayer of CANG8 pointed out that the business group that is the host committee for the NATO/G8 summit has been given $1 million in taxpayer money to prepare for the event. The representatives of the city wouldn’t even promise the activists that they would be permitted to gather in the Loop during the week of May 15-22, when the summit occurs.
In June when the summits were announced, a group affiliated with CANG8, the United National Anti-War Coalition (UNAC), submitted a permit application for Daley Plaza, one of the few large venues for protest in the Loop, as Chicago’s downtown is known. Last week, MB Real Estate emailed Joe Iosbaker, Chicago spokesperson for UNAC that, “Unfortunately we are not approving any permits for the use of the plaza May 15th-22nd." (SEIU and Hamas's Joe) Iosbaker responded that, “We have the right to march against NATO’s wars, such as Afghanistan and Libya, and against the G8 agenda of imposing poverty on working people from Greece to Chicago.”
H
as Andy's Gang booked rooms yet?Motorcade 'em!
Outside of
Ruths Mini Club on Halsted I heard a drunk guy who commutes to and from the Loop at least three times a day on various CTA conveyances say that there will be "Bah-tween Fordee and Fidy Motahcades aDay, Mother#$%^er!" This same man predicted a warm winter and that we would dodge the blizzard predicted last Friday.
Everyday we can expect motorcades to and from McCormick Place. Let's say the Canadian delegates want to stay in Hyde Park, The Germans in Park Ridge, The Ruskies in Braidwood, The Japanese in Hammond near the Horseshoe, The assorted EU bankrupts in Posen and Hegewisch and the Oak Lawn Hilton & the balance at the cool places in the Loop. How's that gonna fly?
When over 2,000 foreign dignitaries converge on one city, it's no surprise that security levels in Chicago will be extremely high during the summit. The United States Secret Service will work with the Chicago Police Department to provide security during the event, which will include escorted motorcades. Transportation to and from Chicago's O'Hare and Midway airports will result in numerous rolling street closures -- as many as 50 per day. Chicago public transportation will be the best way to avoid the major traffic snarls this will cause.Greek Town? Taylor Street? River North? Wrigleyville? Boystown? The opening of Little League at Kennedy Park? Taste of Justice?
Vont-ils être affectés négativement? Trouble, Bub?
Then we have the - "God Bless Them!" - Occupy Kids all rested from the mild winter and vacations on Padre Island and back home in Naperville linking up with Andy's Gang.
Sneedless to say -This will be like watching a score of monkeys get tossed a football.
Then - NATO arrives. So, far the only explanation of the up-side to this Cluster-Flux was these nuggets panned from Laura Washington's fine column a few weeks ago -
A big upside is the chance to rehabilitate our image in foreign eyes, said Richard Longworth, a longtime foreign correspondent and now a senior fellow at the Council. Chicago “is still pretty much unknown in the world,” he said. “It’s still ‘bang, bang, Al Capone.’ ”
The old Big Shoulders Chicago of industrial might is gone, added Longworth, who has written extensively on globalization. “If we are going to play in this global league, there are lots of things that we must do to target our investments and resources.”
Chicago offers “amazing talent” steeped in global affairs, added Rachel Bronson, a Council vice president. Until now, “there has been no place to talk about global policy issues and how what’s going on out there is driven from here, and how it affects here. And I think we have a lot to say about it.”
Chicago will get to shed its Al Capone image? I thought Daley did that already; you know
Paris on the Lake;
City Sans Rubes with Big Shoulders and
No Popery Here!.
Is it just me or do you folks think there is gonna be a real tooth loosener at the old
Global Crossroads. Followed of course by a series of Peoples Lawsuites,
naturalmente!
Here's my Peoples Chant - Everybody!
5-18-22/Ask Racoon Eyes what it means to You!http://www.examiner.com/tag/chicago-nato-meetinghttp://www.chicagog8nato.org/
Finally! Some me time. . . . thought them Hebes . . .Israelis. . . would never leave. Ted Kennedy is still dead, or I could trot him out for some poll juice. . . Putin won . . .go figure. . . Hey! Think I'll give Rahm a call and wind him up . . . yeah, I'll call Rahm!- Thoughts of B.H. Obama on 3/5/2012 - mid-afternoon EST.
