For the next four days, New York City will be under the tightest security since September 11th. Traffic will be at a complete standstill, half the City will be closed to the public – and tens of millions of dollars this City doesn’t have will be spent on Police overtime – all for the Republican National Convention...

...and the only message I have for the “Grand Old Party” is “Get Out Please.”

My disdain for the Republican National Convention has nothing to do with the Republicans – it has to do with the fact that this City doesn’t need the headache, shouldn’t have to deal with the chaos, and can’t afford the overhead. While I can understand why the GOP would want to have their Convention and re-nominating party for George W. Bush and Dick Cheney in New York City – having the President address the entire Republican Party in a post-9/11 Manhattan is something New York does not need, deserve – or want.

Before the Convention even started, protesters by the tens of thousands brought our City to a hault. They used their bikes to halt traffic, they organized a group that totaled 120,000 and marched in front of Madison Square Garden in the largest protest against a president since 1968 – and they even got completely naked in front of, “The World’s Most Famous Arena” to protest the AIDS crisis. These protests, coupled with the fact that 10,000 cops – which translates to two cops for every Republican delegate – are now in front of, around and in Madison Square Garden. Add the fact that when President Bush speaks to the Republican delegates on Thursday, an 18-block radius of City streets around Madison Square Garden will be closed to all traffic – virtually shutting down the heart of Manhattan. While it is important that the Republican Party have a Convention to nominate their President and Vice President for another four years in the White House – I just wish they didn’t decide to have it in New York City – because New York City is no place for a security risk of this magnitude.

With sixty-five days to go until Election Day and Labor Day seen as the official kickoff of the final stretch of the campaign of the most important election in American history – I can see why having the first Republican National Convention in New York City since the election of President Lincoln was important to the GOP – but I just wish that they would have thought of the sacrifices we New Yorkers have to make for their Grand Old Party in Madison Square Garden…

…I know I will remember the sacrifices – in sixty-five days.