NEWSDAY: City lays out GOP traffic plan
BY GLENN THRUSH
Staff Writer

June 25, 2004, 7:36 PM EDT

New Yorkers got their first detailed glimpse Friday of how the Republican National Convention will impact their lives as planners released a blueprint for street closings and penned-off protest zones around Madison Square Garden.

The convention transportation plan, released in two parts by the mayor and the GOP's committee on arrangements, balances the security and comfort of delegates against the inconvenience heaped on a predominatly Democratic city.

"The disruption will be a little bit annoying, but minimal," Bloomberg said on his weekly radio show.

The plan includes blocking off long stretches of Seventh and Eighth avenues, but only during the 13 hours the convention is in session. The closings could be expanded if protests are larger than anticipated, the mayor said.

Protesters would be confined to pens at 31st Street and Eighth Avenue, adjacent to the Garden, in keeping with the mayor's vow to place dissenters within "sight and sound" of the convention. One lane of traffic would flow around them for most of the convention, the mayor said.

"Sure, that's within sight and sound," said Donna Lieberman, head of the New York Civil Liberties Union, which has filed suit against police crowd control procedures. "But that still doesn't change the fact that protesters will be penned in like farm animals."

Only side streets adjacent to the garden would be blocked off for the entire fete, which runs from Aug. 30 to Sept. 2.

Subway and commuter line service into Penn Station wouldn't be affected, as promised, Bloomberg said.

But workers in buildings around the garden, between Seventh and Ninth avenues, would have to show indentification proving they have business in the area, similar to protocols used in Times Square on New Year's Eve.

"I think that if you don't live or work in the Garment District, you won't even know there's a convention in town," the mayor said.

But a short time later, Ray Martinez, transportation coordinator for the GOP's committee on arrangements, predicted New Yorkers will, in fact "notice that there's a big event going on in New York City."

Martinez released a plan to use 200 buses to shuttle 50,000 delegates, dignitaries and reporters to and from hotels, which will mean traveling as far south as Ground Zero and as far north as East 77th Street.

That means one lane of traffic on bus routes would be "coned off" for three hours leading up to the convention and 90 minutes after, he said. For three nights of the convention, that would pinch traffic on those streets from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. -- the height of the rush.

Other specifics include:

- Closing West 31st to West 33rd streets, from Sixth to Ninth avenues, to traffic for the duration of convention.

- Turning West 32nd Street, between Sixth and Seventh avenues, into a pedestrian mall.

- Closing the Eighth Avenue entrance to Penn Station.

- Closing Seventh Avenue, from 42nd to 29th streets, when delegates are in session.

- Shutting Eighth Avenue, from 23rd to 34th streets, during sessions.

- Giving delegates MetroCards donated by corporate sponsors to encourage mass transit use.

A restricted area around the arena will be controlled by checkpoints. Cars entering the area, including those carrying delegates and dignitaries, will be screened for explosives and other contraband by devices that provide real-time video images of their undercarriages.

The Lincoln Tunnel, just to the west of the convention site, and the city's other tunnels and bridges will be heavily guarded, but open to usual traffic.

This story was supplemented by wire reports.