"Threat of Police Pickets Adds to Boston's Worries"

John Kifner, New York Times

Boston, July 17 — Besides the threat of a terrorist attack at the
Democratic National Convention here later this month, the police will
have to deal with at least 70 sets of demonstrators, including
opponents of abortion, particularly passionate in this heavily Roman
Catholic area; Quakers who want to protest the war in Iraq with 800
pairs of empty combat boots and a plowshare forged from 10,000 spent
bullet casings; anarchists; Buddhists — and even themselves.

That's right. Boston police officers, along with the city's
firefighters, are locked in a long-running contract dispute and plan
to picket several convention events, beginning with the 32 welcoming
parties for various state delegations given by Mayor Thomas M. Menino.Union officials say their pickets will be joined by police officers
from other states and off-duty personnel from the suburban police
departments called in to help with the convention. They say five
state delegations have sent messages saying they will not cross the
picket lines.

"The focus is on Mayor Menino," said Tom Nee, president of the Boston
Police Patrolmen's Association. "Wherever he goes, we will be there."

The prospect of the police, who will be protecting the convention
with measures that include road closings, a huge deployment of
bomb-sniffing dogs and random searches on public transportation,
engaging in street protests is among the factors that make the
security situation here unusual.

Many of those factors stem from the nature of Boston itself. While
considered a major city, it is comparatively small, with a population
of 589,141 in the 2000 census, but it is the center of a metropolitan
area with a population of 3.4 million that stretches for miles.

Boston has a police force of some 2,035 officers (compared with
36,500 in New York). Thus, for the convention, which runs July 26 to
29, the city police will be augmented by other agencies, including
state troopers, police from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation
Authority, suburban police, the National Guard and prison guards.

The Secret Service will be in charge of security because the
convention has been designated a National Special Security Event by
the homeland security secretary, Tom Ridge, at the request of Gov.
Mitt Romney. After the March terrorist bombings in Madrid, which
killed 191 people just before Spain's national elections, the agency
ordered stepped-up measures, including the closing of some 40 miles
of road because a section of Interstate 93, known locally as the
Central Artery, runs just 40 feet from the Fleet Center, where the
convention will be held.

More than a year of planning has gone into security measures, said
officials, who declined for security reasons to say how many law
enforcement officers would be involved.

But it appears that officials here could face challenges different
from those in New York, which has a police force that is not only
larger but also more experienced in dealing with mass protests.

For one, the Republican National Convention in New York will be
mostly confined to a relatively small area of the city around Madison
Square Garden, the Garment District and parts of Midtown. Venues in
Boston, however, are widely spread, partly because of Mayor Menino's
determination to have many of the delegate parties in the city's
neighborhoods, at the Sam Adams brewery in Jamaica Plain, for
instance, and at the L Street Bathhouse in South Boston. And some
delegates and officials will be housed in distant hotels throughout
the city and neighboring Cambridge.

The state police force numbers 2,400, according to the agency's
spokeswoman, Maj. Marian McGovern, who declined to say how many
troopers would be deployed for the convention. Some are from
specialized units, like dog handlers or bomb disposal specialists,
but most would probably be deployed to handle traffic problems
resulting from the I-93 closing. In addition, Major McGovern said,
some 120 state troopers from other New England states will be
dispatched to help.

The traffic shutdown, affecting hundreds of thousands of commuters,
is the central and most controversial piece of a security plan that
includes closing the airspace over the city even to traffic-spotting
helicopters — who would presumably have plenty to report — and
closing a triangle of streets next to the Fleet Center to
nonemergency vehicles.

The convention sessions will not start until 7 p.m., but it quickly
became apparent that because of the complex nature of the roads that
feed into downtown Boston, it could take hours to clear the backed-up
traffic. So the traffic ban has been set for roughly 4 p.m. to
midnight, with rush hour expected to begin around 2 p.m.

Commuters are not the only people angered by the road closings.
Small-business people, like those who operate takeout lunch counters,
fear that the city will be nearly deserted except for the 36,000
visitors expected for the convention. State workers have been
encouraged to take the days of the convention off, and many
businesses have told their employees to do the same or to stay home
and work by phone and computer.

And officials in towns just to the north, like Somerville, Medford,
Malden, Everett, Chelsea and Revere, are expecting their streets to
be inundated with motorists seeking a way home.

"We're the city most impacted," said Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone of
Somerville. "This is one of the most densely populated cities in New
England. The traffic congestion we face poses a real public safety
problem. We're preparing for the worst; it's potentially a gridlock
situation for our streets. We're concerned about our ambulances, our
fire apparatus."

Boston's City Hall, which had trumpeted the convention as a boon, has
grown somewhat defensive. A new publicity campaign has slogans like
"Let's work around it" and "It's only four days." Mayor Menino, who
labored to get the convention and to beautify his city for it, is now
saying the inconvenience will not be worse than during the Great
Blizzard of 1978, which tied up Boston for a week or more.

The mayor and Police Commissioner Kathleen O'Toole have tried to
prevent the police picketing, saying fatigue would be a safety risk
for officers already on 12-hour shifts and carrying bulletproof
vests, helmets, riot batons and tear-gas masks.

The union has asked the delegations not to cross its picket lines and
to walk out if Mr. Menino speaks. Jim Barry, a union spokesman, said
it had received pledges of support from California, Maine, North
Dakota, Ohio and Tennessee.

[On Monday, a state labor board sent the dispute to immediate,
expedited arbitration in an effort to resolve the issue before the
convention. That prompted a threat from the union to reconsider its
decision not to picket the convention itself.]

There are precautions large and small around the area. Some 600 Coast
Guard personnel will patrol the waterways near the Fleet Center.
Antidotes for chemical attacks have been rushed here. No bicycles
will be allowed on public transportation. Municipal swimming pools in
Cambridge and Somerville will close early because they are near
likely traffic choke points, and a children's wading pool on the
Esplanade will be drained to become part of a state police
headquarters.

Even the expected Democratic presidential nominee, Senator John
Kerry, has not been immune. He wanted to stage a "gift concert" for
the city on July 28 at which his friend James Taylor and the Boston
Pops would perform, but was turned down by officials who feared it
would attract up to 50,000 people at a time when security forces were
already stretched. Mr. Kerry is now trying to secure a permit for a
smaller event on the Boston campus of the University of Massachusetts.