Pittsburgh G20 nervousness: find update links here

POSTSCRIPT on September 28th:

Many of the things that people feared would happen during the Summit did not because of the extensive precautions the City and others took.  In addition, Pittsburgh received much positive publicity around the world—a huge marketing success.  Perhaps our image has changed for thousands of people.  We’re breathing a sigh of relief as things return to normal.

ORIGINAL POST FOLLOWS…

As a native Pittsburgher, I truly hope the G20 Summit here is a tribute to our city and safe for all.  There will be some great events to show off many of our city’s great assets. And I’ve even volunteered for the event.  Yet, there are more and more signals every day that many of us need to consider contingency plans for the week of September 21st.  And many already have.

While this post was created on July 29th, it is periodically updated and has links for current information.

Early Warnings

On July 29th I discovered something disconcerting:  G20 demonstrators had applied for a week-long camping permit for Allegheny Commons park on the Northside—very near my office and my home. My initial concern was for the park itself.  Imagining that there could be hundreds, if not thousands, living there for a week, visions of post-Woodstock danced through my head.

I decided to do a little “market research” to find out more.  As I heard more conversations from people in the know, my concern over the impact of the G20 on Pittsburgh grew. Not just about potential violence like in London in April.  I was hearing from reliable sources that big portions of our city could be in lock down, including bridges and major roads. And increasing our police/security from the usual 900 officers to more than 4,500 sends a message too.

A cousin in Seattle, who works for a TV station and experienced the 1999 WTO conference there, said:

WTO was a nightmare for Seattle. The city was completely unprepared for the size and the tactics of the protesters. It wasn’t because of the planned protests, like the unions who planned a massive showing at the event. It was due to the anarchists who came in and hijacked the event. I talked to a number who didn’t care what WTO was about; they just wanted to smash up a Starbucks.

I think Pittsburgh would do well in examining our experience and learning. If an event like that came to Seattle again. I’d be on vacation.  You add anti-terrorist high security to protestor disruption efforts and what have you got?

On August 3rd, KDKA-TV did a story about anarchists already gathering here.

These are things to think about in your preparation for this international event, whether a  business or resident.

Paranoid or prepared? You be the judge.

According to a late July Post-Gazette article about a G20 news conference here, “Pittsburgh G20 organizers urged downtown businesses and residents to plan for anticipated summit disruptions and be ready to revise those plans as conditions warrant.” (press release PDF)  Since then more sources have spelled out some of these disruptions.

I’m realizing that this will affect far more than the downtown.  Businesses and nonprofits in the Strip and on the Northside have started to make contingency plans, in some cases to operate their offices remotely. One G20 security consultant, on an airplane with a friend in mid-July, suggested that most bridges and some major arteries may be inaccessible.

Follow UPDATES on the web as the G20 gets closer.

Here are some sources of information to follow as the Summit approaches. Final details probably won’t be known until the week before the Summit.  On these sites, presumably information will be updated regularly.

New on 9/4/09: G20Buzz.com with live feeds from Twitter, Google News, Flickr and YouTube.

Official Sites

• The City’s traffic and safety updates, set up in early September
• The Pittsburgh Coalition for Security, this site has the contingeny planning documents and is sponsored by a large membership of corporations, nonprofits and agencies.
• The Pittsburgh G-20 Partnership, sponsored by the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership
• Global Pittsburgh, will be blogging from inside the summit
• The Pittsburgh Summit 2009 (it’s not clear who is sponsoring this, but it does have a direct link to WhiteHouse.gov)
• World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh, a variety of information about the G20 countries and past conferences
• Wikipedia G20 Pittsburgh Summit

Protester Sites

[read the Post-Gazette article on 8/23/09:  Objectors promoting various agendas]

• Bail Out People Movement
• Pittsburgh Organizing Group
• Pittsburgh G20 Resistance Project
• above also on Facebook
• Neithercorp Press
• Thomas Merton Center Anti-War Committee
• Action Center for Social Justice
• It’s Getting Hot In Here
• Fight Imperialism, Stand Together-Raleigh, Radical Youth in the US South
• Three Rivers Climate Convergence: United for Environmental Justice

Plus, you can also do a search on Twitter or set up a Google Alert for “Pittsburgh G20.”

Report on 8/5 Meeting

An executive director in the Strip district attended an invitation-only security briefing with the DA’s office, Secret Service and Pittsburgh Police.  Here’s part of her report:

The Pittsburgh Police are are working closely with other law enforcement agencies, Homeland Security, PEMA, FEMA, etc.  They are hoping for the best, but planning for the worst.

As far as traffic, expect the worst.  There will be an exclusion zone that will extend approximately 5 to 6 blocks around the Convention Center. In the exclusion zone, access will be extremely limited and only people with credentials will be allowed to enter.