Would you like THIS in your neighborhood? Across the street from a Chinatown playground.....

This is from the NY Post:
When the murderous 9/11 Gang of Five finally lands in New York for trial, they'll face an impenetrable wall of security -- with five times the normal number of US marshals flooding lower Manhattan and a ring of marksmen watching their every move, sources said yesterday.

National Guardsmen will be placed at major transportation hubs while the NYPD will close off subway entrances near the federal courthouse and intensify bag searches throughout the system, the sources said.

Marshals will be shipped in from out of town and snipers placed on roofs nearby the courthouse, where a death-penalty trial is likely.

Despite the massive security detail, former federal prison guard Louis Pepe -- who was permanently injured in a 2000 stabbing by Osama bin Laden aide Mamdouh Mahmud Salim -- said that it was not enough and that the trial should not be here in the first place.

"It's going to happen again," said Pepe, who suffered brain damage and was paralyzed on his right side after Salim stabbed him in the eye with a sharpened toothbrush while awaiting trial for the 1998 African embassy bombings.

"They want to kill people. They want jihad. They want to become martyrs. That's all they want. That's what they did to me."

CCRC: Why are they here, a few feet from a residential complex which houses 240 families and across the street from Chinatown's heavily used Columbus Park.

The CRUSH Of media expected to descend on Worth St. and surrounding residential complexes during the 9/11 terrorist trials

The trial for Bernard Madoff drew hundreds of reporters.

A traffic nightmare ensued on one of the few crosstown streets in lower Manhattan

Not much of a "security risk" existed at the trial for Bernard Madoff , unless you WERE Bernard Madoff, so media and passers-by were allowed to freely mill about and proceed unencumbered by such pesky nuisances as the National Guard armed with AK-47s.

IF the 9/11 terrorist trials are to begin at the same location, however, as predicted by the New York Times recently, we're in for a totally different atmosphere. Not only will armed soldiers be in place around the perimeter of the court house, the residents who live next door to the building will have to fight a gauntlet of media personnel AND checkpoints for the next TWO years at least.......... and for what? So the terrorists can, in the end, call for a mistrial?

Fairness for the terrorists? What about the rights of the people in the community to live in peace and safety? What about the pedestrians and drivers using this narrow roadway whose lives will again be totally disrupted by a media circus, circling helicopters, protesters, armed camp, rerouting of traffic, shutdowns, etc. What about the newly renovated marriage bureau and wedding chapels across the street from the court -- what bride wishes to be married in a militarized zone? Get ready, we're in for a dangerous and bumpy ride as these photos show -- but for how many years?

Bloomberg's 2003 opinion about "taking away people's rights in the interest of security"

A 2003 Daily News article about Sheldon Silver urging the Mayor to "Open Park Row" quoted Bloomberg offering his opinion about security vs. personal rights.

scorecard:
Chinatown:0
Terrorists:1
NYPD: what ever they want plus Park Row


"I'm a big believer that if you keep people from moving around reasonably freely, if you take away people's personal rights in the interest of security, the terrorists win without firing a shot," Michael Bloomberg Aug 7th 2003