On a Positive Note, the Hot Dog Vendor on the Corner of 38th and Broadway Will Likely Double His Sales

As a benefit to residents of the city of New York, as well as fans of urban planning and economic development in general, we at low culture are providing this quick-and-easy tear sheet/scorecard entitled, “Holding the 2004 GOP Convention in New York City.”

A positive economic benefit of $184 million to the city of New York.

“The transportation plan calls for one lane of avenues directly outside Madison Square Garden to remain open to motorists, except during the approximately 13 hours the convention will be in session…
It also imposes parking restrictions and reroutes bus service…
Streets bordering the convention to the north and south would be closed for several blocks…
A restricted area around the arena will be controlled by checkpoints, where police will demand identification from anyone seeking entry…
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…
Between 6,000 to 10,000 officers have been assigned to patrol the streets and subways around the convention…
[Penn Station] riders could face delays, but no shutdowns, officials said…
Preliminary plans call for state and city police officers — armed with bomb-sniffing dogs and hand-held chemical detection devices — to board commuter and subway trains one stop before they reach Penn Station during the hours of the convention. The trains will be swept for suspicious packages and terror suspects before being allowed to continue into the station, officials said…
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, authorities said.”

Well…for all practical purposes, it seems as though the residents of the city of New York come out roughly even in the end, there, huh?
Thanks, Republican Party, and thanks, Mayor Michael Bloomberg! And at the very least, all of this inconvenience finally gives people something to get all riled up about (in the designated protest areas, of course).