Nobody has been more outspoken about the security measures being put in place in Tampa before the Republican Convention than Mary Mulhern. But the Tampa City Councilwoman says she has no intention of allowing a single protest group to control the public demonstration areas near the Tampa Bay Times Forum.
Mulhern was responding to a letter sent out by Amos Miers with the group ResistRNC. Miers' letter was addressed to City Councilwoman Yolie Capin; she and Mulhern were the only two members of the Council to vote against the "Event Zone" ordinance that establishes specific rules for those protesting in a wide swath of downtown Tampa and beyond during the convention.
In his letter, Miers wrote that "the federal government has made our council members, as well as our residents, scared of the guests coming to speak out for a fair economy, an end to war, and a clean environment. Are these things scary to the public? Or is it scary to the status quo of the multi-national corporations?"
He then proposes that resistRNC be allowed to "manage" the public viewing areas that were announced last week near the Forum. Miers writes, "Of course we would have to reach an arrangement for the conditions of the site, such as the removal of the ordinance in this zone, as well as the removal of the fencing around the site."
But neither Mulhern nor Capin thinks this is a good idea.
This article appears in Jul 5-11, 2012.