Giuliani's Police State

When Rudy Giuliani first ran for mayor in 1989, critics said he was dangerously zealous, a man with a prosecutor's mentality, who didn't put up with opposition and couldn't compromise.  Well, they were right.  Safely reelected, the Mayor has gone all out in a feverish attempt to crush any opposition to his policies and personal whims.

Politicians don't like to be criticized any more than you or I do but they know that it comes with the job.  Not Rudy.  It's impossible to have a debate with Giuliani.  Either you agree with him or you're an enemy, somebody who should be intimidated or belittled.  There's no give and take.  This attitude is intruding on the civic life of New York.  In the process, he's turning the city into a police state.

Snipers at City Hall

A recent example of Giuliani's overkill is his response to an AIDS demonstration a few weeks ago.  First, it took a federal court order before the city would grant a permit for several hundred demonstrators to march.  Then the marchers were not allow to congregate on City Hall steps.  Instead, the police forced them into spaces between concrete barricades, videotaped the proceedings, and positioned snipers armed with rifles on the roof of City Hall looking down on them.  This is the sort of reaction we would expect of a third world dictator.

The barricades are just the latest evidence that Giuliani has allowed his official position to go to his head.  There's the suppression of public information, the harassment of street artists and vendors, and a fence around City Hall Park.  He's even banned playing stick ball in the streets!  What city does he think he's mayor of -- Minneapolis?  He says the streets belong to the city; the city, not the public! And of course he's the city.  Le cite c'est moi!

Then there's the city's response to the numerous lawsuits brought to enforce the laws impartially or provide information that belongs in the public domain.  Typically, Giuliani loses the case in court, appeals the decision, and continues his actions.  His strategy is to wear down the opposition.

Reaction We Would Expect
of a Third World Dictator

Last July, the city was forced to end an unevenly enforced ban on public gatherings on the steps of City Hall.  Rather than comply with the court order, Giuliani decided that all gatherings on City Hall steps would be banned.  In defiance of his edict, several members of the City Council held a meeting on the steps but weren't arrested.  Apparently even Giuliani saw how silly he'd look arresting Council members for gathering on the steps of City Hall.

The news media, nonprofits, and other public officials have had to go to court to pry loose data from the city.  To evade having to disclose information, the city says it doesn't collect data in several areas, including the tracking of former welfare recipients and the job progress of WEP workers.  The idea is that the city can't turn over information that it doesn't have.

Earlier this year, the Citizens Budget Commission, a nonprofit watchdog group, dared to disagree with the city's decisions in allocating public funds.  The official response was a clumsy attempt to get corporate donors who do business with the city to withdraw support from the Commission.  It didn't work.

No Right to Privacy

Now there's the quiet intrusion of surveillance cameras, particularly in midtown Manhattan and the Wall Street area.  People are being secretly videotaped by several thousand concealed cameras.  There doesn't appear to be any regulation on the installation of these cameras.  The Mayor and Police Commission Safir have endorsed their use.  As the Police Commissioner said, "You have no right to privacy in a public place."

Welcome to Giuliani's police state: No public criticism of the Mayor allowed, no marches or demonstrations by groups the Mayor doesn't like, no right to privacy on the streets, no information provided that might prove embarrassing to the Mayor, no monitoring of city policies by outside groups.

It's important to remember the mind-set that devised these assaults on our freedoms because Giuliani is now seriously considering running for higher office -- U.S. Senator or even President.  America should beware a politician whose trademarks are controlling access to information and intimidating those who disagree with him.

From the New York Amsterdam News
December 31, 1998 - January 6, 1999