Magic City [11-27] 

FTAA Summit Meeting… Stand Up and Be Counted or Half the Joy was Getting There… NOT! 

Helmets and plastic faceguards that meteorites couldn’t penetrate were abundant as well as tight-fitting black riot gear with extra padding, fire paintballs, pepper spray, club sticks, etc. 

 
Protestors walked 34 miles (representing the 34 countries involved in the FTAA talks) to downtown Miami with a symbolic “dove of peace” sign.
Photo: M. Gil  

By Marguerite Gil
Columnist

Actually, half the battle was getting there. Since no one invited me to be an “imbedded” journalist last week for the FTAA Summit, I decided to “imbed” myself. It would have been wiser to stay in bed… but let me explain my procedure.

Plan A: Go to the Omni parking garage and leave the car. Take the MetroMover to Bayside in downtown Miami amidst all of the action, mingle, interview people, take many photos and get that intensive/live reporting story for this week’s column.

No Plan B.

Parked at the Omni garage at about 1 p.m. on Thursday, November 19 and was mildly surprised to find way too many empty parking spots.  That should have been my First RED Flag.

Next, walk over to the MetroMover station just outside the garage and grab the MetroMover downtown… except that MetroMover wasn’t functioning.  Second RED Flag.

I should have turned back, but no, being the valiant reporter that I am… (SunPost CEO, are you reading this?) I forged ahead! Buses were waiting to leave in different directions, including towards a MetroRail station that would connect me to Government Center in downtown Miami. Jumped on the bus only to discover that I didn’t have the exact change ($1.25). Who knew? I drive!  The bus driver was obliging and he let me stay on his bus anyway.  Left the Omni station and headed north!  Wrong way, but I was too embarrassed to stand up and be counted amongst the other confused riders, so I shut up and sat down inconspicuously. Up Biscayne Blvd., west on 20^th Street and off to the Culmer Station in Overtown. Third RED Flag: No tokens!

Farm workers walking on Biscayne Boulevard in solidarity with the FTAA protestors.
Photo: M. Gil

Finally made it (with the help of two very nice police officers at the station) onto the MetroRail train with seven tokens in my pocket – less my ten dollar bill, that I had planned to use as payment for the parking garage ticket.

Got to Government Center. Schlepped over to Biscayne Boulevard and encountered masses of Robot-Cops, blocking the easy access streets towards the bay. As I passed the overwhelming number of “dressed to kill” policemen and women, I kept thinking, how overjoyed I felt to see that my enormous tax dollars were providing the best in body protection for the officers. Helmets and plastic faceguards that meteorites couldn’t penetrate were abundant as well as tight-fitting black riot gear with extra padding, fire paintballs, pepper spray, club sticks, etc. Ah yes, only the best that money can buy for our men and women in uniform when it involves protecting themselves against the taxpaying public.

A lone anti-violence protestor calmly expressing his views amidst the demonstrators.
Photo: M. Gil

By now it was at least 2:30 p.m.  Wow, an hour and a half to travel eleven blocks. I felt that I was making real progress.

The police expected over 100,000 protestors, but from my vantage point I don’t believe the crowd surpassed 15,000 all totaled. I stayed deep within the hordes of young people who were there, striving for their causes until my legs gave out. The demonstrators that I encountered were very peaceful and hopeful, but frankly what did anyone gain?

Trade talks finished one day early, which put a damper on the protesting for the demonstrators.  Trade Ministers decided not to select a headquarters site until next summer, which they were expected to do anyway. Ten cities are still in the running for the future FTAA headquarters location and will meet in Brazil next year for more talks.  Union members and numerous protest groups chanted and waved flags as different organizations, including the Sierra Club, added their support to the cause last week. Less than 200 protestors (out of the 15,000) clashed with police during the two days of downtown tensions while the Ministers and their entourage were sipping champagne and tasting the fois gras at various receptions. South Florida shops and companies probably lost millions of dollars in business and goods because of the shut-down and world news gave the whole event about 30 seconds of air time (if that much!) before extensively covering Michael Jackson’s arrest on child molestation charges.

One person’s view of our president. 

On the lighter side, I am now the proud owner of seven MetroRail tokens that I really doubt I’ll be using anytime in the near future.

I reached the Omni garage by foot at around 5 p.m. dead tired.  But it seemed easier to walk back than to retrace my mass transportation steps. The long and tiring walk back did give me a chance to check out the Performing Arts Center’s progress… but that’s another story.

Send your Upper East Side, Design District, Downtown Miami and Brickell Avenue arts and entertainment events information for consideration to megs@gate.net.