Blue Carpet for Republican National Convention

St Paul is constrained in possible parade routes for the Republican Nation Convention(RNC) on September 1-4 by a number of factors: the river, cliffs, bluffs, major highways, and limited bridges. In addition, fast access must be maintained to hospitals, secure access to the XCEL center and access for all the people who live here to continue living here. We have limited traffic capability and limited parking as well, so that means we have arrange places for buses to park and wait, similar to the system used for the state fair. By law, the parades need to be in sight and sound of the XCEL center, which I interpret to mean one side of the XCEL center has to be on the parade route. Our restrictions are so tight, that basically there will have to be just one parade route for the whole convention. With one parade route, streets can be set aside and local people will know how to navigate. The main route can then be announced prior to the earliest permit time, which allows planning for all the groups who wish to come.

Basically, the plan is to proactively propose a parade route that the city council can agree to, with the provision that we all know the federal government could pre-empt us. Here is the first draft of the Google Parade Route that you interact with, checking out features and obstacles. Note that the plan is to have a one way route from the Cathedral to Harriet Island using one half of Kellogg Blvd - the river side. Please do comment!

Here are the features of this parade route:

The Cathedral
Symbolically, I like the fact that we are starting at the moral high ground. Basically, a parade could stage on the east side of Summit. A area could be set up for bus parking only. A continuous bus service would run between this location and Harriet Island and strategic free large parking areas. Cathedral Hill has nice eating places, coffee shops and the Mississippi Market. In addition, the small park adjacent to the Cathedral could have portable bathrooms, a medic area, a real time communication post and a vendor area (city permit and insurance needed). Everyone wants visitors well cared for. An organization like Food Not Bombs could set up here. Really early people could take a Cathedral tour or a James J Hill tour.  So a delay in waiting could be relatively comfortable here. Buses can easily come in from the Grand exit of 35.

The Route
The XCEL basically only has two window sides to pick from. The route does pass by the windows. The whole route is about 2.2 miles, which should not be onerous. The city is promising to have medics and resources for people along the way. If people wish to participate in nonviolent civil disobedience, the opportunity is there. The local police have said that people with identification, can expect a fast turnaround. There is a plan for a communications messaging to go out to a cell phone network. Certainly, there will be information sent to the starting point. That will let waiting parade groups to know what the wait is for.

Harriet Island
At Harriet Island there is space for groups to set up and well, have a fair, have a party. Fairly large functions are held here on regular basis. It could have portable bathrooms, a medic area, a real time communication post, a very large vendor area (city permit and insurance needed), ongoing activities and events. Here is an area where vendors would be especially encouraged to set up, since the area does not have a support in restaurants, coffee shops, etc. The thinking in the city council is to have this area be constantly available during the RNC, even when there are not parades. We are also asking that the city provides transport for any medical emergency, etc. to this end point, along with providing information to the real time communication point at this end. The bus transport system should also have a stop here.

Blue Carpet Treatment

The Blue Carpet will be laid out at the Covington Inn for True Blue Minnesota, to interview all of the parade guests. True Blue Minnesota will have a gargantuan television screen set up on attached barge that will broadcast the Blue message to counteract the RNC message. True Blue will be glad to also host other groups messages consistent with being a 527, (issue/fact based not campaign orientated) for a reasonable fee. True Blue is especially looking for witty fun presentations, to perform our patriotic duty of holding what politicians say, accountable to what they do and what we value. True Blue will soon have a website up at www.trueblue.com.

Crossposted on mnblue.