Emanuel Introduces Ordinance to Ensure Safe, Efficient Operations During G8 and NATO Summits

By aaroncynic in News on Dec 14, 2011 9:20PM



Image Credit: Chicago Mayor's Office Facebook page.

As the city ratchets up preparation for the NATO and G8 summits and their inevitable protests next May, Mayor Rahm Emanuel introduced a city ordinance which increases fines for resisting arrest and changes the hours for parks and other public property.

The ordinance would increase the minimum fine for “resisting a police officer or aiding escape” from $25 to $200, with a maximum fine of $1,000. Parks, playgrounds and beaches would open at 6 a.m. instead of 4 a.m., but still close at 11 p.m. In addition, the ordinance would “clarify the Chicago Police Department’s ability to enter into agreements with the necessary law enforcement agencies to deputize law enforcement personnel,” and allow the Mayor or appointees to execute agreements with public and private entities for anything related to the summits.

The ordinance comes a day after Emanuel apologized for any “disruption” the summits might cause and also said First Amendment rights would be protected. The Sun-Times reported Emanuel as saying:

“ People have the right, which I believe firmly in, of expressing themselves. Their First Amendment right needs to be protected and that will never be infringed on.”

Protest organizers however, are more skeptical of the mayor. In a press release last week, organizers for protests at the NATO/G8 summit said repeated FOIA requests from city agencies went ignored and MB Realty, property manager for Daley Plaza, said that no demonstrations would be permitted.

Some protest organizers confronted Mayor Emanuel yesterday at a meeting of the public buildings commission. “This is not the kind of city that we want to live in, and so we're standing up for it now. We demand that the city publicly commit to giving permits to within sight and sound of the G8 and NATO Summits,” protester Andy Thayer told Fox News. Emanuel said requests would be considered after Jan. 1.