New York on virtual war footing for Y2k (Manhole covers will be welded shut...)

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http://www.apbnews.com:80/newscenter/breakingnews/1999/12/27/terror_timessq1227_01.html

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New York on Virtual War Footing for Y2K Rolls Out 'Archangel' Anti-Terror Plan for Times Square

Dec. 27, 1999

NEW YORK (AP) -- While publicly downplaying "terrorist hype," city officials have made Times Square the focus of an elaborate security plan that puts the nation's biggest metropolis on a virtual war footing for the millennium celebration.

The plan, code-named Archangel, will turn an area of midtown Manhattan 24 blocks long and three blocks wide into a pedestrian-only zone.

Manhole covers will be welded shut, six police helicopters will hover overhead and 8,000 officers, some with bomb-sniffing dogs, will be on duty New Year's Eve in and around Times Square.

As many as 2 million revelers are expected in Times Square alone for a 25-hour celebration of lights, lasers and noisemakers.

'Every precaution humanly possible'

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Police Commissioner Howard Safir said they knew of no specific threats against the city, but the recent arrests of people suspected of extremist connections at U.S.-Canada border crossings in Washington and Vermont have heightened fears of terrorist acts timed to the millennium.

"There are no guarantees, but we can take every precaution that's humanly possible," Safir said in Sunday's edition of The New York Times. "I think the public should come to Times Square, and I think they should not be deterred by all this terrorist hype that is going on."

He earlier called last week's comments by former New York FBI chief James Kallstrom, who urged people to avoid Times Square, "caving in to terrorism." Kallstrom later insisted he wasn't referring to terrorism.

Nevertheless, many of the precautions outlined in "Archangel" -- which was three years in the making - are designed specifically to thwart terrorists.

Total parking ban

Manhole covers will be sealed, garbage cans removed and mailboxes locked to remove possible hiding places for explosives. Parking will be banned, beginning at midnight on Dec. 30, and private vehicles left there will be towed and impounded.

In the hours before the giant lighted ball descends to mark the start of the new year, the century and the millennium, twice the normal New Year's Eve complement of police officers will deploy in the Times Square area.

Officers will be watching from helicopters and rooftops while plainclothes officer teams with bomb-sniffing dogs mingle with the revelers and watch for suspicious people, Safir said. The exact definition of suspicious behavior was not divulged.

More from APBnews.com:

-- Homer Beanfang (Bats@inbellfry.com), December 27, 1999

Answers

AHH! security measures, security measures but you cannot stop ICBM.

-- Vladimir (Moscow@Russia.net), December 27, 1999.

And are they going to seal up every window of every building that looks over Times Square? Are they going to check out every back pack, every purse, every *body* to see if there are explosives? I really hope nothing happens, but I think that if there is a will, there is surely a way in our free and open society.

-- ariZONEa (nowhere_near@new.york), December 27, 1999.

How can they do this?

Aren't there people living down there? I know I saw it on 60 minutes about these young people living in the sewer systems of NY.

What if there is a problem with the citys water/sewer system?

-- (foobar@aol.com), December 27, 1999.


The funniest thing about all these "precautions" is that they are JUST NOW making them. What about the smart terrorist who's been planning this for 6 months, a year, 5 years???

-- Can't Say (taking_no_chances@right_now.com), December 27, 1999.

Our grande plan:

So when that CA sewer pumped out --was it 4 million? -- tons of sewage...uh, if NY has the same problem with sewage, then the hurling manhole covers propelled by the 4 mill gallons of raw sewage will knock down your ICBMs Vladimir, as we in the US breath a stifling sigh of relief.

-- Hokie (nn@va.com), December 27, 1999.



With a total of 8,000 police out there, at least the place won't be empty! It's one way to draw a crowd, I guess...

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), December 27, 1999.

LOL, good one Hokie. Anybody remember what happened when the sewers in Mexico city got full of gasoline fumes a few years ago? Kerfriggin BBBBOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM! Mailboxes? hahahahaha

-- Nikoli Krushev (doomsday@y2000.com), December 27, 1999.

It will make repair under the streets a "bump in the road" more difficult....if problems occur, guess what will have to be done first?

By the way- if they think this will stop a detemined terrorist, they'd better think again. It won't work. Too many other ways to get the job done without getting into the sewers manholes, telephone manholes, power manholes, steam manholes, water manholes......this would (at best) simply inconvenience a pro, and (might) slwo down an amatuer.

It does make the fed's look good though - "See how many precautions we are taking against the mean, evil, gun-toting, hoarding, right-wing, domestic terrorists..."

-- Robert A Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), December 27, 1999.


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