Fair Deal for Protesters

Convention officials, the Los Angeles Police Department and other city officials have finally agreed with protest groups on demonstration areas close to Staples Center, giving authorities at least some time to organize preparations for a peaceful convention. But the local host committee’s money problems, supposedly solved when the City Council came up with $4 million for the convention, continue.

Part of the local responsibility is street security, which will be provided by the LAPD and the Sheriff’s Department, with the California Highway Patrol and other forces on call. That planning, at least, is back on track. City and police officials had originally sought to keep protesters far from the delegates at a fenced-in parking lot closer to the Harbor Freeway than to the convention action, a plan that a federal judge called unconstitutional.

After negotiations with representatives for protest groups, the city has agreed to make sidewalks, streets and parking lots bordering Staples Center available to up to 10,000 demonstrators. City officials also agree to revamp what U.S. District Judge Gary Feess called an overly restrictive permit process for parades and public displays. In addition, protesters will have the right to gather at Pershing Square.

“We’ll make it work,” insisted LAPD spokesman David Kalish, who claimed that the department reached out to protest groups and the American Civil Liberties Union several months ago but got little response.

The Democratic event, situated near the heart of downtown Los Angeles, will be a big test for the city and for the LAPD but also a chance for local authorities to show that they can handle such high-profile events with aplomb.

Meanwhile, the local host committee for the convention faced an $869,000 bill Monday for production services that it didn’t have the money to cover. But negotiations with the Democratic National Convention Committee and private donors seem to have bridged the gap. This is not the last of the big bills for the convention, and the local and national committees need to have a system to pay them without causing a crisis.