Convention Dramas Unfurled, Forestalled

The organizers of the People’s Convention, to be held at Belmont High School this week in advance of the Democratic National Convention, said Monday they saved the event from being canceled after convincing school officials they aren’t rabble-rousers.

The loose-knit group of leftists sponsoring the alternative event said they talked the school district out of reneging on a contract to use Belmont by allaying fears that the forum would draw unruly protesters coming to town for the Democrats.

“This was just an incredible mess,” said Cynthia Anderson-Barker, attorney for the group. “We see it as a pattern of hysteria about people exercising their free speech rights at the convention.”

Last week, school officials moved to cancel their $4,731 lease agreement to hold the event. They said Belmont’s principal became worried after reading news reports saying organizers hoped the event--which will be held Wednesday through Saturday--would signal the opening of demonstrations targeting the Democratic National Convention, which begins Monday.

Officials also said neighbors in the Belmont area, just west of downtown, were worried that the People’s Convention would disrupt students and invite destruction in the community.

“They thought that this might be a training area for protesters and violence might ensue from that,” said Mary Kay Jackson, a school district attorney. “It was not clear what the group and its purpose were.”

But organizers thought the cancellation stifled their 1st Amendment rights, leaving them no time to find another venue.

“It was an act of political desperation by the LAUSD, pure and simple,” said Dele Ailemen, one of the organizers. He said the group’s plans were to hold peaceful forums and debates on a wide array of issues. Although some participants plan to join rallies at Staples Center next week, they say no civil disobedience is expected at Belmont.

“We’re going to step out from there to join such other [protests],’ Ailemen said.

Last week, lawyers for the People’s Convention threatened litigation against the district and the two sides began negotiating. Assemblyman Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles) weighed in, advising officials that the school was a perfect site for the convention.

“Hardly is there a more appropriate space than a public school,” he said Monday. “This is the essence of democracy.”

Jackson said that eventually the organizers “convinced the district they weren’t just a group of rabble-rousers, but a serious group who wanted to hold an alternative event.” But officials still wanted to add more security to the event, at an extra cost of $4,000 to organizers.

Again, attorneys for the organizers objected, arguing that there was no basis for wanting beefed-up law enforcement.

On Friday, the district agreed. Extra security, if there is any, will be paid for by the district, both sides said.